diamonds come rolling out

Barracuda had thought himself mad, launching into the sea as he had. It was more than a swim to get here. What were the chances the princess had drowned on the crossing? For all her name sake, he just wasn’t sure she was a strong enough swimmer to make it this far. Sure, she probably hadn’t had to contend with summer storms like he did. But there were still big things in the water that would swallow a wolf whole. He had taken a few days to recover once he finally hit land, but he hadn’t strayed too far from the mangroves. There were fish to keep his belly full and plenty of cover if he needed it. But it was time to start searching for real. She’d already had such a big head-start.

The irritated click of his tongue behind his teeth was cut short as an early autumn breeze blew a familiar scent his way. Speak of the devil, and all that nonsense. The sly smirk that pulled at his lips wouldn’t be seen by the smaller monochrome wolf, his brows drawing down as he took in the opossum draped across her back. Did they carry snacks with them here? Or was this some strange land where predators were servants to prey?

Never mind though, he could deal with a possum if he had to. It was definitely Sedna, even if she did smell all wrong. But he could fix that. Shadowing the monochrome woman was easy enough, it was a dance they had danced since she was born, and he wondered how long it would take her to notice.

"speech".