[AW] Body and mind adrift

[Bellad Songthorn]

He had stopped going out of his way to be aloof a while ago. And yet, more often than not, when not keeping in touch with his roaming daughter, his gentle brother, members of the Circle or the court, still he found himself wandering. Fennore was far. Not beyond him, but further than she'd been before. Weeks clung to each other until they formed months. Traveling now and then to see her and his son in the distant reaches of the Realm stopped being new, but never stopped being necessary. Never stopped being time-consuming either. 

Places of their shared memories. Now those were far closer, if more frivolous to travel towards. The grove, the meadows, the ocean shore. He stood now upon the latter, the gentle tide lapping at his feet. He remembered his shock, even fear, perhaps, at a body of water quite so vast and alien. The salt flavor alone well near forced him to report it to the king, troubled that a water source got contaminated somehow. Bellad nearly laughed to himself at the thought. How much he's learned since then... 

He had little to remove before stepping further into the water, feeling it wash around his limbs, eventually around his waist, through his pelt and through the unprotected scars. He refused to cover them from the eyes of others even in ceremonial garb, why then would he cover it from the elements such as the sea?

His head remained above water and he propelled himself forward with a broad sweep of his arms. Swimming. What a strange thing to occupy himself with. But it was also something that Fennore had taught him. Another lesson he would not want to forget.

[Battalion Fir-Chlis]

Battalion was warm. The season was creeping to a change, but her dark coat meant that she stayed warm longer than those with lighter coats. There were plenty of other people who would understand her situation, as she was hardly the only dark wolf around. They were probably the other wolves headed to the shoreline to consider the possibility of a swim.

The long-earred Commoner was on four legs because she was far more graceful swimming in Lupus than she was in Optime. Two legs and two arms just felt unbalanced compared to the four legs that worked together better in the water. Besides, she had just finished a hunt on four legs. Her prize - a hare - swung from her jaws until she dropped it unceremoniously into the sands of the beach. If something else got it while she was swimming, she'd be irritated. This stretch of beach seemed fairly unoccupied, though. Other than another wolf who was also in the water.

She didn't recognize him. That wasn't unusual. There were lots of wolves in New Caledonia that she didn't know yet. Maybe she should've been pushing harder to foster relationships with some of the more longstanding members of her pack. She'd cultivated some relationships, though. Kalypso, Dorian, Liam, Losse. She'd also at least met Iomair. And a few others that she had met at least once. Plus Hokori who she kinda wished she hadn't met, but there was no escaping the ruffian now.

When she got into the water, the Commoner swam sort of toward Bellad; he was in Optime. That was more common in general for the pack. The hunter wasn't going to disrupt his swim if he wanted to be alone, though, so she watched for signals that he either wanted swimming company or didn't. Either way, she appreciated the water as it moved around her and cooled her overly warm body. If he wanted to be alone, she'd just get cool and leave; that had been her main goal in swimming anyway.