Ocean's Breath Plateau Innerbloom

Being away from Moonspear was a breath of fresh air for Stingray.

He had never noticed before how stifled he felt on the mountain, surrounded by so many bodies with more purpose in a single toe than Ray felt he had in his whole body. Being out here where the land was open and wild and there were no wolves for miles was freeing. It allowed him to slip back into familiar habits, such as exploring every inch of a nearby woodland or discovering a patch of newly grown mushrooms in the shade of a log, and brought back some of his joy for exploration.

He was shocked to find that Moontide was a far smaller pack than Moonspear. Moonglow had felt like a large pack, too, or perhaps it was their longevity in the area, or the strong scent of puppies he had encountered within their territory. Comparatively, Moontide was only a handful of adults with not a single pup in sight.

Stingray asked around about Marina, like Sialuk had asked, and discovered she was heavily pregnant but well. Moontide would have puppies soon, then, so the pack wasn't necessarily struggling for its smaller size... But he had expected another empire like Moonspear. At home, you could hardly go two miles without bumping into another member of the pack. Moontide was so little he wondered if they were able to hunt effectively, but all the wolves seemed happy and healthy, so they must be doing well despite it.

This remained in the back of his mind throughout the feast, throughout the mingling, and all of their time at the ocean. The time spent in Moontide was a balm to Stingray's recent uncertainty about his purpose in life. Unbeknownst to Stingray, he was rapidly approaching the time when a young male wolf felt compelled to disperse and seek his own fortune elsewhere — for him, it felt like being smothered beneath a great shadow, and when they headed home, he was surprised and guilty to find that he dreaded it.