Ankyra Sound La Lune

@Svalinn

When she went to search for the blonde man, she knew where she ought go looking. The man was a natural sentry, posed often in the Sound waiting for his children as a wife might wait for a husband at sea long after the stormy days had passed.

The sun had only just set, and both the sea and the sky were set ablaze with a vibrant shade of pink. Against the patches of blue sky, the fluffy clouds overhead looked like cotton candy. Sunset brought warmth to everything within its touch- including Chacal’s gaze when it was set upon the faithful father.

She moved toward him, toward where the light snow ended and the sand began, leaving behind pawprints in both. She moved in to lightly touch her muzzle to his cheek, in a gesture that beseeched him to walk with her.

He was sitting when Chacal appeared, posed as a golden statue that overlooked the twilit shoreline and its thinning line of orange light that still blazed across the horizon, setting fire to the waves. An ear twitched at her approach, and he turned his head more out of obligation than surprise.

By now, the quiet sentinel could identify anyone in Sapphique merely by the sound of their steps.

His tail wagged softly as she came toward him, though he gave her a questioning look. This was an unusual moment. Svalinn rarely spoke in more than grunts these days, which meant that he was typically left to his own devices, so long as he provided and guarded as religiously as he had. Still, he welcomed the company. He may not enjoy speaking, but that didn’t mean he never felt lonely.

At her touch, he was on his feet at once, nudging his broad head fondly beneath her proud chin as he matched her stride. He said nothing to the musical Tanzanite at first, though he kept her expression in the corner of his eye, noting the aura of her gilded hood in the glow of sunset.

Alongside him, she could see with a brief flick of her eye where his shoulder stood next to hers; higher, and thicker. She could see the gloss of his pelt, coarsened only by the briny air, and felt an urge to run her teeth through it as if to taste the salt; a telltale urge that spoke of her awakening desires.

She had considered him, at different points, from the cliffs above- always from a distance, though, allowing the man the chance to fulfill the duties he had offered in exchange for a place to call home. She had at first wished for his daughters to return to him, but over the passing months it seemed more prudent to begin wishing that he might one day turn his gaze inward- and look at this place as his true home.

A flock of seabirds were gathered upon the shore, their bills pointed out toward the sea. She tilted her chin to grin at the man, revealing a hint of one of her canines in a brief grin, before she sprinted toward them- sending the birds scattering into the skies.

At her playful gesture, Svalinn turned his stern eyes over the unsuspecting waverunners. He barely had time to register Chacal’s intent before she was bounding away from him, long legs carrying her body as high as if she could summon clouds beneath her feet and command them to carry her.

The bruiser galloped after her, inspired — though the fluttering seabirds hardly had any of his attention. Instead, he focused on Chacal, who had brought to him a feeling of exuberance and light that abruptly reminded him to feel grateful.

Sapphique was well; they were both hale and undaunted; none of them suffered. These were things to celebrate!

He nipped friskily at her flank, urging her into a sportive chase down the darkening shoreline. For in this moment, he thought he could run after her for miles and miles and miles, if she let him.

A downy rainfall of feathers drifted to the ground as she sprinted across the sound, soundlessly chopping her jaws together to hurry the seabirds on their way. The percussive sound of heavy footfalls on the compact sand followed her like a shadow.

She threw a smile over her shoulder, only to find his teeth at her hip, spurring her on. She arched her back and tossed her head like a delighted filly, slowing for a beat so they could draw even. She matched him stride for stride, changing her lead so she could run as close to him as possible without any worry their paws might cross.

He had asked for a race, however- and he would get one, but she invited him toward the shallows at the very cusp of the bay, where the water was foamy and white. She veered toward the shoreline until her feet pattered in the water where it was ankle deep. After a few steady, strides, she yipped, tucked in, and sprinted forward.

A chill shot through Svalinn as he splashed into the water behind Chacal, but there was a warmth and an eagerness radiating from his very core that did not let the coldshock stay. He felt young, effervescent; chasing after her was a boon to his soul — months of woe wiped away with an artful swish of her tail.

Bursts of water and sand sprayed around them, glittering the air and their coats.

She was fast, and jubilant, like the playful wind that birds dance in. He could feel her gale, lifting him up, pressing down on his ears, ruffling through his fur. It were as if he could feel her all over him, which made him realize that he wanted to feel her all over him...

Svalinn stopped abruptly, and he stood panting in the ankle-deep waves, shifting on his paws as they sank in the wet sand. He tasted saltwater when he swallowed. His body tensed, rebuking a burgeoning heat that slithered deep in his belly. We should stop, he called over the roaring in his ears, sucking in a great breath.

He fell behind suddenly, and she, taking no joy in their separation, leaned so she could bend her course toward him, prancing toward him with jovial steps only to notice that something in his features had changed. He resonated with energy, and yet he tried with failing hands to keep it stashed away. She saw through the throaty sound in his voice- if nothing else, it gave him away.

"We should not." She was unashamed of the longing that she felt growing, and moved to dash his away with a loving stroke of her tongue across his cheekbone, so she might press her chest against his and lend him the thundering rhythm of her heartbeat.

She saw right through his facade, his effort to remember himself, to remain the unaffected soldier.

Svalinn's body shuddered at her kiss, inhaling sharply as every muscle tensed deliciously at her merest provocation. The impossibility of suppressing this flood back down to a trickle then dawned on him, and he knew he did not want to stop this just as much as he knew that he couldn't.

He felt her press into him and any coldness that remained in his stance fast melted away. Wordlessly, but not soundlessly, the iceberg of Svalinn cracked and shattered as their heartbeats danced, and piece by piece of him plunged beneath her unending waves until there was nothing left of him above the surface.

A bond that formed them eternal.

He thawed, like an oak softening into a willow. Her skin became hot beneath his touch as if a switch had been flipped, and she felt joy blossom within her chest. She felt no need to sing or speak, not when his embrace spoke so vividly of his acceptance.

If she had known what it was to want someone before, she would refuse the notion now; she pressed against him as if willing for the two of them to become so blended together they might never slip apart. An unspoken vow promised him that she would seek him out again when her time again, to hold her as tightly as this.

For now, she would revel in the moment, and in the promise they both had yet to fulfill.