Wheeling Gull Isle mere haath mein

it was so tempting to leave it all behind, when he stood here on this island. he knew he must return to morningside eventually, to set things right. to elevate a competent leader to command in his stead, and ensure that everyone and everything would be fine when he left. but right here, right now--all he wanted was to stay here. forever.

the moon glittered on the rippling waves, turned his gilded pelt to silver. he paced the beach, leaving gentle tracks behind. he was at once both restless and at peace, unable to stop walking but unwilling to go any faster. it was an ambling gait he employed, meandering into the surf, letting the cool water kiss his ankles.

the salt air washed away, finally, the smell of death and burning things that had stayed in his nostrils. the sound of the gulls was better music than anything to be found in the maplewood.

should he feel guilty? sure. after everything morningside had done for him, to leave abruptly, without word, was terrible repayment. but he thought grayday might understand, if he saw him now. he knew the man well enough to make that assumption.

and besides, he would be back.

right?

Tags for reference.

It was a time of healing for the Aralez.

The Fearghals’ betrayal was overwritten by the joy, peace, and humor Hemlock, Droman, and @Reed brought to Undersea; and the physical, mental, and emotional torture wrought by the wolves of Blackfeather Woods had been atoned for by Maegi’s loyalty and love. @Komodo’s return to the island had rocked Seelie’s sense of serenity, but he did not hate her! He loved her still, and with this precious knowledge between her jaws, she felt she could accomplish anything. @Rokig and `Io were home again, and though each of them bore new and terrible wounds, Seelie could not help but rejoice — and trust that in time the isle and the sea would help to close them.

She did not rush to answer Aditya’s call, but expected that his reception would be warm. Many of the seawolves knew him from the Hunter’s Moon — and even if they didn’t, Undersea and Morningside had been allies since the pack’s inception.

It was evening when she sought him out, questing paws caressing the sand, sketching a question with every step. She emerged from between a copse of trees and pressed her nose into one of the prints that had not been swallowed up by the lapping, bluelit waves. If she and Komodo could forgive each other — if she could find it in her heart to truly forgive Lotte, Arturo, and the wolves of Blackfeather Woods — wasn’t it natural to believe that she could reach some plateau of peace and understanding with Aditya, too? Wasn’t it natural to assume that he’d come here expressly for that reason? She ached to embrace him, to splash through the shallows and put some cracks in the tension that stiffened her stride, but she didn’t dare.

She did not speak, but she did try to alert him to her presence. A soft and pleading whine wheedled from her lips, lonelier than the call of the gulls.

the whine reached his ears, and he turned, eyes growing even softer than before.

"chikni raat."

he said it quietly enough that she might not hear him, but she, perhaps, could read it on his lips. he strolled toward her, fear and exhilaration together bunching his muscles 'til they were taut as anything. he wanted to embrace her, but held back, aching with the effort. he licked his lips and sighed, staring at her for a long time in silence before speaking.

"it's good to see you," aditya murmured. the understatement hung between them for a moment, tenuous but hopeful. "how are you?" how are the babes? he did not hate the pups; he just wished they were his.

“Chikni raat.”

The tension melted away from Coelacanth in that instant, and a little shimmy danced down her spine as she shook herself vigorously and sneezed, yawning widely to let the nervous hummingbirds free. Tufted ears pinned back against her skull as she inclined her head, tilting it obliquely — she was asking his permission to approach — as one paw lifted in mute entreaty. She waggled the paw to answer his question — “well enough,” — and bunny-hopped a pace or two forward. Her hips canted toward him so that she approached him slightly sideways, answering the tension in his musculature. She wanted to ask about Catori, Winterbourne, Eventide, and Kasatka — how were they faring in the wake of Grayday’s death? — but things were still too tenuous and uncertain for polite conversation, even if it was family news she was after. Seelie wished that Chelan had come back with Komodo and Reigi to bring comfort to his littermate, but his duties had kept him tethered to the island.

the tension abated, if only slightly, when she sneezed and shook herself, and a smile came to his face. there were a multitude of questions in her eyes, each not specific enough for him to answer. though. . . "we are well at morningside," he rumbled, though sadness tinged his tone. "it was a hard summer, but things are looking up."

little did he know that his actions would soon throw his former family into chaos.

"i missed you," he admitted, looking shyly down. his tail swayed slowly behind him, in time with the rush of the sea. "i missed this island. so peaceful." the desires of his heart lingered just beneath the surface; one slip and they'd all come spilling out, a slow pulse of something like blood.

Coelacanth was a naïve, ignorant creature — and she believed wholeheartedly that whatever had lain between herself and Aditya was healed at last. The gap had been bridged, and they would move forward as she believed they had always meant to be: shoulder to shoulder or tip to tail, running furrows into the Strand and dancing amongst the willows near his home. Perhaps some of this optimism was forced; she wanted it to be true so badly that she merely convinced herself it was so. Whatever the case, she crossed the distance to sit beside him and look out at the water for a time, enjoying the companionable silence between idle notes of small talk until it was time for her to return to her brood. There was no reason, she thought, to doubt that this new, enduring peace would last for the rest of their lifetimes.