Now the chill had left the air, she didn't feel so averse to leaving her room. This litter had taken it out of her, between almost drowning in labor and soaking out on the beach in the wind, she had come down with a nasty case of pneumonia. She did well to hide it from Gil, and Sakana had been her almost constant companion during the time, keeping her strength up and wrangling the children when she ran out of energy, forcing all sorts of foul concoctions down her throat to keep her alive, and goodness, there had been haggard days when all she had wanted was to be allowed to die.

Before she could dare to face the rest of the pack, the young healer had even lent her his monkey to groom her fur properly, somehow getting some of the familiar scented oils from her childhood to give her coat a bit of shine so anyone that saw her wouldn't be able to tell just how unwell she had been. She had always been slim, and the boy had been bold enough to accuse her of being dangerously so at the moment, but she doubted anyone would question her. It wasn't any of their business anyway.

She made her way downstairs and already dreaded the climb back up, but that was a problem for future Modesty. If she didn't get some fresh air, she really would wither up and die. The sun warmed her coat quickly and she steadily made her way down to the shore. She pulled a face at the peacefully lapping waves. Fucking island. What a disaster that had almost been. As she flopped under the palm, it dawned on her that this was probably the tree under which her latest litter had been born. How unfortunate that she couldn't rustle up the energy to move.

“Speech.”

The days were... they weren't bad. Jael had healed fairly well. Fairly. The scars that persisted from the attack on her first night weren't so much visible to the naked eye, now. Enough of her coat had come back in that it camouflaged the angry, healing skin below. Coming from hardy stock, it'll take more than that to end her days. The snake, too, had done a number. Not enough to sideline her, but a number none the less.

Incapable of idling. There's too much to be done, in her mind. The finishing touches on the chicken enclosure were nearly done. While they didn't actually have chickens yet, she was pretty sure she could convince someone to help her trap other birds in the archipelago. Just to test it out. Make sure that the double door system was working right. All the little things that could only be sorted when she could view their behavior up close. This was a different setup than any she'd ever built, it was engineered in such a way that-- hold on. She's getting in the weeds.

Though the outward wounds had healed, the break... that would take longer. While she usually conceals it well, it's harder when she's tired. It's harder when the pain in her hind leg is what's pulled her from her work entirely. Nothing a little soak in the sea wouldn't fix. Something about the cold seemed to help it, and being spring, the water was still chilly enough. At least the sun shone down around her shoulders. Jael didn't mind that so bad.

Acutely aware of the woman as she is, Jael... she doesn't know what to say. Any words she could form die on her tongue, long before they reach her lips. Moving to sit in waters as deep as her waist, she offers only a respectful dip of her muzzle. The dogged creature wouldn't admit the prickle of anxiety as it ran down her spine. Though Modesty remains fully visible in her periphery, Jael is perhaps going out of her way to not look, while not cutting herself off. They're both... compromised, in this moment. It's not a comfort.

   

Modesty allows her eyes to drift almost closed, simply soaking up the bone warming rays of the sun. She doesn't stay alone for long, and she contemplates the interloper openly. She hadn't met the tiny brown thing before, the mottled pattern far from unfamiliar to her eyes, just the one wearing it. But she knew the scent well enough from her husband's pelt, she wasn't quite sure what to make of all that.

While she was the Wife in title, they hadn't actually married, and two litters later, she had begun to doubt that they would. Not that it mattered overly to her anymore. She had done her duty to her mother's Gods and married or not, her divinity was assured. She was far from the rambunctious yearling she had been, and Gil had ambitions, clearly. She had begun to wonder where exactly she was supposed to fit into all his plans.

She allowed her front legs to stretch out, curling her toes and trying (poorly) to conceal a barking cough that pushed its way from her lungs. “Don't spend too long in there, you'll catch your death.” She warned the smaller canine with a grin that only pulled at the right corner of her lips. Ha. She was even starting to sound old.

“Speech.”

Self conscious, Jael makes to scrub some of the grime from her paws. Modesty was right there, and she didn't know exactly how she was going to handle that. Trying not to appear outwardly nervous, but then, it's hard not to. Just a little jittery. Couldn't look too nervous-- that'd be weak. Couldn't let anyone smell weakness on her, especially not in a den of pirates. Right, she needed to wash the rest of the grime away. Clean, and with her injury well enough soothed, she couldn't help but let go a little smile. Maybe it wasn't appropriate to laugh, but ah, it's hard not to. A wave of her tail as she fishes herself out of the sea, standing at a distance as she shakes the saltwater from her pelt.

The cough hadn't escaped her notice, either. She wouldn't draw attention to it, though her opalescent eyes are knowing where they land on the woman. "I like the chill, mostly." She smiled lightly. Jael moved across the warm sand, keeping a distance but maybe... maybe coming a little closer than she intended. She's still afraid of Modesty, to a degree. Unable to know just what the beautiful, colorful woman before her knew, what she thought, that's more than enough to make her nervous. "I'm Jael, I'm sorry we haven't gotten to meet yet." The words are quiet, and her gaze goes out to sea. It's easier to look out there than make eye contact, after all.

   

Modesty didn't bother to wonder about her pack mates any more than they wanted to share with her, and even then, it was all very surface level, so when the girl claimed to like the chill, her brows pinched slightly in question, and then she let it go. Weird. But then again, who among them wasn't a bit odd?

The introduction came, and Modesty allowed her tail to tap against the sand in friendly greeting, “Modesty. I apologise for not making myself obvious early, that bratty little healer has had me cooped up in my room, torturing me with all sorts of concoctions to try and shake this cough, between that and the children, I'm not sure I'll make it back up there in a hurry,” She attempted a joke, she would have to return to the room sooner or later, but she'd only just gained her freedom. Her return could wait a bit longer yet. “Have you been with us long?”

“Speech.”

She's... friendly. More friendly than Jael expected. There's still fear, still anxiety coursing beneath the surface... but maybe things would be okay? She shifted her weight still a bit uncomfortable. On edge. Was she being lulled into a false sense of security. Her thoughts raced. Still, as Modesty speaks, Jael is left to wonder if the man of the house has told her at all. Fuck. It's not the little dog's place to say something.

Jael decides she's going to at least try to act... normal. Normal as she can. "Are you feeling better?" The question is gentle, conversational. This is the lady of the house, and she had been cooped up with limited social interaction. At the mention of the children, Jael gives a little giggle. "I can see how they'd be a lot." Following her run-in with Nimbus, Calliope, and Siduri... yeah maybe they were a little extra. Her tail twitched a bit too. "Did Calliope tell you about the snake?" Gil hadn't been thrilled, especially because they'd left it to him to sort out moving the carcass, but it was fine in the end. What didn't kill them made them stronger.

Modesty's question cements the idea that Gilgamesh hadn't said anything. She doesn't know what she expected. It makes sense that he wouldn't have, she was an interloper into their life. No, it's not her job to say something. Jael pulls the thoughts from her mind, bringing herself back to the conversation at hand. "I washed up right at the end of winter," she shook her head. It hadn't been long, but her arrival had been... more traumatic than necessary. The worst of Jael's wounds were still fading, blatant and visible where her coat hadn't grown back in yet. Near death experiences would leave their scars.

   

Are you feeling better? The question was answered first with a contemplative grin, that was a loaded question. Better than at deaths door? She supposed. Back to herself? Far from it. She still felt frayed around the edges, her chest felt heavy, and her throat hurt sometimes. “I suppose I'll live,” if only to spite anyone that might want me gone. She left the latter unsaid. It wasn't exactly an answer to the question, but it gave the gist of it.

The end of winter was after the pups had been born, so that explained quite a bit. As far as Calliope and a snake, well, she'd overheard snippets of gossip among siblings but nothing definitive. “Bits and pieces, but nothing in full. It sounds like a grand adventure though, why don't you fill me in?” She adjusted her elbows to rest more comfortably in the sand, her tail tapping lightly at her side to show her enthusiasm. She did genuinely want to hear what had happened.

“Speech.”

Modesty deflects the question, and she'll let it go. The girl is doing her best to will herself calm. The whole situation is enough to make her head spin, and she really... fuck it's too heavy for her to process it all. Maybe that's why she lets that part of her head shut down, steeling herself to it for now. Doing her best to keep her shit together. Maybe, just maybe, she could convince Modesty that she was useful too. After all, isn't that what's always driven her? For a girl that's strange and intense and maybe occasionally filled with terrible and obsessive thoughts, it's a lot easier to be useful than it is to be liked.

Her enthusiasm at the tale is enough to make Jael giggle just a little. Settling in the sand now that she'd mostly dried, maybe shifting a bit closer to Modesty. Right, this was just a friendly conversation. "I've been cleaning out the old um, hard-walled ponds out by the middle of the island," Jael would assume she'd done a good enough job explaining the pools. "Biggest snake I've ever seen came after me while I was doing it. Calliope must've heard the commotion, she jumped right in, bolder than anything. She's got a lot of fight in her, you should be proud." Jael's tail wagged softly in the sand. A little glimmer in her opalescent eyes as she spoke, coming to life as she recounted the tale.

Modesty gave a quiet heh when Jael mentioned Calliope having a lot of fight. She couldn't let herself laugh properly, she'd end up having another coughing fit. “The lack of common sense leaves a lot of room for it, I suppose.” The comment was made with warmth and a smile that made it all the way to her eyes. She was an ornery one, but that wasn't necessarily a character flaw in the eyes of her mother. Something else the woman said had caught her attention though, “Why clear out the pools?” She was genuinely curious about that one, Was she hoping to use them to store live fish?

“Speech.”

The little heh makes Jael smile, too. It starts as a little twitch at the corner of her lips, but she can't help it. Was she relaxing? Starting to. Though the anxiety lingered in the background, she can't help but enjoy the company. Maybe whatever she'd built Modesty up to be in her head wasn't correct. Creating a boogeyman out of someone who was perfectly nice and reasonable is something she'd do... but she doesn't know enough to pass judgement yet. A little giggle slips out at her remark, though. She can't help it.

The question about the pools draws Jael's attention entirely, and she perks up at the question. Her tail wags. The project had gone unquestioned by Gil, up to and including asking for him to send someone to help her set traps up for some test birds. Really, just giving herself a project was better than being bored, and he hadn't asked her for anything yet. She was going to make herself useful, she was going to prove she was worth keeping around. Have to be useful. Right, explain the project to the lady of the house. Jael's opalescent eyes glimmered as she had a chance to launch into an explanation of her project.

"The island doesn't have a lot of good places to keep livestock," she began. "Arable land is precious, but chickens and rabbits don't need pasture. Chickens for eggs, and rabbits for meat and fur. I need to finish putting down soil, which will need to be changed once a season, but it shouldn't be too bad. The drains work too. She couldn't help but get excited. The project was important to her, and it was nearing completion. Jael's tail stilled a little-- right, she had to be normal about things. Worried Modesty was going to think her weird, but then, she couldn't help but look for approval in the woman's face either.

"There are a couple other pools that I haven't even started yet, I wanted to get the grossest one done first." Right, still looking for approval, adding more details... sorry. She can't help it.

   

The girl seemed quite excited and Modesty wished she had the energy to match her but the walk down the stairs had been a monumental task and the feeling of the sun on her fur and the wind in her face had her battling to keep her eyes open. She turned her head away from Jael to cough to the side, urgh, the taste of Sakana's last dose of medicine still clung bitterly to the back of her throat and she would bet all she had that he had included some sort of sedative in the mix.

She could understand wanting to get the grossest done first, at least that way, all the hard work was behind you when you started on the next, if you could make it through that you could make it through anything, blah, blah, blah. Instead, she nodded in acknowledgement, trying, and failing, to fight back a yawn that would part her jaws to their full extent, bringing a satisfying pop to her ears and jaw in the process. “I would very much like to see the progress you've made, when I'm feeling a little more myself.” She offered with a gentle if tired smile. “I fear our young healer slipped me something in the hopes of keeping me in bed, but I made it down the stairs before it kicked in.” She gave a dry chuckle. “I do apologise, I swear I'm usually a whole lot more engaged in discussion.” She offered fighting back another yawn. Perhaps a nap wouldn't kill her.

“Speech.”