I like long walks on the beach

Almost immediately, Romulus felt the wolf on his back relax and become dead weight while she lounged across him, feeling her slow and steady breathing against the nape of his neck. It brought a smile to his face, and every so often he would peer back at her over his shoulder to watch her as every burden seemed to melt away from her. She mentioned how she'd swum in rivers and a lake once, but never the ocean. He grinned wider, glad he was the one that got to show her this simple pleasure in life. "It's not," he said to confirm her assumption as they drifted lazily along with the waves, bobbing them gently in the surf. "My family grew up near the ocean. I don't know where it is in relation to here, or if it's even the same ocean, but when my family left Boreas, they settled down in some woods near the coast. My brothers and sisters, we grew up playing on the beach and in the shallows." He thought of his family, so far away, and wondered what they were all up to. Had his siblings set out on their own yet? Had they stayed with his parents and grandparents to rebuild the Armada family in their new home?

As they drifted along, Romulus began to slowly make his way back to the tide pools where he'd seen the seaweed before. He watched Lillith all the while, adoring the way her feminine features were accentuated by the ocean wetting her fur to cling to the curves of her body. Her face showed an expression of pure peace, and he knew instantly that he'd made a good call bringing her out here today. This was the kind of medicine she needed. Not being cooped up in a small, stuffy room with a single window to watch the world pass her by. She needed sunshine and fresh air and oceans and lakes and rivers and forests. She needed to live—actually live like the wolf she was! As they waded closer to the clusters of seaweed he'd seen before, Roman snatched up some thick strands in his jaws and began to carry them with Lillith back towards the shore. Gradually he made his way back onto the beach, his companion still across his back until they'd both emerged from the water like reborn deities, their fur dripping the cool water and clinging to their young bodies.

Roman carried Lillith like she weighed nothing up onto the dry, warm sand, then lay down so she could climb off of him more easily. He set the seaweed down to begin drying out while they would have their spar. Once Lillith was on her own paws again, Romulus stood up and shook out his drenched coat, the wet fur still clinging damply to his body while he smiled at her. With her fur pulled to her form, Lillith looked like an oceanic goddess given flesh, radiating a youthful beauty unparalleled by any wolf he'd ever seen before. He stared at her, transfixed, urges he'd only recently begun to discover growing within him until she looked his way again, and those garnet eyes snapped him out of his daze. "So, what'dya think about that spar?" he offered with a wink, stretching out his limber body on the sand. "Now that we've done a little swimming to loosen up our muscles, I think it's time we see just how badly you can beat me, sweetheart."

"Speech"