Sea Lion Shores you bring out the best in me

SAME. ♥♥♥ I am so, so thankful that you picked up Catori!

Tufted ears swept forward upon the Groenendael’s gently sloping skull as Catori began to speak. Coelacanth knew that the correct word for the flying kennels was “helicopters” but trying to work her teeth and tongue around that seemed impossible. Hesitation slowed the ever-present movement of her body and bade one oversized ear to sway indecisively outward before cleaving once more to its mate. In Seelie’s experience, helicopters carried humans and didn’t have much to do with dogs unless they were made to board them; so, in that way, she regarded them as more of a threat than Stockholm did but less of a threat than Grayday and Catori did. Whuffing softly, her expression placid and her breaths deep and even, she laid her muzzle across her cousin’s ginger-limned shoulder blades and “hummed” soothingly. “All will be well,” she thought, and offered a soft susurrus of comfort: “Shh…” not to undermine or negate, but to reassure and to soothe.

Preening lovingly at the Spiritwalker’s brightly colored ruff, Seelie eventually drew back and gestured at herself and at Stockholm as though to say, “Don’t worry! We’re okay!” and stilled as the den mother began to speak anew. Morningside was moving? A soft whine caught in the sheepdog’s throat, but the closing line to Catori’s news snuffed out the feeble protest before it came:

“and…we’ll be going before I whelp.”

So, she’d been right about the season! Coelacanth’s cerulean eyes widened in surprise and then crinkled at the corners with delight; with the utmost tenderness, she bent her muzzle and touched the tip of her nose to her cousin’s flank. To have been conceived during the Hunter’s Moon meant the puppies to come would be truly special — no Corten had ever been conceived during such an auspicious time, after all. Her tail swept the air in a blur of calligrapher’s ink as she pressed her nose to Catori’s cheek and nibbled the thick fur there in an airy kiss. Brontide, Seelie knew, would be happy to hear the news and would likely make frequent trips to visit Morningside to check on his niece — and Seelie herself would do the same, whenever the tides permitted. Speaking of which…

Coelacanth drew away from Catori after Stockholm was given a chance to share his own congratulations, then turned her head and body meaningfully toward the island on the horizon, one delicate paw tucked against the swell of her rib cage. She and Stockholm would make their home on the island in the springtime and reclaim it as they had always meant to. The distance was far from insurmountable, and although would be inconvenient for a time, everything would work out.