Shimmering Sands far from any road

@River

Back into the Teekons again.
 
The two young wolves had made a habit of roaming in and out of their beloved homeland. They had not strayed back toward where Diaspora had been. The dark boy had imagined that this was due to the number of memories that they had shared with the pack. Their father had died on that mountain, after all. What reason did the fledglings have to keep digging that up?
 
Dark paws pressed into the sand near the lapping waves. Trench turned his narrow muzzle to gaze back over his shoulder. Nearby, River had stepped away to search out a scent. The wild furred youth anticipated that she would be back soon enough. It wasn’t like her to remain far from his side.

A rotting jellyfish had caught River's eye, leading her astray. "Ewwwwww—! she marveled as she crouched at the creature's side; it was unlike anything she had ever seen before. In time, after circling 'round the carcass multiple times, River mustered up the courage to poke it—somehow, it's reek didn't deter her. Screaming in reaction to how it felt—namely, how slimy it felt—River jumped onto all fours and then ran towards down-shore in the direction that Trench had strayed. 

"Oh my god, TRENCH!!" River called once she spotted him from a distance.  "You'll never guess what I found, it was super gross."

Her voice called out to him. The dark ear atop his head swiveled to meet her just before he swung his head around and pointed the narrow length of his dark muzzle at the sandy girl.
 
River was bounding toward him on excited legs. Trench marveled at how much energy she seemed to have. There was something to be admired in the curiosity that swelled inside of his sister and the way that she so willingly indulged that. For the reserved boy, he often worried about the consequences of straying too far. Having his sister there was like having a taste of adventure that he was not courageous enough to take on his own.
 
“What have you found, River?”
 
The boy’s voice was light and pleasant. His long limbs had paused in their trek to allow for the girl to catch up to him. On the edges of his lips, there existed a ghostly smile. The silver flecks in his gaze caught the sun and shimmered at her fondly.

River drew in a deep breath once she had drawn alongside Trench; running on the sand was harder than she had remembered. "Well," she began as a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "I followed that weird smell that told you about —you know, before I ran off back there— and I found some sort of alien, or something. It was suuuuuper gross looking. It was like... a bee hive, but you could see through it, and it had a ton of long, skinny legs!" River's face scrunched as she recalled the brief encounter, and she stuck out her tongue; she had never seen anything like it. "But the worst part? It was slimy—it was... so gross." 

River glanced at Trench then, guaging his reaction to the story.

As the girl fell into step alongside him, his ear turned to her as though it had been trained to do so. His sights remained fixed forward. Trench was keen on knowing where it was that they were headed. He wanted nothing more than to listen to her recounting of the discovery that had been made – River had a way with stories that had always captivated the jade-eyed boy.
 
The sandy girl went on to say what she had seen and how she had come across it. The sphinx could not suppress the wry smile that had spread along his dark lips. The more she explained about the creature, the more he wished that he had not been so dedicated to their path moving forward. There were times when the boy believed that he missed out on too much, that his sister was far more interesting and willing.
 
“You should show me, River… let’s go back and find it,” Trench remarked to her, pausing in his trek to turn his head over his shoulder and gaze back at their steps in the sand. It wouldn’t take much of their time, and the girl hand sold him on the possibility of what had been discarded in the sand.

"Yeah?!" replied River immediately; she had no reason to doubt Trench's statement. Excitement consumed her then, radiating a feeling that drove her next move. "Well, come on, then!" she prompted, nudging her brother's shoulder before turning heel and turning in the opposite direction. Once in position, she bolted with a laugh; it was time for their next adventure! 

Trench had hung around River long enough to know that he'd have to catch up. Once in motion, nothing stopped her.

The eager rush that flooded her system was a startling contrast to the even-keel expression on the dark wolf’s face.
 
The slender length of the girl’s muzzle was pressed to his shoulder. The lean young beast turned to where she would lead him, following her excited trail with a cool flicker of his jade gaze. As the sandy figure of his sibling darted ahead, leaving a series of prints in the shoreline, Trench regarded her spry shape with warmth. The inky sphinx did not expect her to slow her pace for him. The young Sandraudiga would have likely been able to follow her with hours of distance between them; there was something about their familial bond that allowed for him to sense where she was, no matter the miles that stretched between them. There was comfort in that.

River ran until they arrived, slowing only when the jellied creature laid before them at a safe distance. Her sides heaved, but her eyes glimmered with excitement as she turned to Trench with a smile. "Seeeeeeeeee?!" River prompted with enthusiasm. "I'm still not sure if it's alive or not, but I do know that this thing STINKS." She swiped at her nose gently, as if fanning away the unpleasant scent. 

"All that I'm sure of, is that this thing has to be an alien—theres no other explanation!" At least, River had never seen anything like it. "I wonder if it fell out of the sky..." she drawled, her curiosity running rampantly as she contemplated its origins.

The strides that carried the boy were steady and unhurried. He allowed his sister to take the energy and carry it. Trench knew that she would not slow for him, but she would not worry for him either. One way or another, the inky sphinx would arrive at their intended destination with a warm expression and a willing mind for any of River's adventures. He had no doubts that the item of interest would be something truly remarkable. After all, he had never followed after the girl and found himself disappointed. 

When arriving upon the sight of the blob creature, the lean young man regarded it with a thoughtful expression that lined his brow and turned his lips downward. 

The scent of it was disgusting, truly. Trench could hardly stand to be near it for long without the stench filling his nares and threatening a gag in the back of his throat. "It may have been carried from the sea," he grunted softly in response to his sibling's suggestions of origin. His only thoughts were that he had never seen something like this above the murky depths, but he had a gut feeling that there could have been a large assortment of peculiar creatures beneath the lapping waters.

River glanced at the ocean, contemplating Trench's suggestion. "It could have," she replied thoughtfully, "Maybe that's why it smells so much?" River scrunched her nose then; it was fouler than anything she'd smelled before! 

"And now that I think about it, I can't think of anything that comes from the sky that smells bad—like, all that I can think that comes from the sky is rain and snow and birds, and all of those smell good." River's logic made sense in her mind, at least. "So, yeah, let's go with it being from the ocean." Trench was smarter than any wolf she had ever known; she figured that they were right in their assumption. 

"Should we put it back in the ocean?" River wondered then; it looked so... sad. "Maybe it'll cheer right back up being back with its weird, ocean-alien friends!"

The stench would make sense. More than once, the sphinx had happened upon an unidentified creature that had washed ashore from the dark water and had started to rot. They certainly had a different sort of aroma when they had been procured from the water.
 
Out of sheer curiosity, the quiet young man leaned into the glob and nudged it softly with his nose. The shape only moved from the pressure that had been applied, but it did not seem that there was much life within the jelly-limbs of the creature. Trench tasted it, recoiling softly at the bizarre fragrance that had followed into his mouth. The silver-flecked jade of his gaze turned back to River as she suggested throwing it back into the water. This inspired an expression of thoughtful wonder as the boy looked back from where they had traveled.
 
“Would you be willing to carry it back, River? It tastes awful,” he warned her in a soft voice. Trench had no plans to dissuade her from her goals, and he believed her plan was well-thought and established. The boy would follow her, but he did not anticipate that he would put the creature in his mouth again.