Wheeling Gull Isle eastbound & down

Come and say goodbye! Tagged parties should post at least once in this thread.

Moorhen had been surprised to learn that @Lucas hailed from the same pack that'd once sheltered her and her sister wives. She didn't know the boy well, so she'd yet to inquire after his parentage, but she imagined she could see at least one of the two sisters in him. Their names escaped her, these days, but she had fond memories of them both.

Making the trek out that way didn't sound like the best use of her time, but since @Koi had expressed interest in the trip, she figured it'd be best to throw her hat in as well. There was no way she would be allowing the two children to go off alone, even being grown as they were. She thought Koi had about as much sense as her mother - which was a considerable amount, but none, Moorhen thought, in the right places. So she and Szymon would be accompanying them, because she got the feeling Seelie wouldn't be comfortable with him being there without her. And, come to think of it, neither would Moorhen.

She stood close by the male now, not quite looking at him, but carefully considering his mood all the same. As much as she knew she couldn't leave him on the island, neither was she certain taking him along on the trip was such a great idea. There was no help for it, though; she couldn't leave the children to fend for themselves, and she couldn't leave Szymon with Seelie's lambs all alone. There was no other way to settle it, unless she allowed Tahani to lead the children instead - which even made sense, because @Currituck had seemed interested in coming along as well - but Moorhen didn't trust Tahani enough to see Koi to the valley and back.

So shut up. She was going.

With a final glance at Szymon, she tipped back her head and called the other travelers to the sandbar, announcing their intention to depart.

Szymon’s presence on the island had driven a thorn between the sheepdog and her lamb. Seelie stowed her aversion with meticulous care and was consistently cordial toward the wolf who had, at one time, been her Leviathan — but the cool, closed off expression she wore around him was so out of character, she probably gave herself away. She couldn’t help feeling relieved that he was leaving the island, but even that brief respite was sundered by a feeling of panicky dread — Koi was going with them. Not even the Aralez’s rock-solid trust in Moorhen could assuage her.

She approached the shoreline with @Stockholm at her side and their children in tow. @Grayling and @Six wore matching expressions of comingled envy and concern — @Thresher’s disappearance had affected them all on a deep, visceral level — but when Koi’s face started to crumple dejectedly, they hastily changed their tune. Someday, they’d all have their own adventures — today just happened to be Koi’s turn.

When Coelacanth moved forward, Szymon backed up. It wasn’t kindness that drove him to give the two females space, but the ghost of a memory he couldn’t quite catch. Ves…Ves… She was dear to Doe, this small, odd, finely-drawn, stony-faced female — and she was the leader here. He wasn’t remembering a leader, though. He was remembering — flashes of light and color, two females — Doe and Deirdre — or Doe and Muses — or Doe and — “Ves,” he ventured aloud, and the sheepdog turned her sharp eyes on him but said nothing at all. He shuffled where he stood, and turned his eyes to the tiny girl, her tiny siblings. All of them wore telling tufts upon their oversized ears, and that was another incongruence. It made him remember that Seelie had a very large, very unimpressed looking mate. Without another word, Szymon turned to the surf and submerged himself, striking out for the mainland.

The goodbyes did not include him.

The prospect of being separated from her littermates — particularly her sister — was stressful and overwhelming, but Koi wanted to see Lucas’ old home. It was the banded male who scared her the most. When he spoke, she didn’t see any colors at all — she just felt cold and afraid and desperately lonely. Her oversized ears fluttered uneasily when he spoke to ŭmma. Though the word — “Ves,” — clearly held some significance for the Aralez, she didn’t speak of it. She merely crossed the distance to Moorhen after the waves swallowed his prints, her Neptune eyes filled with a deep and enduring tenderness, and murmured, “Peace be, lamb. Home safe. Love ever.”

I can stay, Koi thought, looking at the empty space where she ought to be standing — next to Thresher, Sixgill, and Grayling, tucked protectively between appa and ŭmma. Then she turned to regard Moorhen, Lucas, and Currituck, and made her choice. She loved her family, but the Corten wanderlust was already very much a part of her. She would go, and she wouldn’t lose her way. The island was her homing place, but she wanted to see the places that had so shaped Lucas and Currituck.

It was saying goodbye to her parents that brought tears to her seabright eyes. For as long as she could, she reached up and clung to Stockholm, grounding herself with the prickly touch of the vreccale rubbing reassuringly against her cheek. Once her farewells to Moorhen had concluded, Seelie completed the ring around her youngest daughter, nuzzling soothingly at her withers. “Good girl, Koi. Love ever,” the young mother murmured, the simple phrase serving as a gentle reminder as much as a fond overture of praise. Seelie, surprisingly, did not cry — the storm had instilled in her some kind of otherworldly, enduring strength that held steady even now.

All Thresher could comprehend at the moment was that she would be without her sister, and that thought worried her. She would be under the watchful and caring eye of Moorhen...But she still did not like the fact that her sister was leaving without her. Lucas, the kind boy she'd hardly gotten to know- was going too, which saddened her a bit, as she had hoped to get to know him better. She followed along with the others, trailing behind her brothers slightly though they appeared to have the same sentiment as she; they were worried about Koi leaving, considering the fact that they had lost Thresher for some time not long enough ago. 

She sidled close to her mother, and eyed the others somewhat warily. They were taking her precious sister away, prying the precious pearl from their grasp. And while Koi appeared to be willing to go, she looked somewhat withdrawn and worried still. She too felt her eyes drawn to the male she did not know well enough at all, and wanted very much to herd Koi back to the safe place between their parents with her and her brothers. A simple press of her nose to Koi's flank would have been enough; they all had herding instinct, and she would have even gone so far as to nip at her sister's heel if necessary...But this was Koi's choice. And part of her understood; part of her wanted to see more than just the island, but she was too young yet, she felt, too delicate. 

When Coelacanth moved to embrace Koi, Thresher was tempted to do so as well- but she gave her mother a moment. Once she had spoken to her daughter, Thresher moved forward, blinking back tears as she nuzzled against her fair sister's cheek, and holding her breath to keep her emotions in check. When she spoke, her voice was as faint as ever, but trembling. "Be safe. Love you always."

Currituck was a traveler, and Tahani would have to come to accept that, in time. but now wasn't that time. her heart ached as she prepared to see her daughter off once more, and she knew she would fret over the girl each and every minute she was gone. the northern woman's face was drawn as she joined the group gathered on the beach, though she forced a smile.

if you find Takiyok--or any of the others--please tell them that I'm here, she said softly to Tatik, blinking down at her. she took the brown girl in her embrace, trying to keep the tears at bay. i love you. be careful. i'll see you soon.

helplessly, she tried to find the eyes of those who would remain behind, feeling as if she were trapped. she was a stranger in a strange land, and she was acutely aware of that fact, even as she became more used to the island.

He felt a little awkward standing there a little way from Moorhen, who made him feel quite unlike himself, watching the others saying goodbye to their loved ones. Currituck had Tahani and the two exchanged words in a quiet tongue he couldn't hope to hold in his mind, while Koi was surrounded by her entire family, all of them murmuring their love in similarly broken English to hers. The pale ghost who was accompanying them had already slid away into the water and Moorhen had Coelacanth's parting words. Lucas, quite like Szymon, had no one to tell him they loved him and would miss him.

Somewhere inside him a deep ache took up residence, though outward he was all smiles and hardly contained excitement. He couldn't wait to see his mama again, to tell his siblings about his adventures. He would need to tell Nunataq and Marten about their mother, since he hadn't had the opportunity before leaving with the troupe. At the other end of this journey Lucas had wolves who loved him and would surely wish him well on his journey back to the island... but it did little to soothe the emptiness that grew inside him right now.

Licking his lips, he raised his tail in a lofty wag as if waving to the other pups, then turned and sauntered out into the freezing ocean as well. He didn't make the crossing quite as gracefully as Szymon—in fact he floundered more than anything and inhaled water on two occasions—but he did make it eventually, rising out of the sea to join the intimidating wolf on the other side.

Currituck moves with Tahani, occasionally leaning into her warm fur. She doesn’t want to leave but she’s already planned it and Lucas wanted to go—she likes him, though she’s kept it to herself—and she couldn’t convince her mother to go. Her tail sweeps eagerly, looking at the crowd that has collected. She sees faces she hardly knows, some she is sorta familiar with, and at least one she doesn’t recognize at all. 

The girl assures Tahani that if she sees them, she’ll tell them. She’s determined to find Takiyok, knowing a little bit about where they are. She glances briefly at Moorhen, hoping she remembers, too. 

”I love you,” she murmurs with a final press into her warm fur before she parts and regroups with the others.