Sea Lion Shores hey alligator, have some mercy on me

They were family.

The complete 180 in Hydra's demeanour did not go unnoticed by Andalusia, and the sudden warmth brought a soft and knowing smile to the Ostrega's lips. She felt like she understood this fierce tie of kinship. There was something familiar in Hydra's reception, as if Andalusia had once been the one offering to others what Hydra now offered her. Through the loss and confusion,  her muscles relaxed and she felt, for the first time in many months, something of a peace. Something of home. That she wasn't so alone anymore.

"It seems we are," she grinned, and a glow of light returned to her eyes. She welcomed Hydra's closeness, and her tail swayed in tandem with the motion of the darker woman's. It was as if a barrier never stood between them at all.

But she still knew so very little, and she shook her head. "Not much. I can remember my family, but I don't think they're who I'm looking for." None of them were like the blue-eyed man. They were smaller, fleeter, made of the wolf and coyote blood that ran thick between them. "Ciervo, Sumayl, Chehlia, Dhani... unless those mean something to you, I guess I'll just have to trust the river's the right way to go." The water still piled closeby, and soon, they would part their separate ways. And yet, did they really have to? She might not know Hydra beyond a name and a face, but with her, she had something concrete. Something alive, and something familiar.

What if the river only brought her ghosts?