Ankyra Sound it’s time to realize it

@Tiden - out by the Stacks of Solira at low tide

low tide came and pulled the water out of the sound’s bay, revealing a flat field of sea battered limestone and shale. sobeille waded the tidal flats, eyes on the sea stacks that rose like sentinels over the strand.

occasionally she dived at a puddle, chasing crabs and small fish from one end of their sanctuary to the other — but eventually she tired of this game, her gaze traveling to the solemn arches of stone out at sea.

she wondered if any wolf had ever climbed these formations, and set herself to the task of being the first.

Tiden was a creature of habit and over the years he had created a comfortable routine. It consisted of multilple fish meals during the day. Some raids along the fishing vessels (or the floating fish islands as he called them). Then hauling out for the afternoon together with others of his species and enjoying a well-deserved nap with the music of groans, barks, eeps, screams and farts (sulfuric aroma for special ambience) in the background.

Today there were slight change of plans. While foraging for his own lunch, a killer whale had decided that this fat guy would be a perfect BBQ for its own family. Chase ensued and eventually Tiden had proved to the big doofus that it was no coindence that HE had reached the ripe age of 27 years and not too many other of his compatriots. He had swum towards shallows, until the hunter gave up and here he stayed for a long time after it was gone. 

The clock was ticking, the wish to return to his own was very strong, but he did not consider it safe yet. So - he turned around and continued to swim shorewards, where his attention was drawn by a small, furred creature that was splashing around. Curious he pulled his head out of the water and eyed the land-crawler curiously.

once sobeille made it to the stacks, she realized climbing would be no easy feat. while the water was barely ankle level, the stone itself was slick and dark — matted with colonies of seaweed and barnacles, a black line several feet above her head delineating the sea’s true height at high tide.

she placed a paw upon the slippery surface with a frown, neck craning back to assess her next move. as she did so, she heard a quiet ripple too intentional to be the soft lap of the waves.

turning around, sobeille was met with the broad face and large eyes of a watchful pinniped whose skull and body barely crested the water. having never seen them up close, she was struck by how similar they were — save this one’s eyes, which were dark as any wet stone, and had a strangely liquid quality about them.

she froze, the wet fur along her spine rippling.

Tiden noticed, how very small and awkward the creature was in the water, none of the gracefulness of his species, for sure. But, how that changed, when she leaped out of the water and onto the rocks and turned to face him. Again - this odd land-seal possessed none of the beauty of his kin: the eyes were too small, the muzzle too pointy, seaweed stalks for feet and a coat that was soaked wet. None of the beautiful pelt with gleam and shine that water-dwellers had. 

He was well-aware of their size differences, therefore undeterred from the hostile looks sent in is direction, he dove below the surface and swam closer to the rock. He had not yet decided, what he was going to do, but tossing that land-rat off it and getting up there himself was one of the options. His nap was long overdue.

he dove beneath the water in a single move more graceful than anything sobeille could ever muster.

now she lost sight of him; here was where the truth of his pelt became apparent. an eyesore above water — yet in his own kingdom, it was a powerful garb of camouflage.

sobeille continued to climb — albeit clumsily. when she got to a flat enough piece of footing she whirled around and peered down at the dark water. no ripples. no disturbance or shadows.

the girl squinted, leaning over the precipice in concentration.

Tiden swam one lap around the rock, now and down surfacing to assess the height of the rock he had decide on becoming his sofa for the day. All the while the land-seal was following his path, eyeing him cautiously. It did not seem dangerous the least, therefore finally the old man positioned himself and with a hefty thrust forward lunged out of the water and made it half-way on the rock, pushing with his front flippers and his upper-body to haul himself up. 

Watch this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4hb84A9h28 !

kayaking is one of my favorite hobbies- i am gutted i have never had a seal hitch hiker! once, i did get a toad -- of all things, in the middle of the lake. i think maybe a bird of prey caught him and dropped him. he wasnt happy!

the dark waters rippled. sobeille pulled back just in time, for the waters erupted and the seal flung itself upwards.

she nearly fell off the rock in shock -- and face to face with the seal, was suddenly aware of how small she was in comparison.

she took a step back, hunched as close to the rock as she could be. behind her, loose shale clattered as it fell down the stack's face. sobeille could not help how her fur stood on end as she watched-- waiting for the seal to do something.

in any event, he blocked her egress. it just so happened her only option would be to jump, if it came to it.

The ledge was just wide enough for Tiden to place all of his nearly 200 kgs of flesh and personality and leave small space for the scrawny ground-dweller to perch on. He shot her a disgruntled look, as if willing her to hop-hop and jump away. Then he huffed and puffed and made himself comfortable, turned on one side, rested his head on a rock and let out a comfy and happy sigh. It was good to have a nap.

sobeille huffed. she was firmly trapped, wedged between a literal rock and the amorphous dog equivalent of a sea-slug. he wasn't even concerned she was there!

never had sobeille been so summarily dismissed. her fur prickled, but before she could get enough of her bearings to try and figure out a way around him, she slipped.

and rather than artfully dodge the giant lard-barrier, sobeille fell right into him with a terrified oofmph.

Tiden felt someone small crash into him and he opened one eye to peer at the scruffy offender. He screamed at it - a sound that can be described as a gurgling burp accompanied by a fishy freshness of his breath.  Not particularly interested in the response and not seeing anything attention-worthy he turned to his earlier position, closed his eyes and attempted to fall asleep again. 

seal screams were not for the faint hearted. if sobeille's nose hairs didn't burn clean off from the scalding fish-breath, her ears certainly did. she practically wilted at the noise, sliding down his blubbery sides and right off the cliff.

SPLASH!

there were a few seconds before sobeille resurfaced, soggy and feeling suitably chagrined. she waited until she was on solid ground before she belted a rejoinder -- just in case, you know, he decided to get frisky. EY! DAT WAS VERY RUDE! sobeille called, feeling outright put out by how summarily she'd been dismissed.

That spindly-legged fluff of sea-weed was not only annoying and dense, but loud too. Tiden cracked open one of his eyes and shot a disinterested look in the girl's direction, who - judging by the sounds she was emitting - was voicing her discontent. He was tempted to tell her that she should put up some pounds, before being so brash towards The Man of the area. What was it with these youngsters these days, who thought that they had all the rights but none of the responsibilities? He decided that the best plan of action was to simply continue to ignore her. He rolled on his belly, rested his chin on ledge just in the right size and fell asleep again. 

an indignant gasp left the small girl to see the great fat thing barely look at her before falling asleep again. rude!

as a child, sobeille had no perspective. or, perhaps a better way to frame it was she had a child’s perspective — she had no earthly clue this giant water slug could quash out her existence in the same way her paw obliterated ant armies — she only saw how indifferent he was to her, and that inspired a quiet sense of injustice in a girl who’d managed to always elicit some kind of reaction from her peers.

she huffed, and sulkily kicked the water in his direction. i was done wit dat rock anyways. sobeille announced to no one in particular, turning away with one discreet eye on the slumbering rock hound above.

Tiden being very uninterested in the spindly-fluffy seaweeds that pranced around the shores and made annoying noises, he would have cared even less to spend any time on squashing one of them underneath his impressive body mass. Not purposefully anyway. Coincidentally he happened to wave his flipper the same moment the girl sent angry words in his way and it made it appear, as if he had dismissed her even further. Be it as it may - he would not move from that point on, busy catching up that sleep and rare moments of sunlight, before returning to his water world.