Sea Lion Shores this ain't no place for no hero.

@Coelacanth @Julep @Isengrim If you guys have time or want a thread. Otherwise AW! <3

Though the majority of her days were now spent marking borders, and tending to her Sisters, Akantha decided to wander south today in search of Cathenna. She hadn't seen the strong-willed woman since before the blizzard and worried that she might have succumbed to the elements as Astraios had. The beach was relatively empty today; the sun clear and high in a bitterly cold sky. A gentle wind from the inland reaches was blowing out and over the Sea, sending the spray whipping up and over the rolling waves as they crashed into the rocky shore. A few sea lions remained to bask in the rare winter sunlight, but the grand majority were likely out hunting or doing whatever sea lions did.

Akantha trailed along the grasses high above the tideline, rooting out scents and scaring off seabirds as she passed by their roosting areas. A few gulls wheeled overhead, crying out at her for the distruption, but they were not protecting young here. Not yet. It was too early in the season for these lower shore birds. A dried up hollow of a crab shell crunched underfoot as she walked, and she paused to glance at it passively before continuing on down the shore. There was no sign of wolves, not even a scent trail. The only thing she could sense was the pungent musk of the great blubbery beasts, the salt, and the sea. 

But she continued on, determined to find the answer to her question.

Julep Cairn was not an easy one to manage. However she could, and whenever she got a small chance, the little tiger shark would do her best to give the sheepdog a hard time. Running away, hiding from them, messing with her siblings, rejecting her guidance, were but the simplest of ways Julep made her statement. She was not Coelacanth's daughter.

She'd done her best to avoid leaving the bay, the place that had seen her birth, where she would reunite with her parents... But she'd been forced this once, along her brother and sister, to leave their home behind. Winter was taking a toll on them, proving to be simply too much for the seadog alone to overcome, and so they'd parted in search for refuge, trailing along the coast in what seemed an aimless journey in Julep's golden eyes. She didn't stray too far from the group, but Julep went ahead on her own to take the matters in her own hands. The coastline was her path, and her bravery the drive. She wanted to be the one that saved her family, not the sheepdog, and so she would find shelter before another snowstorm him them like the last time.

Not far from the Bay, Julep heard a strange grunting that caught her attention. She rushed up a sand hill to find an even stranger scene. A beach, stretching for miles, carpeted in smelly and noisy sea lions. Julep had heard about these creatures once or twice, but she'd never seen one up close before. Curiosity overtook her, and she trotted down to the beach to make her way between the fat and the heat of the lazy beasts. For the most part they allowed her to walk by, but not all of them were as careless. Some would chase after Julep, to which the girl would easily escape with a sprint.

As she wandered, she began to accept that the answer she sought would never be found. Cathenna had come and gone as a ghost in the fog, and Akantha struggled to even remember the grayscale Siren's voice, scent, and even face. A part of her wanted to mourn her loss, but it was not her way to lament over the souls who drifted in and out of her life. It was as constant as the tides—some were loyal, others were secretive, and some were just lacking good judgement. The Sea would reclaim them all in time.

But just as she was turning to leave, she caught movement darting quickly between the mass of sea lions further down the shore near the waves. Her eyes narrowed. Who would be foolish enough to get so close to them? She descended the dunes, intent on seeking out the reckless creature, and seeing just what fate would serve them today. A small frame emerged behind a thick huddle of cows—awkward proportions on a half-grown body. A child! 

With a furitive glance sent to the nearest pile of beasts, Akantha shot forward in pursuit of the girl. Her long legs devoured the distance and soon she was jogging parallel to the smaller canine, ears twisting and eyes occasionally flickering up to take stock of the situation. So far the sea lions seemed rather neutral to their presence, though a nervous mother bellowed a warning across the backs of her sisters to stay away. 

Akantha cut off the russet girl with a few good strides and stood firmly in front of her to block further passage, "Where are your parents?" she rumbled disconcertingly, ears and eyes fixated on the young child.

Julep was too thrilled by her adventure to notice just how dangerous it was to get in the way of a sea lion the size of those around her. She snickered at those that tried to reach her, the way their bodies bounced was hilarious, and she ran the other way as though she was mocking them for how slow hey were. Their grunts and growls were all but threatening at that point, and Julep felt untouchable.

Suddenly a dark wolf came across, blocking Julep's way with her massive body and staring down at the child as though she was doing something wrong. Julep halted her advance, taking a defensive stand as she met the Amazon's question with fiery golden eyes. "Mom is lost and daddy's looking for her," she said confidently, unable to see the sadness of her situation. "I miss them, but the black dog is taking care me and my siblings..." she added thoughtfully now that she was revealing stuff to this stranger. And if that was out, why not add: "Well, Moorhen is not my reeeal sister but her mom died and uncle Skelly left too and mom and dad were taking care of his kids but they're not back yet... Her siblings were also with us but they are dead now..." she concluded, pretty much summarizing the story of her life. "Who did those to you?" she asked about the scars over her snout in return, feeling well acquainted by now after her detailed introduction to get into the deeper questions. She's seen some of those scars in her dad, and although she'd never really asked him about them she'd always felt very curious about them. "They look really cool!" she added. They looked cool on his dad, and on this one too... Maybe it was time for Julep to get a couple of her own since all the cool guys had them.

The black dog in question, as though conjured by Julep’s mention of her, materialized with @Isengrim and @Moorhen in tow. She moved swiftly, fluidly over the sand she loved and halted beside the small girl who would one day surpass her in size, meeting the larger female’s hawklike gaze with intensely protective Neptune eyes. The inky ingénue could not be sure of this stranger’s intentions, and her uncertainty reflected itself in her waiflike musculature; her stance was an incongruent mix of defensiveness and vague submission, humming with potential energy, her fawnlike legs bent slightly at the elbows, carpi, and hocks while her feathered tail swept low and to the side. Urchin-like hackles lifted along her spine and shoulders, and for once, her pelagic gaze lacked its characteristic shyness. These were her lambs, and even though the master and mistress were gone from Coelacanth’s life, she’d sworn to protect the Three.

The little Groenendael lacked any sort of control over Isengrim and Julep — but she felt a particular sense of duty toward the more biddable Moorhen, whose self-enforced stillness and silence were both encouraging and daunting, endearing and alienating. It was between Moorhen and Akantha that she placed herself — partially because knowing the little tiger shark and her gunmetal barracuda brother, they’d bite her as soon as her back was turned — but she would willingly have given her life for any of them.

The girl had progressed to following when the other three left the den, though it was not with the same boisterous intent as her cousins. Moorhen trailed after their shepherd like a toy dog pulled by a string, never growing closer or futher from the safety of her shadow. Seashells don't walk still sometimes rang in her mind, but more often, she was content to be the small, stoic shadow of Shadow.

Her face, previously a stone set of indifference, now sometimes gave small, tremulous hints at her emotions. Happiness, most often, because negative feelings sent her spiraling back toward her natural state of seashell.

But today had been good. She liked to see her cousins having fun. She liked to go on walks with Doe's Shadow. She liked the ocean, liked the warmer weather, liked the shift of sand beneath her paws.

What she didn't like was strangers, especially not when they were so close to Julep. Moorhen felt a strange urge to do something deep in the pit of her belly, but she ignored it, having no sense of how she was supposed to act on this urge. Instead, she merely froze where she was, falling out of the Shadow's shadow as she metamorphosed into a seashell.

Akantha stood rooted, waiting. Her disatisfaction churned deep in the pit of her stomach, the feeling akin to digesting gravel, at the sight of the young nymph out here without any supervision. It was a heaviness, and anger. But the little fawn soon explained the situation in a rush of facts in the way children often did when trying to dodge around responsibility and get back to having fun. The names rang no bells, nor did her situation. It was clear she was in some sort of trouble, or had been, but when, how, and why remained a mystery that Akantha was not keen to dig into.

Instead, she obliged the girl if only to keep her interested by bowing her head so that she may get a better look at the gnarled scar tissue. "I'm a warrior, and I protect my Sisters from bad guys." She explained, her voice lacking any inflection, but her eyes sparking with a sudden intrigue. If she could lure the girl back to the Blackwater Islands... 

Suddenly, the fluid movement of an inky shape caught Akantha's attention. A twinge of fear rocketed down her spine and her hackles raised as a result, bristling high, and standing at full attention. Her tail lashed, and her lips pulled taunt over her concealed teeth while she braced herself for an assault. This was the black dog, Akantha concluded, as the shepherd crept near with a earth-kissed sprite frozen beneath her protective heights. Her ears peaked atop her skull, and her eyes narrowed as they fixated on the queer set of the hybrid's face. She was entirely alien to Akantha. All fluid angles, thin musculature, and tall tufted ears cloaked in the most unusual hue of bluish black. 

Akantha noted the demure creature's inclination to submit despite the jaws of something far more powerful menacing one of her lambs. She lashed her raised tail and lifted her head to curl it protectively over her throat. There was something formidable willing to make itself known should the Matriarch give her reason, and it gave Akantha pause to reassess the situation. "You took it upon yourself to care for these children alone," Akantha spoke, "even though it was the wilds themselves that likely stole their parents?"

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Eyes of molten gold spark up at the strong sound of the word "Warrior" as spoken by the amazon. It is strong because it had grown deep into the tigress' mind that one day she would become one herself. She was a Cairn, and Cairns were warriors. Skellige had been a warrior king, the Leviathan embodied, and Szymon had rightfully taken the mantle too. This was a chance that was presenting itself to Julep, a chance to become what she was meant to be. Akantha could teach her while her father was away. He would be so pleased. It becomes clear in her mind as the warrior bows to flaunt her battle marks.

"Teach me!" she wanted to say, but the arrival of the sheepdog cut her breath short before she could voice it. Akantha's eyes shift away, and Julep's follow shortly after. Unlike Akantha, Julep turns to take a most offensive stand. She snaps at the black dog's heels as though telling her to go back the way she'd come, "Go away Shadow! she growls, frustrated that she'd caught up with her so quickly. Julep did not need anyone following her steps anymore. Coelacanth could keep Moorhen if she wanted, and Isengrim could do as he pleased... Julep was coming back with Akantha to wherever the awesome things happened.

Take me with you! she said, turning at the warrioress with big, pleading eyes, ears folded back and tail desperately calling for the woman's attention. I'm a warrior too! I don't want to go back with her! she begged. There was little to no thought put into what Coelacanth had done to maintain the girl's life. In Julep's mind the Groenendael was simply not her mother, and whenever dad brought her back she would be freed from her boring silence.

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The little tiger shark’s abuse was nothing new to Coelacanth, who regarded the Matriarch with wounded Neptune eyes and dipped her finely tapered muzzle in an affirmative nod. Tufted ears flattened against the smooth slope of her velveteen crown at the whelp’s cruel dismissal, but the sheepdog stood her ground and scraped up what little crumbs of dignity she could muster. Seelie was a creature who wished only to be loved as she loved — but it simply wasn’t in the cards for her. She had wanted to love Kierkegaard and Marbas; she had loved Doe; and though she had learned to expect very little from Szymon Cairn and his children, she had hoped — especially with Moorhen’s blossoming, especially with Isengrim and Julep’s reduced aggression —

The atramentous ingénue’s plume went abruptly limp, a brushstroke of movement that swept along her hindquarters in a sinuous wave and repainted her silhouette into something dejected and broken: she turned to Moorhen in that moment and groomed the stoic, frozen little face, keeping busy in a futile attempt to hide her hurt. The barely audible patter of her haunches and tail as they puddled to the sand in a pool of indelible ink rained heavy in the silence that was all she had left. She would wait long enough to see if the weathered Amazon would take the girls, and then she would return to the bay where no one lived, to wait for the mistress who wasn’t coming home.

Julep's cries do not go unacknowledged, and neither does her aggression towards the "shadow". Akantha watches their brief interaction unfold—there is little love lost between the two, at least from Julep's perspective. Judging from the hurt that painted itself plainly across the wolfdog's expression before she bowed her head to hide it, the feeling was not at all mutual. She cared, deeply, but it was clear to the Matriarch she was not willing to tear the girl away if she desired to leave. Her heart went out to the strange, shaggy hybrid, though the depth of her sympathy was not immediately obvious to the strangers in her present company.

Akantha slowly reached over to brush her snout across the top of Julep's head, but kept her eyes trained on Seelie. "You can come," she confirmed, stealing a look down at the sandy pup and offering her a smile. "but would it be alright if I asked your shadow and sister to join us? Wouldn't be fair to offer you a home and not them, right?" The Matriarch was pleading to Julep's sensibility and sympathy, though she would extend the offer even if Julep didn't agree—it was simply easier, and less noisy, to get the child to side with her.

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Julep seemed to be blind to the pain that clearly painted the shadow's features. She was young, she'd gone through loss already and her feelings were troubled. But she had one thing clear in her mind, she wanted to go with Akantha and leave behind the shadow that simply was not her mother or father. There was nothing that Julep wanted to learn from Seelie, nor would she for as long as she could be forced to remain behind her.

She was clearly conflicted, baffled even when Akantha suggested that the Shadow tagged along. Moorhen could come, she was family, but Seelie simply was not good enough in Julep's thoughts. Moorhen can come, she decides, glancing and nodding at her little cousin as though she was telling her to leave the shadow. But she isn't a warrior, says the little water tiger pointing at Coelacanth, then looking up at the amazon with determination.

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Last post from me! ♥

Even in her desolation, the tiny Groenendael strove for politeness; tufted ears perked like two inky exclamation points in response to Akantha’s attempt at diplomacy, but she kept her Neptune eyes locked firmly on Moorhen. “I have loved you well,” bespoke her glimmering pelagic gaze and the low, entreating whisper-whine that sighed brokenly from her lips. Tenderly, she bathed the little seashell’s face one last time and then rose to stand behind her, catching the Matriarch’s eye with a meaningful look as she gracefully bent her head in what might have been an act of supplication. Her meaning became clear when she set the bridge of her finely tapered muzzle against the silver-striped girl’s rump and pushed her gently toward her cousin.

No, Coelacanth was not a warrior — she was not even a sheepdog now that her lambs had grown into their teeth and turned against her — but there was no room in her for resentment or bitterness. There was only the sudden, terrible understanding that she did not belong to anyone now. All the names that had once seemed so bright and beautiful and rare cracked like glass, incising her cupped and trembling hands before falling jaggedly out of reach. She spared a final, stricken glance toward the little tiger shark, tufted ears cupping uncertainly before falling dejectedly back against her slender skull — and then, in a continuation of that motion, she turned away from the trio and padded slowly away.

Julep's path was set, and it seemed the shadow was not keen on following where she was not wanted. Akantha watched in solemn silence as the hybrid nosed the small gray pup forward to join the other in the Matriarch's shadow. She would not sit here and demand the silent woman join them though there was a large part of her that wanted to extend the hand of friendship to the odd creature. Warrior or no, she would have benefited from a life on the Islands, and the help of the Sisters to raise these little lionfish pups.

Akantha ushered the pair in close and watched as the dejected shepherd turned and slowly began to walk away, pain and lonliness painted in every languid shift of her almost feline frame. Her ear twitched and her mouth twisted as she fought the urge to drag the hybrid back with them. But the pair of pups beneath her demanded her attention far more than the aimless wanderings of the lone she-dog. 

With a warm rumble of affection, she nosed both children and made a path towards home. "Come, then, and I'll show you your new home."