I had never been taught the simple etiquette of borders or packs or what have you. My mother had sheltered me the entirety of my lifetime and simple tasks such as picking out territory markers and communicating had been the area in which I lacked. My time in the open world was more than frolicking and chasing butterflies. I had to learn to be a wolf and even at my age it had proven to be difficult. I felt like a spring pup crawling from my mother’s den for the first time only to be pulled back and told it was too dangerous to go alone. The prancing and fluttering about was my only solace as I was finally able to let out my curiosities that had plagued me since my birth. I was no longer shackled to a den in the dark woods. I could finally taste the freedom that was laid out before me.

As I took to the beach I took in the sights I had never been able to see. The sand beneath and betwixt my toes was so different from the dirt and grass that I frequented. The air was salty and I could taste the brine on the tip of my tongue. The waves that rose and fell before me brought in shells and stones that I found to be quite interesting and beautiful and I only wished that I could have use of them.

My time to admire, however, was interrupted by the unfamiliar groan and voice that erupted from behind me. I whipped my body around and my hackles rose as my body crouched. I was afraid more so than aggressive but I tried not to let it show. My brother had taught me to stand my ground and to not show fear. Get knocked down, get back up. I’m not sure how I had not noticed the markings around his territory at first. I had caught a faint scent when the wind shifted before I started toward the beach and only then had I noticed it. I had no excuse to be here and instead of making one, I simply answered.

“I was chasing the summer butterflies,” I pause. How childish of me to admit that I was running about with those flittering creatures, “…I didn’t notice your markings at first.” My voice cracks under pressure and the “first” comes out as more of a whisper. My ears flip back in submission and I take a small step back and relax my stance. He smells of others, I am certain. He is not alone and his stance deems that he is not an ordinary wolf in an ordinary alliance. “I am not used to checking for boundaries. I was never taught. Is this your home?”

I lift up my head now and turn back towards the ocean where a whale breaches in the forever moving distance. It is unending and free like I intended to be.

“It is very beautiful.”