Getting wet feet

*Soul* · Updated 01/13/23:

Abaven was gone, which left Soul pretty adrift. More so than maybe other wolves, his father was gone and he had only the vaguest memories of his mother beyond that, certainly nothing he could use to try and find her. Not that he was totally sure he wanted to, there had to be a reason he'd ended up with Beat instead of his mother. When Soul had been a child he hadn't really ever questioned it but now that he was an adult he could understand well enough that it wasn't exactly typical for a father to raise such a young pup on his own. And Beat had been an amazing father, and Soul would never change his mind on that. But he had never really spoken of Soul's mother, and so he had nothing to go off of. Which left Soul with-

Well, nothing really.

Abaven was gone, and Soul had nowhere to go. So he walked. Soul hadn't had much chance to explore the world beyond the packlands before so the going was slow, and he had to move carefully, getting a feel for the changes in the world around him. It was strange just how different so much of the world could really be from what he was used to. Except for water, Soul knew the telltale sounds and scents of running water and it was ultimately a comfort to him. Once upon a time, he'd been told to steer clear of the water, when he'd been young and small and the rushing rivers of Abaven's lands had been especially dangerous to him. Now he was a strong enough swimmer and though he could not see how deep the water was nor how far away the other bank was he was confident enough in his abilities to at the very least keep closer to the bank, keeping the water on his left side as he traveled.

The thing about that was with the weather battering the coasts of Boreas many of the rivers had swollen their banks and soon enough Soul found himself wading through mud. Still, the rushing sounds told him it was too dangerous to try and wash up where he was and so Soul had kept moving. It was a few days more when Soul finally stopped, unsure exactly how far he'd traveled, or even exactly where he was. There was some pack scent nearby but not close enough to be of a worry to him yet and more importantly, the sounds of the river had changed, while water still ran the sounds weren't as harsh here, there was a softer bassier quality that told him the river was probably deeper and wider here, turning what was a channel of rushing water into something more manageable. It was probably as good a time as any to try and get himself cleaned up. Soul approached the shore slowly, feeling the loamy soil beneath his paws and slowly testing the ground as he moved.

Finally, he could feel the edge of the river, the ground dropping away under his paw some and Soul cautiously moved one foreleg into the water, assuring his footing was secure on the rocky shallows, before the next foreleg, then the next leg, and the next until he was finally standing in the shallows, feeling the water tugging at his fur and the dried clumps of mud starting to loosen.

WC: 568 (568/1500)

"Speech"

Art by Ulfeid3

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