Ankyra Sound methought a serpent ate my heart away

where once she lagged behind her siblings, she meets with them every developmental milestone, save one. her interest in the world outside the safety of their den is a fickle, wary thing, and a wheeling gull or distant cry has her motivation dissipate. today, however, is different. the ominous presence of some coastal storm has been building since morning, and there is a stillness imposed on the sound that suits the girl nicely. it is late afternoon, now, and the den is relatively quiet. carefully, creeping, she leaves the warmth behind, pausing once on the threshold and then stepping over. her maw is already parted in a nervous yawn, but she persists and focuses instead on the little rivulet of water that trickles through the clearing. it is new and foreign and therefore she is wary, but she prods the stream with a paw all the same, giggling when the water diverts and rushes instead to the right of her paw. it seeks the sea, but her goal now is to stop it. all her paws in a line ought to do the trick, but she was trouble lining them up with no gaps. she tilts this way and that as she tries to use her legs as a dam, oblivious to the fact that the water can't be stopped.