Sea Lion Shores when the shadow comes to take me away

val had no reason to know it then, but rosalyn's soul had fled south, her love dying somewhere on a beach he'd never been.

she's home.

rosalyn took one step southward. val offered her his shoulder, ripples of tension fighting the skin along his body. his fur stood on end to be so close - to be touching seawater now. it choked him to know he would have to walk through this --

for maman.

she was listless. he would be her rudder, always. this way, maman. he tried gently to steer her in the direction he'd come. his footsteps darkened the sand north -- their trail fading into the sands.