Dragoncrest Cliffs cloudbreak

As soon as they returned, Meerkat sent up a call to let their pack mates know they were back. Happy but tired, she sought someplace to catch up on sleep, only to find it rather elusive. There were far too many emotions swirling around inside her. She gave up after a while and headed to the beach, heartbeat syncing with the familiar pounding of the surf.

For some reason, she began to cry. It was cathartic, so she indulged herself, spending nearly half an hour perched on a dune and weeping herself empty of emotion. When she recovered, she sniffled and wiped at her nose, then sat up a little straighter. Meerkat took a deep breath of cool, salty air, then loped toward the waves.

She spent the next half an hour cleansing her weary body in the saltwater, then retreated back to the beach. She curled up in a ball, paying no mind to the sand sticking to her wet fur. She fell fast asleep this time.

Meerkat woke up some hours later to find the sun in an entirely different position in the September sky. She couldn’t tell if it was early or late. It was a little disorienting, yet she didn’t feel the confusion or fogginess that sometimes accompanied naps at odd hours.

In fact, she felt perfectly refreshed. Standing and stretching, her lips twitched into a smile small as she shook out her pelt, flinging bits of salt and sand into the air. She felt hunger gnawing at her guts and reluctantly turned inland to scrounge up a meal.