Ankyra Sound Remember, lads and lassies, fairy tales weren't fun stories. They were warnings.

The sonorous cadence of the shifting water slowly drifts in to his unfurled ears. Its been about eight hours since the boy's curled nubs became useful to him; the sounds of his siblings confused him at first so he sought refuge further from them, by the opening to the den, and that was where the white noise filled his head.

He felt sleepy — but he was always sleepy, being so young — and the whispering of the distant sea had a calming effect, like the steady beat of his mother's heart. It was colder here, which was a drawback. A spring wind cut through the reeds and murmured across the den mouth, catching the crimson boy and making him shiver. He turned away from the world outside and glanced with new eyes at his little family, together, asleep and content.

It wasn't enough to lure him back to the warmth of his sisters, or the lethargic body of his brother squished between them. The sound of the breeze was sharper than the sea and when Reyes heard it, he turned his nose up, sniffling and then shuffling his lump of a body, and opened his mouth to imitate the sound - managing an off-key whistle between his tiny teeth.