Ankyra Sound crystallize

A quiet boy from the first, Crosscurrent grew steadily and uneventfully under his mother's watchful eye. In all things he trailed after his brother @Riptyde, except one: when the water called, he was always the first to answer, whether he stood whole or missing that precious half of his soul. The water seemed to call to him more often of late, now that he'd found his own footing enough to tread in the shallows. Often he stood there for hours, pawing through the sand here and there, watching the horizon.

An odd boy, he'd heard his mother whisper once when she'd thought him asleep. He heard more than she knew. He saw the fear in her eyes when she looked at him, too, but he didn't yet know what it meant. Only that she looked at his brother the same way, and he didn't like it.

Crosscurrent watched the tide rising up to lap at his toes, and was quiet.

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??

Crosscurrent always had a smile ready for his twin; a rare expression on his somber face, but it came naturally enough when Riptyde was near. He looked between his brother and the treasure he'd brought for a moment, then bent to inspect it. The smooth wood seemed almost delicate, too precise and beautiful to belong among the lashing waves. Yet it had come from the ocean.

Yeah, he agreed softly, eyes still on the driftwood sea-sculpture. He craned his neck to sniff it carefully, running his nose along curves and etchings made by the water. It smelled deeply of salt and the sea, only faintly wooden and earthy beneath. The sodden thing nearly sang with promise, he thought.

It's special, Crosscurrent decided as he lifted his head to regard his twin. He spared only another glance for the piece, and turned back to watching the water intently. It was Riptyde's treasure to keep, his secret to unravel.

And Crosscurrent? He was helpless to the call of the sea.