Gilded Bay and all your money won't another minute buy

his son's wife looked like the man that nearly killed him.

it was a lot to reckon with, and he woke this morning struggling with it. he moved through the weald toward the seashore, and stood upon the bay, the fresh salt air a welcome presence in his lungs.

it should have been seelie and me, he thought, but shook it off quickly. it hadn't been; it would never be.

but dutch and simbelmyne were one, and now he had to reckon with the fact that his blood had mixed with that razor-collared foe.

he buried his forepaws in the sand with a sigh. the wind sent his fur buffeting back. 

he stared toward the waves.

he marveled at coincidence.

Dwin had decided that she would continue her journey along the coast eastwards in the hopes of meeting Val at some point. She knew that his home was located somewhere, but she did not know the specifics. Normally, uncertainty would annoy her, but now she found joy in life's little mysteries. It was almost beautiful not to know everything. This meant that there were still things to learn and discover. 

At first glance the old agouti wolf had appeared as a large, oddly shaped piece of driftwood to her. And only later, when it moved, she recognized that this was - in fact - a wolf. Since there was no way of going around the guy without making her presence known, she decided to approach him and see if he was in the mood of company. Maybe the appeal to her was that the man was of older generation and he reminded her of Eljay. She missed her dad and just maybe a conversation with someone his age would quench that feeling. 

"Good-day, fellow traveller," she greeted the elder in a respectful voice. She sat down at a polite distance and with her head tilted to the side, asked: "What secrets has the ocean revealed to you today?"

he turned at the sound of pawsteps and gave a polite nod to the stranger, smiling as she spoke. 'fellow traveler'—he liked that. it spoke to the wanderlust in him, untamed despite the years.

good day, aditya replied, then shrugged. i would be so lucky for the ocean to speak to me. no, i am just. . .reminiscing. thinking about times gone by.

he'd gotten used to categorizing wolves as young enough to be his child; now, he was slowly getting accustomed to thinking of them young enough to be his grandchild. age was a funny thing, he thought, but not altogether unpleasant.

he had lived long enough to see those distinctions; that was something, right?

and what brings you to the sea? adi asked her, looking a bit wry. its secrets, or something else?

"Ain't you a bit too young for that?" Dwin teased him gently, then sat down and looked at the waves for a while and for a moment there it really seemed as if she was hearing something. She shook her head and turned back to look at the older man. "No - today the great waters are not talking to me either. Maybe they sense that I am not one of their own," she explained. "I am the earthcrawler after all - I call plains and forests my home," she added. 

"My name is Dwin - short for Ceridwen," she introduced herself and dipped her muzzle politely. "Who are you?" she asked. 

he snorted gently, giving her a sidelong glance. funny girl, he replied. despite the mirth in his voice, he listened intently, nodding along to what she said with a contemplative glow in his eyes.

nice to meet you, dwin, he replied. i'm aditya—but 'adi' for short is fine, he added, smiling.

i like that—the 'earthcrawler,' adi went on. any place you call home, or are you a wanderer like me?

"Oooh, yes - I call Brecheliant - the magical forest - my home. But for the time being I am on the road to collect life experiences and stories to bring home," Dwin explained. The only thing she did not mention was, how much time had she planned to be away from her family. At the moment she did not feel like going back any time soon. 

"So - you have travelled the world twice, thrice or more, I guess. Judging by your age - you have been here since the creation of this world," she teased him in good natured manner. "So, humor me - what was it like in the beginning?" she asked.

brecheliant; the name sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't place it. probably just one of the myriad places he'd traveled or heard of. 

the girl was cheeky. aditya chuckled warmly at her jests, shaking his head. dark and cold, he replied, raising a brow. or so i've heard. i wasn't there—but my father was.

but it was true that he'd spent much of his life traveling.

there's a lot out there to see, adi remarked, a bit wistfully. he turned toward the sea and watched the waves. but family is most important, i'd say. right now i am looking after my son's first litter; i have never been happier.

Dwin had an immediate urge to ask, whether there was a chance to meet his dad to hear the first-hand report, but she stopped herself. First - because this old man's dad was probably dead. Second - for a split of a second she had bought in the cheeky tale she had spun about the man. Of course - no wolf that was alive today could have been there, when the world had been created. Or else she would have definitely heard the story. 

"I am probably too young to understand the allure of children," Dwin remarked. "I spent almost a year of my life," she began explaining and judging by the way she said this, that one year had lasted half-a-lifetime. Which in her case was true. "Looking after my younger siblings and kids are just not for me," she laughed. "But family is important - there I agree. Those, who you love, are your home," she shared. 

"Do you see your young self in your son's children?" she asked. 

they'd both been forced to grow up quickly, albeit in different ways. aditya had been on his own, and dwin had taken on the role of surrogate mother, or so it seemed. her apathy toward children didn't bother him one bit.

i understand, adi replied warmly. and i. . .don't, yet. but they're still young. honestly, i'd rather them take after my son and his mother. they're much better role models than i could ever be.

at least he could tell them what not to do.

"You would be under impression that they are going to learn from your mistakes?" Dwin asked with a cheeky grin and then shook her head, pretending to be incredulous. "Nah, with me being a young person myself, I have just left a phase of life behind, where I knew absolutely everything there was to know about life and the world. And were you my grandpa, no matter, what blunders you would have made in your life, your example could never convince me that the same could happen to me," she smiled. 

"But - perhaps - I am the one with a very stubborn mind," she shrugged. "But looking at you, I refuse to believe that there have been mistakes only in your life. You have to have something good to return to as well. How else can you tell shadows appart in the absence of light?"

you should be stubborn, aditya replied, the whole of her speech warming his heart. never settle. always forge your own path.

he stood up with a small groan to walk, slowly, along the sand, gesturing for her to follow. the sea breeze always had invigorated him; even if it had grown less potent as he aged, it still had that effect.

that's a nice sentiment—shadows and light, he told her. and you're right, it's not all been bad. i've been given children, grandchildren. many friends and acquaintances. despite my mistakes, i have been blessed.

adi looked over to the young woman and smiled. thank you for the perspective, he said. sometimes it's easy to lose within a long life.

do you know what you want for yourself? he went on. or are you still deciding?

she had time. everyone—save those at death's door—had time.

"Well, that is, what I am doing now, but it comes with a certain degree of loneliness," Dwin explained, smiling. She did not regret her decision to leave Brecheliant behind during the summer months, but she had felt very lonely at times. There had been many wonderful moments during her journey and she had a feeling that they would have been just that much more amazing with someone else there to share the experience with. 

"My friend said that in a way through her children and grandchildren she has achieved immortality," Dwin replied. "So have you - you will continue in your progeny long after you yourself will be gone," she smiled. "Me - there is a difference between, what we want and need, isn't there?" she asked rhethorically. "By now I have learned that a lot of things I thought I wanted... when I got them... they weren't as amazing as I had thought they were going to be," she said.

she was truly wise beyond her years. aditya was fascinated in listening to her, and kept his attention trained solely on her face while she spoke. he let a beat or two of silence fall between them before speaking again.

it is lonely to carve your own path in life, he replied. i was like that for a long time before settling down—and then it ended up that i didn't settle down after all. i left children, a legacy—but i couldn't stop wandering.

he smiled ruefully. nothing comes easy, he murmured. but i think you have the right perspective.

the girl and the old man, framed by the ancient sea. they spoke at length until finally separating—would they meet again?—with her words still ringing in his ears.