Wheeling Gull Isle goodbye blue sky
Ghost
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All Welcome 
AW but meant for @Coelacanth specifically <3

Last night, she'd dreamed of being cast up into the waves.

It was one of her greatest fears, to find herself beneath the surface, gasping for air, paws scrabbling in desperate futility against the current. She had almost drowned once before, and did not care to relive the experience. It was a stormy tempest, and lightning struck the sea, inches from her head. She went under, and all was darkness.

The tide came in, and she was washed into the bosom of Blackfeather Woods.

The ravens crowed around her, and the whispers of the daedra shivered through the trees. She was surrounded by roses, the thorns caressing her silky pelt. A warm feeling spread through her stomach, akin to happiness, and she looked down to find herself bleeding out from a gash along her belly into the flowers, a crimson blend. She felt happy and safe. She was home.

Maegi woke and sought Coelacanth, the images she had seen at the forefront of her mind. For she knew that her time here was coming to an end. The daedra had were finally reaching out to her--she needed to return home, to their domain. Only then, she thought, would the hole in her heart be filled.

She hobbled through the trees, a ghostly figure in the verdant paradise, and finally came to a halt in front of the Aralez's den. The girl gave a low chuff--tender, but not shy. She had no fear for what she was about to tell the woman, only a nagging feeling of guilt.

She knew what she had to say. . .but the knowledge didn't make it any less difficult.
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Maegi’s summons was answered immediately, and with a degree of joy that belied Coelacanth’s ignorance about what was about to happen. She assumed that the Melonii girl had decided at last to visit her little brothers and sisters, the ice broken by her Mitexi. “Maegi,” she breathed, approaching the young wolf without hesitation to nuzzle lovingly against her unmarred cheek. Her tail whisked behind her, stirring motes of leaflitter and tendrils of moss into a miniature whirlwind.

After a beat, Seelie’s exuberant greeting morphed into something else: she sniffed at the corners of the girl’s mouth, at the bulb of her ear, at the crest of her shoulder, and a soft whine danced upon her lips. “How are you today?” the cursory sniff-fest inquired. The Aralez’s anxiety was always quick to jump to the forefront, but it didn’t seem like there was anything overtly wrong with the Daggertooth.
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Her face melted into a smile (though the expression was a tad wobby) at the sight of the woman. She leaned into the touch, returning the greeting with affection. "Hi, Seelie," she responded, with a level of familiarity that hadn't been there when she first arrived.

She really had warmed to these wolves!

With no question asked of her, Maegi knew she must start. But oh. . .how to start? Coelacanth had once told her that it was okay that she one day return home, but wasn't she supposed to say that? How could one abandon someone who had given them so much--a place that had become a home? She shifted uneasily on her paws, silent for an awkward beat before beginning.

"I had a dream last night," Maegi murmured, eyes raking the ground. "About home. I haven't really dreamed about the woods since coming here." With a wistful sigh, she returned her gaze to Coelacanth's, terrified of what she'd see there. "I think I'm ready to go back. And I know it's not fair, that you all have done so much for me and I'm just going to. . .leave. I just--I need to go home, now. They're calling me back."
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The sheepdog, for all her hardships, had retained an air of naïveté. Her initial reactions were not easily stifled, and when Maegi began to speak, a kaleidoscopic array of emotion flashed across her face. Worry and sorrow were paramount among them, but her eyes were warm and loving, and when she possessed the wherewithal to control her expression, she offered only a bittersweet sort of acceptance. “Maegi, no wary — weary — worry,” she blundered. She began to preen gently at the girl’s snowy nape. It was too difficult for her to really formulate the words, but she did understand the call of home. Any of the stormborn seawolves would.

“Moorhen, `Io — F…Fenin…feen,” she butchered the ghost girl’s name for the raven with an apologetic cant of her hindquarters and tailward flick of her tufted ears, “me,” she breathed, butting the bridge of her muzzle against the Daggertooth’s shoulder companionably. Her seablue gaze was soft and steady, her meaning eloquent: we will go with you. There was an air of grim determination in her “tone” — but as her silky susurrus was by nature not an emotive thing, it had to be evinced through her body language and the expression on her gentle face.
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The sadness that flickered over Seelie's face was unmistakable, and it broke her heart. Still, she must keep her resolve. She softened her gaze, trying to convey just how sorry she was. . .and how grateful she was to the seawolves for taking her in without question. She wouldn't have expected that from anyone, let alone a pack so different from that of her birth.

"You don't have to come with me," Maegi whispered, knowing the fear in the Aralez's heart for Blackfeather Woods--and for good reason. "Venninne and Moorhen will do just fine. I--I know that my home has not been kind to you in the past."

Why would she ever make this wonderful woman relive that? It would be a cruelty worse than inflicting physical pain, to reopen the wounds upon her heart and soul. Besides, she had the guppies to look after, here. And Maegi would come back to visit, eventually; they would meet again, someday.

She did expect Coelacanth to fight her on this, though. It was in her nature to be gently stubborn.
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“Gently stubborn” was an accurate (if liberally sugarcoated) way to describe the headstrong Aralez who, for all of her inherent softness, could be a real pain in the ass about getting her way. She worked her mouth and hollow throat around one of her longer sentences: Has been kind to me,” she labored in a silky susurrus. “Giff me you.” A stamp of one dainty paw in tandem with the word “has” emphasized what her voice could not — whatever stained the pages of her past, Blackfeather Woods had created Maegi, and Seelie’s life would have been poorer for not knowing the perfect-imperfect girl. There was a selfish reason behind Coelacanth’s coming along, too, but she kept her motives to herself. Being largely mute had its benefits, though they often seemed few and far between. First, while she trusted Moorhen to come home, she worried that the flighty raven might see fit to linger at the bloodied borders — if only to ensure Maegi’s wellbeing. Second, the sheepdog wished to see for herself that the woods would embrace the treasure they had lost as warmly as Undersea had.
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God, she was so lovely! Lovelier than anything the Woods had ever created. Too good for this world, for sure. Maegi ducked her head, feeling tears come to her eyes at Coelacanth's sentiment. They slipped away from her tenuous hold, and she pressed her face against Seelie's shoulder, into the silky black fur. Taking shallow, ragged breaths; wondering just what she had done to deserve this woman.

"Thank you, Seelie," she whispered fervently, sniffling. Maegi pulled back and gave the Aralez a smile, lifting her nose to bump under her chin, as if she were still a puppy. Not so much of a reach, these days. But the gesture still made her feel safe.

Safety. She was leaving that behind, heading home. Who knew what the status of Blackfeather was, these days? The enemy could have come back, just as Cicero had warned. They could be dead, lost, fugitives. . . Or they may not want her anymore. They could hate her, for her abandonment of the place. This journey could very well be a pointless one.

But there was always home to be found in the cerulean eyes before her. No matter what transpired, no matter where she went or what she did, the island would always remain in her heart.