Totoka River Falstaff sings a sorrowful refrain

As Lucas made his way down the littered coastline, his wide paws squelched in the waterlogged sand and he stumbled multiple times over his own feet. Somehow it was easier to navigate the coastline when it was dry than when it was wet. Something about the sand kept tricking his eyes when he looked down at it, making him feel like he was sliding sideways even though he was walking in a straight line. Licking his lips now and again, Lucas kept telling himself he would only go a little further. Just a little further and he would find someone new to recruit for Govinda. Just a little further and he might see Reigi again. Just a bit more and maybe he would even find his family.

But his family was very far inland, so far that the wildest wind the ocean could conjure couldn't sweep the salt smell far enough to reach them. Reigi was at Undersea, and he couldn't remember how far away that was. And he seemed to be completely alone on the beach with its seaweed and its driftwood... no recruiting potential there. At least, he was alone until he reached the river.

It was the sound of retching that first made Lucas slow down and cock his ears, followed by the familiar tinkle of running water. With a gentle frown, he began heading for the trees and spotted Thresher just before reaching them. She was hunched by the water, grooming her bright blonde fur. She was smaller than him, much smaller given his immensity, but not so small that he suspected she was younger. He was admittedly a terrible judge of age. Thresher could have been the same age as him or maybe even older for all he knew. She sort of resembled Piper when last he'd seen his sister, though not the fur colour. If Piper was a wildfire in December's snow, then Thresher was the July sun outshining a dark rain cloud.

"Are you okay?" he called out, politely stopping just near the water's edge without drawing too close to Thresher. He would've happily rushed right over and given her a wolf hug if that's what she'd wanted—he was just that kind of guy—but he didn't know her or what she might want, or what she was doing here all on her own, or if she needed help.