Totoka River Help me do it myself

Loneliness was the inky ingénue’s overarching theme, and she knew its symptoms well. A soft, airy whine of empathy spilled tonelessly from her tender lips as the ocher-eyed little sparrow regarded her, the forlorn expression upon the foundling’s young visage replaced with one of wonder. Beautiful? Coelacanth regarded the pattern of scars that dappled her chest like a stylized pair of wings and felt her velveteen cheeks flush in bashful demur. Slender forelegs opened to usher the small, defenseless girl in; if she allowed it, Coelacanth would bathe her fragile crown in kisses. More than ever, she wished for a voice, that she might sing or hum the girl a lullaby. She smiled with shy fondness at the instantaneous gift of a name — simple and innocent, “Darky” would she be to the tiny wanderer. She shook her head regretfully — she did not know where the rodent had escaped to or who “Aggie” was — and got slowly to her paws, not wanting to startle the little wolf. Her delicate features were friendly and reassuring as she offered the wolfling an arch-eyed smile.

A low whuff of invitation and a warm expression in her bright seablue eyes, and Coelacanth flowed into a graceful walk, wading in the river where the water turned brackish. Here there were shallow pools and crevasses where aquatic creatures might hide, well within the pup’s capabilities. Pointing her streamlined muzzle toward one such pool, Coelacanth whisked her ink-feathered tail in blithe invitation and gestured with a quirk of her finely-sculpted head, hoping that the little one would come and see the miniature universe just waiting to be discovered. Therein lay a few small fish that had been trapped between saltwater and fresh — an excited “bark” escaped the Groenendael, as whispery as her whine had been. She crouched like a cat before a bowl of rich cream, her oceanic eyes intently staring into the pool — and then, with a swift scooping motion of her paw, she landed one of the small fish onto the bank. It would still be a challenge, but the cub should be able to pounce on the fish and “kill” it, satisfying her hunting urge while teaching her an important lesson: food could be gleaned from the water as much as from the land.