What The Tide Swept In

I'M GUNNA PICK UP THE PIECES

AND BUILD A LEGO HOUSE

›if things go wrong we can knock it down‹

Walk | Talk | Think

Gale was having far too much fun with the game she was playing, so much fun that she did not see the danger she was placing herself in until it was too late. The casualness of the cat's movements went completely unnoticed partly because she was unfamiliar with such small felines but also because the majority of her attention remained upon the guarded, skeptical expression worn by the wolf named Rudolph. Her own smile, in contrast, still settled with easy comfort across her lips, though she knew she was coming to the end of her game. She was running out of ways to keep it going.

Rudolph seemed to think likewise. The growing defensiveness she had mistaken for skepticism, and it became apparent after the brown wolf began to speak that he had entirely misinterpreted her purpose in bothering him during his meal. The smile on her face fell very suddenly, her brows drawing gently together over a look of surprise and indignation. "What? Rob you?" she asked, perplexed, but the cat confirmed that the conversation was treading into dangerous waters. Apparently Eilan's father was all work and no play.

Gale's ears tipped back in a candid look of worry, and hastily she spoke. "Hey, I'm only here because of the kid. And my brother's tender heart," she snapped defensively, a little more sternly than probably necessary as she eased a slow step back. "Your son, Eilan, showed up on our border looking for you, and my brother, our leader, told him to stay and we'd find you for him." She tried not to lose her temper, tried to keep her cool, and hoped that Rudolph's anger would subside once he knew the story. And suddenly, very unexpectedly, Gale found herself praying that she had not found another careless parent like her own.