Don't hide, con-Seal

The dreams had consisted of big blurry shapes in black and white, then they had parted, revealing a bigger one that had emerged from the depths. That creature had been mostly white. Around her the sound of their joined song had been almost deafening, as it filled the ocean, at the same time as it had filled her with sadness and heartache. In a way she had become as one with them after her encounter with Akhlut, perhaps even one with what the demon once had been. Tana knew he wasn't truly dead just like her, or released to the land of the moon. He had done too many bad things. He had been reborn as something else...and he would be waiting for her still. She was however stronger than him at the moment so she knew she was safe. What she had learned and was learning would make her even stronger.

Tul walked on, with no particular hurry. They had followed the pack for days, always at the same distance, never too close. It was only as the sun began to descend they went closer to see where the pack settled for the night. Flecki who had been with Tul’s own small pack had come to visit them a few times, perhaps begging for treats but Tul knew her twolegged never gave those out unless it was due to something special. Begging would never give the merle dire female a treat. Not even sitting on your butt on command like the short legged tokotas did would yield a tasty reward. No...it took something more than that. Like a pup coming when called upon the first time. Tul could still remember the taste of it and the next time her twolegged had come she had remembered that taste and had come running. She never got any if she came to her without being called, but she got scratches and that was almost as good. The twolegged had front paws that seemed to be designed to scratch on places that was hard to reach. Ears they could scratch really good, just that enough force without being too hard - or getting your hind paw tangled up in one's mane.

Misia growled towards the male as he approached her. She wasn't interested in him at the moment. His roughhouse nature did not frightened her one bit and she stood her ground. She might be in his pack - for the time being - but that didn't mean that she would take whatever gruff from him. The greying tawny female shook and walked up to Nala. The half mane was always acting a little nervous around the male but, there was both a size- and age difference between February and Nala. The males quite intense nature and bold self secure moves seemed to also set the young females insecurities loose and she rather played safe than sorry.

When February had come up to her and Misia, Nala had looked away and lowered her tail. Normally she was rather sure of herself, knew well what she could do, that she was a good hunter and fisher, one that could pull her load to help feed a pack. Something however with that male made her unsure, perhaps it was her instinct that told her that it was better to try and be as unseen by the male as she could. Now she could feel the male stare at her so she kept her eyes down, not even moving her ear.

Like she could sense the slight tension Dani suddenly appeared between Misia, Nala and February, blocking the males stare and gently but with all the needed authority she nudged the male to the side, away from the half mane. There wasn't really any force behind it, just a simple nudge and it was like the male didn't even minded to move. Then Flecki came up beside the other females and sniffed the corner of Dani mouth, almost the way a pup did when it had begun to eat solid food, and begged a grown tokota to get some. While not providing it the same way she would have done if Flecki HAD been a pup Dani instead glanced at February but when the male didn't move, the wild female took the lead. Without questioning the others followed in a single line with the male at the end. Just before they vanished down the hill Februar turned to look for their uninvited guest. Sure enough, there was the human following on that long maned female.

Above them the blue skies from the previous day were hidden by somewhat ragged grey clouds, but it wasn't cold. The pack had been able to vanish quicker from eyesight than she had realized but their scents didn't go away as quick and she was in no hurry. Tana knew Tul was a good tracker and would find them eventually. She ate just very little as she travelled, relying on her rations of tried meat and shared what she had with her tokota. The way she lived now was pure luxury compared to her early years when it was not strange to face times of near starvation. Some years the smallest and the oldest died despite the care of loved ones. It was just the spirits ways.

Pressing her nose to a pawprint - one that was for the human unseen - the long mane then lifted her head. A gentle breeze tugged in her silky smooth mane. They had come close to the sea and the scent of the salty waters came to her sensitive nose, and she could even hear the soft cries from the seabirds. Turning her head she glanced back at the twolegged on her back and wagged her tail. Slowly they made their way down the sharp slope down to the beach. Tul was sure on her paws however and didn't even slide once.

It seemed like the pack was searching for something. Marks in the sand spoke of that they might had surprised something but whatever it was had been able to flee to the big water, not totally unharmed however. Tana noted however that the injury the prey animal must have gotten couldn't been one that killed, but if it continued to bleed. She spotted all heads out in the water, criss crossing between the big chunks of weed and rocks. No... the woman pressed her fingers against her thigh as she used the counting words silently to herself. They were just four.

With her saddle removed, Tul entered the waters on her own and she didn't hear her twoleggeds sound for her to stop. The first of the others that she met was the merle dire. It wasn't much of a greeting however, more of a ‘yeah I know who you are - hi’ type of thing. Flecki had a bit of weed across her head and snout, evidence that she had made a few dives in search of what Tul now knew was a seal. It was faint but she could even scent the blood in the water and if the seal was still near it might not belong before a predator, one of those that always dwelled in the water, showed up. The seal probably hoped the land living ones would give up so it could take cover somewhere on land.

Dani was working together with Nala and Misia, seemingly trying to go through the patch of shoreline systematically as they moved forward in a row. Nala kept to the beach itself, investigating any place between the bigger rocks where the seal might have hidden. Dani and Misia walked in the shallows. Tul and Flecki had begun playing a little. Tana noted that the big male was up ahead, somewhat away from the others but closer to her.By the looks of things February didn't have any more luck than what the others had in finding the wounded seal. Looking at the tracks and marks in the sand it looked like to Tana that it was a big seal and...unless it was a spirit...but spirits didn't bleed. It couldn't just vanish.

Suddenly she saw something move in the weeds further out in the water. Or...it was more like the weeds itself moved but not with the waves that was sending most of the loose weed and other debris towards land. Instead it was ever so slowly moving towards the waves and towards a section of the beach the pack already had left. As she narrowed her eyes and focused she could see that the seal, because there was a seal under a lot of seaweed, held up it's injured side so as little as possible was in the water, it still didn't hinder some of the blood to leave a trail but it was still less than it would have been. The females were too far away. It would be dangerous to interact too much with the male. But to leave a perhaps severely injured animal could invite bad spirits into it's body...and a animal with bad spirits inside wasn't good. She whistled to get the male's attention. February had been looking at her so it wasn't much of a problem. The twolegged pointed towards the sea with her silly little paws. Then he noted the seal. He lifted his snout and called on the others. Even the one who had carried the twolegged came.

The seal stood little chance once detected. February was to make a mock charge to make the human back off when they came back to the shore with their kill...but the human was nowhere to be seen, and neither was the long mane.