Ankyra Sound lost at sea, where they will never find us

The Matriarch was returning from a brief trip to the Ankyra headlands when the braying of gulls drew her gaze from the bridge to the tideline where the froth hissed as the waves surged up the shore. A few pesky critters were standing nearby, heads cocked left, then right, as they investigated the Mothers latest offering. She wasn't keen to pass up a chance to fill the caches on Soteria so she altered her course, ears cupped forward. The seabirds scattered as she approached and wheeled away on the gentle wind. A carcass of some poor creature—Akantha sucked in a sharp breath as her mind began to make sense of it.

The pile was unearthly sodden heap of pale fur and bones, with two triangular ears set atop a skull that sloped into a pointed snout—a wolf. A small, chubby starfish clung to her shoulder, entangled in the ethereal cloak of the woman and feasting on the tussled strands of seaweed that clung to her damp fur. Akantha slowly raked her gaze across the prone form of the woman noting, with a surge of anticipation and relief, that she yet breathed. A sudden spasm startled Akantha and she lept backwards to put distance between them again in case of snapping teeth. The stranger retched as seawater gushed from her throat.

"Calm, Sister," Akantha crooned as she reclaimed the steps she took in retreat. "Breathe."