The creaking of the undulating giant spruce seemed ominous, but Driftwood only paused a short moment to regard it with nervously flickering ears and upraised paw before he stalked forward again. He rubbed a paw across his eyes and warily regarded the tree as he drew closer, but not too close...the grandiose wooden monster and all her children were slowly performing a swaying dance today, as they often did, but something about the motion stirred an uneasy feeling deep within him. Were they trying to tell the wolves that passed beneath their boughs something? The air seemed to hold a certain tension in general, and Driftwood had to wonder if perhaps the majestic spruce and its kin somehow knew something he didn't.
Maybe he was just a little sleep-deprived and paranoid, though. It seemed quite possible...even probable. But any and all concerns about the behavior of any trees or his own state of mind were swept away in a sudden wave as the sudden motion of a familiar black shadow went whooshing past in a graceful blur of fur. Driftwood's head pivoted to follow Coelacanth's exit to the shoreline, and his gaze sharpened and his own pace reached a concerned gallop as he saw her agonized silent pseudo-howl. Seelie!
he yelped, his own worry ringing loudly in his ears as he galumphed up to her with a much less graceful spray of sand pluming up as he skidded to a stop just shy of her feet. He didn't see any signs of injury but she sure looked like she was in the most exquisite pain imaginable, as he desperately sought to look into her eyes and tried to divine what might've happened. Indeed, not just her howl of misery but her voice entirely seemed a dubious thing—she was never a loudmouth at the best of times but her posture of extreme anguish was such that Driftwood genuinely wondered if she'd be able to speak aloud of it at all. He tried to cover his bases verbally too in the meantime though just in case: Are you hurt? What's wrong?! What can I do?!
His paws danced uncertainly in place as he jittered to and fro and tried to figure out how to fix this. Please just tell me, I'll do anything... He hated to see anyone in such pain, admittedly, but with sweet and kind Seelie of all people it seemed utterly unbearable. ...A recollection of recent events flashed through his mind, and his own mirroring misery deepened in response, if not nearly so bone-deep a feeling as she was obviously experiencing. Driftwood visibly hesitated before asking, very softly, Has... have you heard anything of Thresher?
He was praying mightily within, meantime, that there at least had been no bad news, and that the girl was still alive and in one piece out there...somewhere. Else he feared his merely asking might in fact be making things worse. And that was the very last thing he wanted to do, right now, with Seelie sitting here looking like this. But it wasn't just for her mother's sake that Driftwood had to ask; he too was worried for the island's young Treasure, and in what condition and on what unfamiliar shores she might have washed up. Not every place was as diligently open-armed in their welcome of strange Tauhous as Undersea after all, particularly with one as innocent and vulnerable as Thresher would be, especially if she had gotten hurt or exhausted herself trying to swim against the current or— no no no, don't even THINK it, Driftwood. As if the mere thought might somehow will it into reality. But he hadn't heard if there was any news yet, and the least he could do was wait until after he heard something more definite before he started spinning up catastrophizing stories. Right? Theoretically. He stared at Thresher's mother with deeply worried golden eyes as the less-sturdy of his eartips drooped sadly earthward.
Seelie leapt to thoroughly investigate him, which threw Driftwood for a moment. He lifted a paw uncertainly but stood there obediently as he was given the once-over, quirking his ears worriedly down at her form as she went up and down and over his body with her nose atwitch. What was she looking for? Was there perhaps disease or other contagious problems the seawolves might inadvertently be finding themselves carrying soon that now suddenly required leaders to inspect everyone? Drift's worries surged for a moment, then subsided partway as Seelie's frantic energy calmed somewhat and she gravely shook her head at his queries. At the same time his heart sank, even as he tried to remind himself that no news might be good news in this case...hadn't he just been fretting over what condition Thresher might be found (or, horror of horrors, her body?)? So if she wasn't stranded someplace obvious she was probably up and about and seeking out other wolves and able to do for herself. He hoped.
Driftwood folded back his ears and pressed his muzzle alongside hers, trying to project warmth and reassurance. Hope,
he agreed quietly, if not quite so breathily as the Aralez herself. We have to hold on to it. Thresher is counting on us to keep it alive.
As if her nose had poked a button on his shoulderblade to start its motor up, Driftwood's tail offered up a brave wag. Then he perked his ears again and hastened to follow the beckoning black tail of Coelacanth in turn. Have you been holding up all right?
he asked as he half-loped to catch up with her footsteps all the more quickly. And, uh, did you have someplace in mind for where we're going?
Drift wasn't sure if the choice of direction was deliberate or simply happy chance, but either way he was grateful. If Aditya was going to somehow invade from the opposite side of the island then the horses would have to be the ones to stop him, or somewolf else, because Driftwood wasn't going to patrol over thattaway, that was for certain... though he'd obsessively tried to cover most all the rest of the island recently.
Don't fret, things've been iffy with me IRL anyhow too, and interfering with my writing more than I'd like as a result, pfft. It happens! *shrug*
Driftwood didn't really know what he might have said or done to help, but Seelie seemed to be cheering up again—something he was thankful to see regardless of why it might be happening. He gave her an only slightly-tremulous smile, hoping to bolster her own bravery with his own brave optimism...though he really wasn't sure if he could fool
anyone on that score, on some level, much less the sensitive and perceptive Seelie of all people. He was taken aback a little more by her easy admission that no, she had no idea where they might be going— but he hardly hesitated before obediently continuing to trot along in her footsteps. He jerked in startlement and stopped hsort however when Seelie spun around unexpectedly and rained playful kisses on his face. He stared down at her for a moment, his paws stiffly akimbo, as she bounced down into a play-bow pose and then scooted back along the sand. Almost like a big hairy overgrown black crab, he thought, and stifled a small snort of laughter at the thought.
He wasn't at all unwilling to join in however, only surprised. His brain was having trouble quite keeping up with what seemed very sudden and unexpected mood swings here from his leader. Driftwood supposed that was just par for the course with female hormones in a wolf of any rank sometimes, however, right? He let out a little woof of his own and galumphed after Seelie, poking his long tan muzzle out mischievously toward her before scootching back and angling his paw to swipe a clumsily wide swatch of pirckly pine needles and dirt in her direction. He managed to prick his own paw with the evergreen's leavings in the process, which left him shaking the slight sting from his pawpads for a second, after he danced several broad steps backward to make himself a slightly-less-easy target for Seelie to retaliate against. Not that he didn't intend to let her win...eventually...but he didn't want to just roll over and
hand that win to her. Nosiree.