Sea Lion Shores This bridge was written to make you feel smitten

@Reed 

In the recent days Wraen and @Maia had left flatlands behind and arrived at the coastal area. The weather was cold, it rained occasionally and even the sun broke through the thick cover of gray clouds now and then. The rutting season of the deer was in full swing, they had come across many herds that were on the move and listened to the war songs of the stags, it's echoes traveling far and wide. Though both sisters were top predators and technically did not have to fear these ungulates, Wraen thought it better not to encounter the big beasts now, when adrenaline and testosterone was coursing through their veins and they saw potential challengers in every creature their met. 

Therefore the peaceful territories by the ocean were a welcome change. When they first scavenged on the shores, Wraen recalled a very dim memory of doing this together with Osprey once, who had lived not too far from the coast and visited the shores frequently. The food here was different and you had to spend a lot of time sorting out edible and valuable morsels from those, who were not, but each got their fill regardless and then - being in a very good mood - they engaged in a game of chase. All in all life treated the Redleaf sisters well. 

On this particular afternoon Wraen had left Maia on her own and come to the shores, in order to have a better look at the sea lions and find out, whether these creatures, who were so clumsy on solid ground, could become a suitable prey for two hungry wolves. They were big and her hunter's experience told her that they might be more dangerous than they appeared in the first glance. Therefore Wraen did her observations and learning from a safe distance, gradually closing on the animals.

in the time since maegi's depature reed has not been up to much. her life continues on as it ever is, small and safe within the island. even the incident with aditya had failed to rouse much from her -- she had not been there to actually witness anything, and though, of course, she had availed herself of whatever @Coelacanth might need, medically she had not been much needed.

yet it is not boring! not at all. reed likes her idyllic life fine and well -- but she is old enough to perhaps widen her horizons, and truthfully, part of her wonders how difficult it would be to track down her old friend, or for that matter, her half-sister. the island does not need her for a day, at any rate, and so the yearling makes her way inland, traveling for travel's sake. 

it is not her first time witnessing the sealions but she has never paid much attention to the fat, unsuitable things. they are loud -- loud enough she does not intend to linger, but as she walks she catches sight of another wolf. the small fearghal sweeps back a step, observing her strange watching without interruption for a few moments, trying to puzzle out what she is up to. the strange girl has some sort of fascination with the sealions, reed guesses, though what she cannot fathom -- they are much too large and unruly too hunt, and too dumb for companionship.

curiously reed moves closer, issuing a short bark to announce her presence. "what are you doing?" she asks bluntly, her seaglass gaze flickering between the stranger and the sealions.

Sea lions were big beasts, fat and from what Wraen could gather by simply watching them, lazy and not very fast. One such could easily feed two grown up wolves for two three days, fill their bellies up to the brim and give a very much needed respite from the constant search for food. They also did not seem particularly bothered by the curious predator, because she had managed to come so close now that she stood inches away from the nearest set of flippers or tails, or whatever these appendages were called.

She sniffed and moved around the flock, and right when a youth, clad in russet pelt called out to her and she turned to see, who it was, she had also come face-to-face with one of the sea lions. It was not so laid back as it's comrades, because it roared at Wraen, who had not expected this, therefore jumped and took several awkward strides away from the animal. It roared again, gave the dumbfounded wolf a look full of contempt and then returned to the nap she had so rudely interrupted. "Grumpy, eh?" Wraen sounded relieved, as she looked over at the young wolf again. "Do you deal with them often?"

reed isn't sure for a moment whether the woman is calling the sea lion or her grumpy, and a rather cross expression fleetingly pinches her face. but no, obviously she means the sea lion that shouted in her face -- the girl's own face smooths out as the stranger looks to her, not the least bit sheepish for having made that temporary assumption. what? it's not as if others haven't taken her to be a grump. she's just rough around the edges. and more than a little self-important.

the titian medic shakes her head as she takes a few steps closer, leaving a wide birth around the cranky sea creatures. "they don't come in as far as the island," she explains, gesturing with her slim nose back toward undersea. at this distance it is a fragile line of green against the glassy blue horizon. "besides, they're loud, obstructive, and probably don't even taste good," reed adds, crinkling her nose at the thought; whether or not that is what the stranger was attempting to do, her opinion on it is pretty clear. she hasn't gotten a clear answer to her original question yet but she declines to press it, instead saying, "i'm reed, by the way," with a little flourish.

Wraen had no knowledge of a pack that lived on the island and was connected to the shores by a sand bridge, therefore she did not quite understand Reed's comment about the sea lions. This she let slide, because the next comment about them not tasting good was a confusing. All this big slab of meat and not one gourmet piece in it? She did not believe it and shook her head. "You think? Good thing I am not very picky about my food then, am I?" she said with a smile.

"Reed - nice to meet you. My name is Wraen," she introduced herself as well and politely dipped her muzzle. She wondered briefly, whether the naming choice for this kid had something to do with the home she lived in. And on that aspect - where did she live? "You live somewhere nearby?" she asked, casting a glance around to at least guess the general direction of the russet she-wolf's home, but could not find the perfect match here.

huff. reed further crinkles her nose disastefully at the woman's.. joke? probably not a joke, actually. there's no accounting for taste. smoothing her expression out she murmurs, "suit yourself," eyeing the sealion nearby as if it is about to offer itself up as an unappetizing course and force her to eat it. 

(truthfully, though, this wraen is probably right -- reed can just afford to be picky.)

her question is much more tasteful. "i do," the titian girl answers, indicating the island off-shore with an elegant nose-led gesture. "the island over there -- oh, it's a little hard to see, maybe, but there's a bridge you can cross when the tides aren't high. my pack is named undersea." she pronounces undersea with as much pomposity as she can manage -- as if she were naming holy ground and not a very small pack on a very small island very few are likely to have heard of. to her it is as good as holy, anyway. "i don't go off-island often, but i have a friend who left us some time ago, and i thought i'd try to visit her, maybe. how about yourself?" she asks, lifting her brows curiously. there's no pack smell clinging to wraen that she can tell -- but she knows so very little about life inland, as it were.

"Island, wow, I would have never guessed," Wraen turned to look in the direction Reed had pointed to, narrowing her near-sighted eyes, in order to get a better picture of it. But it was too far for her to make a clear distinction, therefore she satisfied her curiosity with a well-measured guess that the piece of greyish-green that broke the straight line of the horizon, could be the said island. Wolves, who had settled there, definitely deserved a golden star for strategically interesting choice of location. If Sunspire wolves had lived there and not in the mountains, Terance and other guardians would be out of job. 

She stopped her mind from wandering too far and listened carefully to the rest of the information she was provided. It was obvious that this russet vixen was proud of it's home and in her eyes no other territory came even close to in beauty and worthiness. This was probably a sign that she was well-cared for and had lived in a safe environment, had not lacked attention or been repressed in any way. A lucky kid. Not all had had the same luck in life. "Undersea - does this means you are in possession of not only an island, but also some undersea caverns - spaces?" she asked in a friendly curiosity. "Do you by any chance have any connection with merfolk of the legends?"

she can't help but preen a little under wraen's interest -- the island is quite interesting, thankyou, as is reed herself. her question interrupts this little display, tilting her head in thought. "there's the labyrinth by the skybowl," reed answers, not bothering to elaborate on what any of those words mean, "they're caves, yes, though i don't know if that's why aralez named us so." and then -- 

"merfolk?" she asks, curious -- it's not a legend she's ever heard,  but storytelling was not a large part of her growing-up or her current life, either. the stories her family passed on were stories of the family they'd been parted from, the haunting of the life reed should have had but did not. arturo and lotte were her mythological figures. frankly, it'll be nice to hear something else for a change.

"What is skybowl?" Wraen asked, lifting her gaze up to the sky above, which gave a dome-shaped impression and was the closest to the meaning of the aforementioned term. What could it's geological equivalent be, was a mystery to her though.

"Merfolk - mermaids - part wolves, part fish? The story goes that they live and hunt in the underwater forests and resurface only once in a while to check up on the people here," she told. "And some believe that they sing the most beautiful and enchanting songs and lure people in the water. They drown and they take their souls to their kingdom afterwards. I am not really sure, what they do with the souls there though."

They talked for a bit longer and then each went their way.