-- the disappearance of the girl

Seabreeze

Thunder rolled. Although dawn had broken, darkness loomed over the horizon. A dense thicket of fog clutched the bay, and the silhouette of a young girl washed upon the sands.

Fits of coughing and retching assaulted her gut and windpipe, her water-congested snout cleared out thoroughly by now-dribbling mucus and vomit. While eventually these symptoms relinquished their hold on the woman, the pain did not. A storm brewed inside of her like the one that had just left her so damaged, lightning striking every time she moved — her long silky coat sticky with salt and grit a crushing weight to bear. Then the shivering set in, wicking the last energy her muscles might have had. She slept.

The woman's clouded mind was unable to process just how much time had passed since her arrival, but the first thing that struck her was that it didn't hurt anymore. There was pain, yes, but it had not the fierce and unbridled tenacity that it'd once had. She braced her feeble, willowed frame against the sand and took the mighty effort to hoist herself up. From there it was instinct that would lead her, blindly, away from the seas that had mistreated her so and towards more unknown wilds and though she lacked personal direction or a sense of who she was, she trekked anyway.

The she-wolf's indeterminate wanderings led her deep into Teekon. She had passed many scents in her journey and though she tended to stay downwind of the clusters of smell her heart rang out — find me, find me, find me! every time she crossed the path of someone who was an almost to her; almost an encounter, almost a friend, almost a sign of life. She was unsure why the fibers of her being rang out to those she knew not when her mind, her instinct told her to steer clear of strange wolves. But then again she knew little more about herself than she did about these almosts; she could recall her call name — Seabreeze — yet no surname came to mind.

These wayward thoughts came to a rest as she came to what seemed to be the borders of yet another territory. Perhaps it was ignorant to continue her venture forth, but where else were she to go? Seabreeze kept her pace, though she altered her course to stay along the edge of the borders. She would find a place to bed down, not wanting to intrude on anyone else's space. Either they would find her resting at the borders, or she would be able to tarry here and catch a few meals before she headed.. well, elsewhere.