Meadowlark Prairie lullabye

That night, Seal only managed a half-sleep.

She heard a song and it pulled her from bed.

Barely lucid, she sleepwalked past Brecheliant’s gateway into the vast Meadowlark Prarie. Stars twinkled overhead and Seal could’ve sworn she heard them speak.

that night, chani had tried to sleep.
her hunts had been unsuccessful today, and so with gnawed belly chewing on the edge of her energy, the girl got up and walked the meadow once more.
it was odd to be so far from the sea. she did not like it, and yet it was exhilarating.
a song in french floated beneath the moon. chani had not yet seen she was not alone.

Her sienna, half-lidded eyes watched the constellations, hypnotized. It was as if the stars held hands and danced around the moon like a Maypole. Their songs were quiet – barely a whisper – and they began to say things in an ancient tongue that Seal was on the cusp of parsing when…

A prodigious feeling, like she was falling from a great height, made her suddenly lurch backward. Seal gasped loudly, now awake. Her eyes blinked, disoriented, as she tried to understand where she was and how she got there.

the other girl started. chani bristled. the song was broken, but not the hold of the moon over them both. in starlight she approached, comforted by the slighter lines of the other wolf which said girl and not woman. in this, chani was more welcoming.
she tipped her head toward the sky, saying nothing as the other girl seemed to collect herself. was maman looking at these same lights even now?

Seal blinked and her pupils dilated as she traversed from a dream to the waking world. It was as if the world grew darker, less illuminated, and quiet… much quieter.

A gentle breeze made the long grass brush together. It was then she spied another wolf’s silhouette. She gasped again, startled until her vision remedied enough to understand it was a wolf she knew.

“Chani?” Seal asked the seawolf as she squinted as if testing a mirage. “What are you doing here?” Seal looked around.

What am I doing here? she thought to herself.

"my cousin sobeille an' i be on a little trip," chani explained, "before my maman has her new children." she studied seal intently, wondering what was off about the other girl. 
"you okay?" she moved forward to exchange scents with the other. "have you eaten at all?" she inquired in chacal's voice.

So Chani was on an expedition?

“It’s been a while,” she recounted with a half-laugh as if to center her disoriented mind. Memories of the grand celebration at Muat-Riya twinked in her mind like rays of light through shuttered blinds.

“Since I saw you last, I mean,” Seal clarified.

Chani approached. “I think so,” the young woman replied, uncertain as she looked around at their surroundings. “I think I must’ve been… sleepwalking? I dinnae remember… walking here.”

Seal’s pressed her lips together until they formed a wobbly line, confused. Suddenly, Chani’s next question pulled her back to reality. “Oh, I haven’t,” Seal replied, absent-minded and distracted.

hm! seal was definitely acting strange. chani's close life with a large family and the many ailments that came with many pups wondered if her friend was a little sick. "well. if you don't know where you are, or how you be gettin' here, de nex' t'ing to be doin' is sittin' an' havin' a meal," she told the brecheliant girl very seriously.
oxide gaze panned their surroundings. "did you eat any'tin' funny, seal?"

"Och, you're right," Seal admitted sheepishly at Chani's maternal-like instinct. Sometimes an ailment could be healed with a simple meal.

"I dinnae ken..." Seal pondered as she thought back to the last thing she had eaten. "I ate fresh meat..." the girl replied as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "So it wasnae spoiled..."

She shook her head as a cool night-time breeze ruffled her hackles.

chani had nothing to say to that, and settled back down beside seal with a nod. "what if i brought you some water, mm?"
her worry had lessened a bit and turned to curiosity. what had come over seal? was it contagious? maybe they were both dreaming, dreaming a little.

Wrapping this for us! <3

“That’s a bonnie idea,” Seal agreed. She did not know this region beyond Bramblepoint and Chani’s presence grounded her.

She followed her friend… however, she kept the secret vision of the moon and stars close to her heart.