Stavanger Bay speckled and sepia

Qilaq spends a lot of days near the water, careful not to get too far in—mostly because it’s gotten too cold—remembering the warnings her parents have given her. It doesn’t keep her fully away, though, and if she looks hard enough, she can see her den (and occasionally mama or papa watching over her. This time, she’d yet to see them, but she isn’t paying much attention. Instead, she’s scouring the sandy shores for the most perfect, least cracked, and in-tact shell she can find.

Only when she has it, carefully cradled between her teeth, she begins a job down the shore. The excitement remains difficult to contain, for fear of breaking the gift, as she approaches the scent she’d been looking for all along. He’d gotten bigger since she’d seen him last, very easily towering her petite frame. The idea he may just be younger than her hasn’t yet crossed her mind. Carefully, and once he’s in view, she sets down the shell and barks for @Rannoch’s attention.