I growl in playfulness at my brother, butt wiggling in the air as I pretended I was about to jump on him only to race forward to bowl him over. Thor always let me do it even when we both knew I was much weaker than him. I loved wrestling, it gave me a false sense of security, like I could take on the world. Even if I was small and the world was so big. I had seen a pelican on the beach just the other day and when it had spread its wings I had felt amazed. I watched it throw the huge fish it had caught into the air and then swallow it whole. WHOLE! If pelicans ate puppies I could easily be a meal. That thought bothered me and I had went back to the den for the rest of the day, needing the security of those walls to comfort me, the familiar to surround me. Mother and father would always protect us I knew but one day they would have us learn to be adults too. Mother had told us that she had left Ankh and my brothers on their own because it was time for them to make their own choices. It scared me because one day would she do that to me too?

Speaking of mother! She comes trotting by and I pause in my play to watch her with a grin, giggling when daddy groans at her and they kiss each other. I think it is cute. This is what love is - already my world is being formed just by watching them. My expectations of love and mates. I flop back on my back, one paw pressing up on Thor's shoulder as I lie looking silly with my belly bared to the sky. The beach, mother offers, and suddenly I am frantically rolling over with my tail whizzing back and forth, bouncing on my paws. "Oh yes mother!" Because it would be okay with our parents! Then she is bouncing off with a spritely smile that calls to me and bfore I know it father is pushing our rumps. I let out a shrill laugh at his antics, racing forward and nipping at my mothers paws. "Don't be a floppy riverfish momma!" I say, afraid father might be right.

It is then that another figure appears, much larger than me with a black face, white cheeks, and a white and gray mixed body. I stand close to Natu's paws, staring at him with wide eyes and a curious expression on my face until he begins to speak in a rather monotone voice. Mother, he says, and I know immediately that this is brother Alistair, who mother had told me was deaf and that when we meet I must always allow to see my lips when speaking. I grin suddenly, not feeling quite so shy with mother near me and step towards him, leaning up to sniff at his chin before pulling back so he can see me. "Brother Alistair, have you come to play in the ocean with me and brother?" It would be better to elaborate that I meant brother Thor but I was too excited in this moment to finally meet a sibling, hoping he liked me.