Shimmering Sands Could be happy

After telling @Figment and @Fennec that he was going to be away for a ten days or so to track the herds and to keep an eye out for Elfie and Sugar Glider, he departed the Firebirds for the first time since he'd come back. There was much to think about, and getting away from it all felt like the right thing to do. It was unlikely that Niamh would follow him out here (at least that was what he had hoped), and getting away from her was exactly what he needed. She had quickly squashed any hope of them making amends by being completely unreasonable, even by his very generous standards. He was done trying to repair it. There wasn't even anything to repair. They weren't even involved and it had somehow come to this? Phox certainly didn't want to start something off this way. It couldn't be good for their current kids, and it certainly wouldn't be good for any they might have had in the future.

Exhaling, then inhaling, he took in the smell of the ocean. He had never spent much time there, although both his birthplace and Orca's resting place had a view of the sea from afar. The air was salty and sweet, and the sound of the crashing waves were soothing. He thought about Camilla, and while that relationship had been odd, at least it had been simple. They certainly hadn't quarreled over anything like he'd done with Niamh... and she was only a friend! It was so incredibly frustrating, and if Phox were a vengeful wolf, he probably would have considered all sorts of terrible things he could do to piss her off. Fortunately for her, that wasn't the way these things went.

In fact, he wasn't even sure what he would do when he got back home. In all likelihood, he'd probably attempt to avoid her at all costs. Maybe he would just spend more time outside the copse tracking herd movements rather than keeping close. He knew he wouldn't be able to go on like this forever (or very long, at least). An absurd thought popped into his head then... but maybe Colt had been a dick because he was constantly being hounded by Niamh. That would explain a lot, and Phox was suddenly disappointed that he would never get to ask Colt his side of the story.

And so Phox sat there, staring out at the waves with his one good eye and trying to figure out how he could occupy the same pack as Niamh. He wouldn't uproot Figment and Fennec again, and he wasn't about to leave his children. At the same time, he wouldn't ever ask Niamh to leave (and uproot her children in the process).