Sequoia Coast this post is sponsored by screaming. it helps!

She does not notice the figure in the distance, mind having wandered off to something else. As easy as it is to distract herself, she finds her mind often blank. Only a few things seem to matter in the following days. Either all her anxiety has cleared or its reached so high she’s incapable of actually feeling it and teetering between the two is a wild ride (if she were to really think about it).
 
The dark figure on the sandy shore starts to materialize but still remains part of the background. A large rock, a tree, something… else entirely. The first hint of moment—seconds before the howl—she’s torn from her haze and snaps to attention. She fights back the grimace as her body shakes to the sudden bolt of pain. Before the howl comes to a conclusion, Mallaidh adjusts her direction for the stranger and after a few yards she realize it is not really a stranger.
 
Other than the fact he was kinda weird.
 
Mallaidh lifts her own nose and howls back her final recognition, hoping to invite him closer; it’ll take nearly twice as long for her to get to him as it would for him to get to her.