This whole “traveling to Uyaraut for totally secret healing lessons every season” thing was seriously taking its toll on Kaukab. He was tired of thinking up lies to tell his mates - not just mate - and his alpha so they wouldn’t suspect what he was really doing. Tired of not being able to share the immense knowledge he reaped every time he left Macaria’s sight. Tired of this damn long trek from the wastelands to the oceanside, no matter the weather, his limbs aching and his paws sore, knowing he’d only have a moment’s rest before getting right back up to train and learn. Kaukab didn’t have time to sleep during these sessions. If he slept, that would delay his return to Graes Waegholm. Siku and the others might accept his occasionally absences now, but they wouldn’t if Kab disappeared for longer than he promised. And the only wolf Kaukab feared as much as he feared Kershov was the black-and-white Alpha with elk’s antlers.

The russet lad with snowy freckles yawned mightily as he lurched from the Uyaraut border, muscles stiff and his messy fur sticking up in twenty different directions. Macaria had sent him to the tide pools to scrape algae and observe the diverse sea life clinging to the slimy stones; his paws still felt gummy between the toes, and most of his wild hairdo could be blamed on the salty ocean spray and playful breeze constantly combing over him. He’d have to bathe in the river before crossing into his home…

Speaking of bathing. Was that someone LITERALLY DROWNING over there?!

Kaukab’s mismatched windows double-took the scene playing out in the waves. A lone lass of cream-and-chocolate was sloshing around in the pristine blue waves, sending wild fountains of water all around her with no rhyme or reason. Every time she resurfaced, more glittering droplets shattered through the air. Before his sleep-deprived brain could catch up with reality and tell him that everything was fine, the starry prince was sprinting full speed over the pale sand, his heart pounding hard with visceral panic, and the only thing he cared about in this moment was diving into that heaving turquoise horizon and pulling out this struggling victim before she sucked too much liquid into her lungs and perished!

His body collided with hers - the force potentially bowling both lupines over into the admittedly shallow surf. But even then, Kaukab would attempt to grip her scruff in his mouth to haul her to the shore, to safety, and then he’d ask her what the hell she thought she was doing tossing herself into the dangerous ocean all alone.