Sea Lion Shores 1957

The inky ingénue, deeply wounded by Szymon’s aggressive display, slunk back to the shoals with cowed alacrity, her tufted ears pinned tightly against her skull and her sumi-e brush tail tucked between her spindly hocks. Her cheeks billowed like a chipmunk’s and she gripped with taut possessiveness the ears of a cooling rabbit carcass; sizable, it knocked against her forelegs as she moved, and she laid it at the Leviathan’s paws with a timorous desire to please. The storm that raged within him crackled wildly, prickling the sheepdog’s feathery hackles, but his golden eyes regarded her with a distinct lack of aggression. Thus encouraged, she issued an airy whine and laved his chin with an eager tongue, nosing toward Doe with a quizzical tilt of her finely-sculpted head. At his permissive chuff, Coelacanth approached the odd-eared siren and nosed at the corner of the Akhlut’s sharply tapered muzzle. The reason for her puffed cheeks became apparent as she opened her mouth — several blueberries encased in ice rolled like diamonds from her tongue, and she plucked one between her incisors, poking it insistently between the folds of Doe’s lips.

The little Groenendael was still a novice when it came to healing, but she knew this: Szymon had requested food for Doe, but it would take time and energy to eat the rabbit. Already the black-banded Leviathan was stripping the fur from it and tearing it into manageable strips that he placed at his mate’s forepaws, but the fruit — a rare and coveted treat — would provide a more immediate solution. Hovering anxiously, the atramentous acolyte poked a second blueberry into Doe’s mouth, hoping the melting ice wine would help to moisten her dry, tacky gums and make swallowing easier. It was then that Szymon warned her away with a cutting rumble, protective and possessive of his wife — mother of his children, partner in all things — and she skittered away, taking notice of the mist-wrapped female for the first time. Her feathered tail whisked a hurried apology as she took up one of the ice-encrusted wildberries and nosed it toward the female with an instinctive desire to appease her. Neptune eyes half-closed as her tapered jaws parted in a doggish smile, willing the world around her to peace, and she curled her tail around her hips in a demure sit.