Ankyra Sound crystallize

Quiet - but not for long!

If Crosscurrent was the quiet before and after, Riptyde was that still water breaking vigorously, passionately. He saw little need for reflection, introspection. The sea gave him life that was meant to be touched by paws deep in sand and salt and sea-churned bark distant shores tossed up.

He did not see the way mother looked at them.

He did not hear her whispers.

But he did notice the absence of his counterpart whenever he turned aside from their forays by the sea side to inspect the treasures piecemealled along the beach.

Today, he dragged a piece of driftwood across the distance that separated him from his brother, scoring the wet sand with twisted lines. It must have rained the night before. Everything was damp and cool, and the waters lapped in the calm way they always did once the sky had finished breaking.

Riptyde dropped his find with a dull thud.

Hey! he shouted with a gleeful yip, lookit what I found!

He pushed the driftwood over so his brother could get a better look. It was all smooth and water-worn and contorted in patterns he sure had never seen before, not on anything that didn't breathe.

Dunnit look like it's got eyes??