Wheeling Gull Isle you were beautiful

An idea occurred to Coelacanth, then. She warred with it briefly, knowing that it was utterly unwise, but hoping fiercely that all would be well. In the end, hope won out; she wished so hard upon that star that if she squinted, it could be mistaken for belief or faith. “Mou, please wait,” she breathed, smoothing her tongue across his brow and pirouetting on her hind paws. She evanesced like a blur of cuttlefish ink into the evening tide and returned with a small ball of fur in her mouth — just one. It would be too troublesome to rouse Stockholm and Moorhen and too difficult to keep track of four puppies at once, especially when they were beginning to clamber about.

She set the dark pearl between her forepaws and licked gently at Mou’s cheek. “Mou, gentle — peace be.” As much as she trusted him, her maternal instincts were all too aware of the myriad pains that wracked his battered body, and the way a wolf could lash out when gripped by forces over which he had no control. She wanted to make this point, though, and she took Koi’s newly opened eyes as an auspicious sign.

The sheepdog stretched out with her feathered forelimb curled around her youngest child, who blinked up at the ashen wolf with misty blue eyes. She stayed within touching distance of Mou, allowing him to nose or lick at Koi — but should he lash out in any way, she would do her utmost to sweep the small girl away, or at the very least, offer up her wrist instead. Wishing that she could spin her words into a story or song as pretty as the event deserved, Coelacanth was forced instead to satisfy herself with the abridged version. “She is Four. Last baby,” she whispered to him. “Stars give me puppies, sea give me you, same day. Now…” She couldn’t summon the word for rebirth, though she would’ve snatched eagerly at it if someone else had provided it. “Now…together, grow, learn.” She nodded toward her tiny daughter.

“New life,” she whispered, leaning forth to nose at and nuzzle Mou’s lips.

“New life,” she repeated, craning her neck to caress the puppy’s tender crown.