Gilded Bay echoes

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Beneath the waves--far, far from the Teekon shore--there was war. Much like the story told in the Iliad, two bull blue whales sparred for the hand (or, in this case, the fin) of a woman. Only one would take the prize. And so, while she lingered idly by, large, dark eyes watching the scene in something like impassiveness, the two men did battle.

He was the smaller of the two, and younger, too--at a clear disadvantage against his rival. The youth struck first blood, but it was the older that was to be master, father of the brood.

They raced, occasionally coming to the surface,

flying, fury in each pore,

 

only one would win.

Worn down by his first contest, and injured from the fight, the young man eventually drifted off-course, more pulled by the tide than anything else. He was defeated. Miraculously, despite the bloom of crimson blood from his wound, he avoided the scourge of orcas and sharks.

No, instead, his story would have a different ending. For as the mighty blue whale entered the shallows and, with a groan, slid slowly onto the pale sand, his fate had been transferred from the bosom of the sea to the cruel, unforgiving mercy of dry land. His captor was an environment he had never visited, his tormentors creatures he had never seen.

Oh, what an undignified end for such a magnificent creature!

His line would die with him; he would never watch his children grow into kings and queens of the sea. He would dehydrate here, picked apart by predators and scavengers, until only the bones remained. And the echoes in those bones--

--perhaps there would be some that could read his tale within them.

 

Otherwise, he would be forgotten with time.

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written by Emily

there was something beautiful about the scene, despite the circumstances. the whale should have died peacefully in the depths of the ocean; instead, he was breathing his last here, on the shore. it was quietly macabre, little blood and no violence. . .why was there peace, here?

govinda padded up to the creature, flinching as a burst of spray emerged from the blowhole atop his head. he sniffed gently at the rounded nose, his muscles tensing with every slight movement the whale made. the massive eyes were open, dark, sad pools; he could see his reflection within, if he drew close enough. the gulls cried overhead, and he saw the silhouettes of carrion-feeders, lingering nearby.

his stomach rumbled, and he hated himself for it. to feed on this bull while it still lived and breathed. . . he had once been at death's door within the ocean, and had been spared. that sort of mercy looked unlikely for the whale, but the parallel still bothered him. he took a few steps back and sat on his haunches, watching him, waiting for him to expire.

it would be a long wait.

The wolf had left behind the corridor between the mountains where he'd found the black forest, the spectral hollow, the crossroad rivers, and made his way through the forest until he came upon a plain; from there, he headed north, but the scent of salt was still incredibly pungent, and by the time he reached the bay he realized he'd made a mistake. There was nothing here. It was the edge of the world - but at least he could breathe the familiar saline of the air and think about the north, with its impenetrable ice sheets and its glorious sunrises.

Then, he was hit with another scent. Something stronger than the prevalent salt, something almost as familiar - but perhaps he was only hungry. He observed the rolling sand and the breaking of the surf, and only spied stones. Boulders, crusted over with barnacles, layered in patches by reeds caught upon them. The more he looked at them the less interested he became, but as Tulimaq crept along the beach he noticed another wolf -- and they were stopped by a boulder. A large one. And it was... breathing?

The waves swept out again, and he made his approach. It looked as if the sea was retreating from him, but as he neared the bulbous shape - and the other wolf - it came sweeping in again. The wave broke across the whale but Tulimaq remained oblivious to its state of near-death, and chose to call out to the stranger instead -- the gold-cast wolf who seemed to be more at home upon the wet sand.

He meant to return to the grove after taking a brief trip outside the territory, but how could he when the hugest thing he'd ever seen was just sitting there on the shore? He'd first seen it from the highest point of the moors overlooking the grove and mistook it for a weird elongated boulder. But Lucas had a good memory, and he didn't remember there being a boulder that size on the coast when he'd first come down this way. Curiosity got the better of him—what young boy could claim to resist that siren's song of discovery?—and he hastened back to the shore just in time for Tulimaq to hail Govinda, who was seated nearby.

The boulder wasn't a boulder at all, he realized as he padded closer. It was far too sleek. He knew boulders, for there had been many and more boulders strewn along Bearclaw Valley's high walls, and this didn't have the granular, roughshod appearance of a rock. His suspicion was further confirmed by the fact it had eyes. Huge, wet, glistening eyes that held a world of sorrow. They were, he thought, the biggest eyes he had ever seen in his entire life.

"Ohmygoodness," he couldn't help but exclaim, drawing nearer to Govinda whilst shooting Tulimaq a bright grin. There was no hesitation whatsoever when faced with a perfect stranger in front of what amounted to an all-you-can-eat buffet in the making—every wolf was a friend to Lucas, food or no food. He'd yet to meet one who couldn't be befriended, and so he trusted them all implicitly. Poor young fool. "It's amazing! What is it?"

she has more or less remained in govinda's keep, if that is the right word to use. much like before, hamartia finds her days spent solitary, but this does not trouble her, for she has learned to accept quiet and calm. it is not a form of peace. she is not meant for the eyes of others. still, the small gathering lures her from society's edges, even before the strange stench greets her. she spots govinda and two others, unfamiliar, and a magnificent beast stretched out before them, larger than she's ever seen. a whale, she thinks distantly, unsettled by its flattened form on the sands, disrupting the natural order of sea and land.

a sigh, stolen from her, drifts up into the air as she finds a place besides govinda. the boy's question had gone up as she approached, and she adds her own voice to the conversation, melodic tones somber and nearly dulled, "a whale. poor thing." there is little they can do for it, too small to push it back into the water, too weak to kill it quickly and save it the misery of such a slow, tedious death. her thoughts fall into the same line as govinda's, unknowingly; she will stand vigil until it passes. after that they can feast on its rich fat.

first came the muscled stranger, who stayed at a distance. in answer to his call, govinda cocked his head, as if to say, 'come here.' it's all right, he answered, softly enough to not shatter the solemnity of the scene but still audible, to the man. before he could do anything further, lucas arrived, face full of wonder. and before he could answer him, hamartia had supplied her own response, materializing by govinda's side.

he nodded, glancing warmly at her, then turned his gaze to lucas. haan, bachcha. a great beast that lives in the sea. sometimes they get stuck on the sand. his voice trailed off as he looked at the whale, chest rising and falling in a sigh. he will not survive. he'll die without the water.

hamartia, interestingly enough, made no moves to take its flesh, either. he felt a sudden sense of camaraderie with the woman, and edged slightly closer (though keeping wary of any signs that the proximity was too near). he again summoned the man toward them, if the stranger hadn't chosen to come already, and beckoned lucas as well, so that the quartet could sit a sort of vigil for the bull.

Fancy one more, and hope its alright to place our thread before this @Govinda 
have a crapy phone post!

IIt would seem she was destined to spend a lot of tine here, trying to acclimatize herself ti the sharp bite of salt with every breath and the feel of sand between her toes. So far she was not the biggest fan of the little grains of sand but she was a beast that could adapt to this, like she had when she was banished from her home. She had to grow accustom to a lonely life but maybe she didn't have to anymore. Ah but coconuts, now that was a strange fruit. Hard but once broken, it held a sweet milky water and the ivory insides actually tasted good to her. 

Sounds came up from ahead as her copper eyes finally saw what all the fuss qas about, Now what was that thing? Her internal question was spoken outloud by someone else, then answered by another. A whale? Then it was explained further by a man she met just a day ago,  or was it two? She had yet remembered to keep track of time properly now that she was no longer alone. It was something that lived in the sea but was now washed up on the sandy beach. 

She had finally let her presence be known, looking over at the present company of now four canines. She gave a vague smile, clearly not use to crowds. At least, not anymore. Govinda motioned everyone closer and she came to help form a little semicircle near the whale. She positioned herself in the other side of the lead male, the only one she knew before speaking. "There is no way to return him to the water?" maybe it was a stupid question but she did not know the ocean, how it worked or how the creatures in it worked.

Sorry, wasn't sure if it was my turn.

The wolf he spotted had also taken notice of his presence, and while Tulimaq was not waiting for permission to approach exactly, when it was given he felt measurably better about investigating the massive thing upon the beach. As he did so, others drifted across the beach to do the same - but he paid them no mind, checking over the behemoth creature with an investigative sniff and some probing of his muzzle and claws. The thing wasn't about to move; he realized it was injured or old, it smelled sickly and like the brine of the sea so that's where it had come from. Tulimaq was not oblivious to the concept of whales but he had never seen this kind before, and certainly not landlocked in this manner.

He could hear the wolves speaking among themselves behind him, and it wasn't until one of them mentioned returning it to the sea that he paused and looked back over his shoulder, his brow furrowed. No need, he murmured, and then turned back towards the still-living creature and, without missing a step, lifted himself up to his hind legs and sought placement with his teeth. He grabbed at one of the smooth-but-flabby sections and as his fangs sank in to the flesh, he tasted blood mixed with the sweet, fishy flavor of the animal's warm blubber. He tugged and tugged, and maybe the whale protested but he wasn't going to care — and when he sank back upon the sand, he held a fresh chunk of the whale's flesh between his teeth. This, he set down in the sand and took a moment to survey.

A whale, murmured a soft reddish-yellow woman as she approached, drawing Lucas' attention. He'd yet to meet Hamartia, but she seemed familiar with Govinda by the way she picks a spot next to him, and that's enough for him. His gaze traced over her sharply defined black cloak and silver ticking with interest. They stood in sharp contrast to the rest of her fur, that ruddy hue overlaid on slate grey. He'd never seen anything quite like it and spent the next several seconds studying her coat, missing Aiko's arrival entirely, else he might have studied her just as closely.

The Parivaar hopefuls seemed content to watch the monstrous animal expire on its own, but the unfamiliar man among them chose to hasten the process. Lucas, having taken his cues from Govinda, was aghast. "Hey!" he shouted, pricking his ears and feeling a cold wave down his back as Tulimaq came away with a hunk of the whale's flesh. Blood streamed from the wound. "What're you doing?" cried Lucas, who thought that was a horribly cruel thing to do to such a wonderful and surely ancient creature.

He'd never been part of a hunt in Bearclaw Valley and had never seen wolves tear into still-living prey before. Instinct told him to chase and eat meat but everything he'd consumed had been dead prior to being eaten... stealing flesh from a living animal that could neither flee nor defend itself, especially one with such sad and wise eyes, seemed completely wrong to him.

fading out here, anyone who wants to can feel free to tack on their own fades

he knew it would happen eventually, but still it turned his stomach to see the man tear into the sea-beast. it hurt his heart, though, to hear lucas's cry. he might have done the same thing, at the boy's age. he wanted to do it now. and yet, he knew they must live.

it was going to happen eventually, khush, govinda said sadly, mouth tugging downward in a frown. if not us, it would be the vultures, the coyotes. . .other scavengers. the whale has died, but we can live because of it. the most we can do to honor his memory is to make him seem. . .valuable. quite macabre, really.

he stepped forward, ready to tear the salty flesh himself. he said a quick, heartfelt prayer under his breath, and then opened his jaws to devour the king of the waters.