Wheeling Gull Isle wanderer, what are you searching for?

there was a storm. lightning. thunder. torrential rains that chilled you to the bone. winds that swept you off your paws. there was no escaping the storm, if you had no home to speak of. the packs of the cliffs were tucked away in their caves, safe and dry.

but aditya was alone. he had always been alone.

his pelt of browns and tans, already soaked from the downpour, was pulled beneath the waves. his golden eyes stung from the salt sea. his legs, burly and strong, were ineffectual now. they churned and kicked, desperate to free the rest of his body from the ocean. to no avail. he felt himself sinking. down. . .down. . .into a darkness he had only heard described in--

"hhhhhhg!"

aditya gasped desperately for air as his head finally hit the surface of the water, crashing through like a whale breaching. he blinked rapidly, trying to get the water from his eyes. his legs felt like limp seaweed, yet he somehow felt the strength to weakly paddle. the water was calm.

how long had he been under?!

"haye bhagwaan," he intoned, his voice raspy and reedy. just before the darkness had overcome him, he felt as if. . .something. . .had pushed him to the surface. yet when he had gone under before, the skies were the color of slate, the wind drowning out all other sounds save waves crashing. above him was a sky as blue as it could be, cloudless, and he could hear seabirds calling. had he slept? had he dreamt? was he dead?

before he could ruminate further on the endless existential possibilities, aditya felt the tips of his paws skim seafloor. he was washing ashore! breathlessly, he tugged himself through the shallows onto the beach, then flopped over, chest rising and falling with the barest of motion.

and fell promptly asleep, eyelids tugging downwards, feeling like a stone in the sand.