Wheeling Gull Isle angry smol

Dated for when the three amigas [@Reigi, @Moorhen, and Seelie] get home.

@Stockholm ♥

There was a wild light in the Aralez’s eye when she returned to the isle.

Leaving Maegi behind wasn’t just an emotional struggle for the sheepdog; it spat in the face of years of physical, biological instinct. Finding lost lambs and bringing them home wasn’t just a natural inclination — it was a need that gnawed at her and threatened to rip her open now, when her headcount (three minus one) amounted to two. Life was a numbers game for the feather-furred shepherd. She was zero. Every new member of her flock added one; every lost member subtracted one; and the count was cumulative. Thus, if by some cruel circumstance she was cast into solitary confinement, she would be measured by the souls she had loved and lost — without her family, she could only ever be negative. There were different categories, myriad specifications, and to a less busy mind the sheer number of folders, cabinets, and locked doors within Seelie’s psyche would seem insanely overwhelming — or perhaps simply insane — but she didn’t know how to live or think any other way.

The journey back to Wheeling Gull Isle had been fraught with memories and nightmares of the Wolfskull and the dread inhabitants of Blackfeather Woods. Now and again, the sheepdog would turn to glance over her shoulder, half-expecting Maegi to appear behind them, saying simply, “I changed my mind,” — but with the sandbar behind them and no sign of the winter-white Melonii princess, she admitted defeat.

She was not feeling steady enough to see her children, but begged her companions to summon Stockholm for her. For her part, Coelacanth padded northwest, leaving an obvious trail until at last she reached Wavewrack Lagoon — and there, as she so often did when she was distraught, she submerged her body entirely until only her ears, eyes, and the tip of her nose broke surface, a tiny sheepcrocodile surrounded by a warm blue glow of scintillating sea sparkle. She waited for the familiar feeling of cleansing and healing the island gave her, but it never came.