Sea Lion Shores You were alone

for @Cry !! will be pping Tula in this one :)

Left out in the cold

Clinging to the ruins of your broken home

The naiad returned to the Coast for there was nothing for her inland. Dirge had promised home but she'd found none with him. The sea witch had lingered, if only to see what was to come, but her gods could be ignored no longer. There was another purpose elsewhere, their whispering had promised and Kai had obeyed without question.  

A cold breeze tangled in her locs as she prowled back to the sea like a prodigal son returning at long last, the frigid fingers combing through her coat like a mother's soothing caress. The small bird at her back huddled between the peaks of her patchy shoulder blades for warmth. Kai continued on her path, Tula's movements unnoticed, for she'd long grown accustomed to her companion. The grass gave way to low scrub that was harsh beneath her cracked, weary paws and then smooth expanses of sand that clung to her unkempt pelt. 

The sense of homecoming was bittersweet for the cold beach seemed bleak, barren. Would the gods forever curse her to wander, speechless, in search of...in search of, she didn't know anymore. 

With a silent sigh, her speckled form crossed the dunes, leaving small prints in her wake. The wind whipped at her, threatening to lift the compact dryad right off her feet, though she seemed not to feel the chill of it. 

Distant baying caused her ragged ears to pin, fluttering as she listened to the sea lions' uproar. She kept her distance from the territorial horde, aware of their reputation for ferocity. They had a tendency to just keep biting, even if you were already dead. Tula cheeped once, flitting away to the tidepools to hunt. Kai watched her go, her cracked gaze drawn to the gulls flitting overhead, a vague thought that she would like to fly too crossing her addled mind. 

Alone, she approached the waves. The water was cold where she walked in - Kai gasping mutely at the burn of it - allowing the waves to lap gently over her small paws and around her ankles. 

Her empty eyes scanned the horizon - where black sea met grey sky - sea mist dripping from her shaggy coat. The tang of it on her tongue as it dripped from her muzzle was reminiscent of salty tears. The salt stung at her wounds, half healed, gifted by him - a shadow that flickered in her mind briefly. She closed her pale eyes against the burn of salt in her various slashes, against the pieces of her that were now missing, that he'd carved out of her like a slain deer for dinner.

The pain meant she was alive.

Holding her injured body protectively, Kai's lips parted as if to use words she could no longer muster, her gaze dancing over the ocean accusingly. 

What more do you want of me? You've taken it all. She thought to herself. Why had the Sea called her, what was there for her here in this cold and foreign place?