Locha sighed. Her head raised, paws kneading the ground, Locha looked out past the border of the prairie down to the far coast. The grasses swished around her, the gentle breeze bending them down to the ground as it blew from the sea. The beach was almost completely safe to visit now, although it would take a lot of work to clean up again. She loved the black sands that were her home, but she'd hardly left the prairie since the flood and she was restless. The woman was tired of eating all the prey from the land, she craved the saltiness of some fish! But, alas, here she was stuck, waiting for the flood water to recede. "SPEAK!"

Art by Evelyn

Walk | Talk | Think

Aurora was plotting. She currently had nothing on her plate to do, and she had a sneaking suspicion that Ray was off with her friend doing who knew what since she could not find her at their den. It made her a little jealous to think that her sister was off wandering around with someone that was not her, but stubbornly the young blue-colored girl refused to let it get to her. She could adventure on her own. She was brave and clever enough not to need her brighter and more daring sibling directing what she did. I'll make her jealous.

Of course, she had no idea how she was going to do this, but her childish mind was working away to devise something as she walked. Her walk was purposeful, practically a march, as she paraded her way across the prairie, her soft features scrunched together with the intensity of her concentration. That is, until she spotted a grown up figure standing around beside the edge of the plains. Rory's golden eyes shifted over toward the mostly dark figure, identifying her immediately as a grown up, and almost looked away disinterestedly. But there was something in particular that made her stop and do a double take.

Blue! Of all her large, extensive family, she had seen very few who sported colors like her own. Not even her father, with his tints of deep, midnight blue within his dark fur, could boast of the kinds of brilliant colors that she did. Except for this aunt. Immediately feeling a sense of kindred spirits with this older wolf, Aurora grinned, her tongue lolling from her mouth, and without hesitation she abandoned her quest for adventure and trotted over to the distracted woman. She approached her left side and said nothing, just watched her with her tongue-lolling smile as the young, blueberry pup sat and wagged her tail. Blue, she thought again, and shifted her gaze from one piece of blue-tinted fur on her aunt to the next.

The surprisingly gentle Winter wind ruffled the woman's fur. She distant smell of crashing waves urged her to move, to just run to the shore. She was sure that the wind carried the scent from the Rio Grande. She remembered the lands well, especially the plentiful fish to be found there.

Almost ready to just take off, Locha turned to look over her shoulder at the prairie. A flash of blue caught the woman's eyes. She saw a very determined-looking Aurora. Where was she going? Locha had seldom seen her without her much more boisterous sister. With a puzzled smile, Locha turned away, moulding her features into neutrality as her little niece turned her way. Was she coming over here?

A few moments later Locha's question was answered. She heard little pawsteps approaching her and then a small "thwump" of a little body sitting down. Turning her head, Locha looked down to see her niece, tail wagging behind her and a grin on her face. She seemed to be looking at the different patches a blue that coloured her coat. Her niece was definitely the most vibrantly blue shaded of the family, and Locha was a tad jealous. Her own blue fur wasn't even natural, it had been a mere coincidence that she'd found ink to dye it with, but her niece had been born with such beautiful fur. Sitting down, Locha smiled, waiting for little Aurora to notice her gaze.


"ICECOLD"

Walk | Talk | Think

Blue, blue, blue! Rory's golden eyes shifted right to left, up to down, and every which way as she noted each particular shade of blue that her Aunt Locha possessed. She had only ever seen the woman from afar but never this close before, and now that she had such a perfect opportunity to view each of those varying shades she had every intention of doing just that. It took her a little while, but she thought she had spotted each bit of blue, all of them pretty and delightful to her. No doubt Aurora held partiality for the color, and she was glad to have someone in the family who she felt she resembled.

As her eyes skimmed across her aunt's face, she noticed the wolf's mismatched blue eyes were staring right at her, and thankfully her expression was smiling and friendly. Oh! She had been noticed! Aurora grinned brighter, her tongue tucking away inside of her mouth as her teeth showed and her tail beat happily against the ground beside her. She had nothing to say - language was still a foreign, complicated thing to her - but she did her best to appear attentive and curious. She wanted to spend some time with this wolf she resembled so much.