Prompt: Wolf Underwater

Benna padded across the moonlit sand to the water’s edge. She took a dancing step back at the next wave’s advance, then jumped forward and leaned down, snapping at the water and tossing it up in the air.

You look like a foolish pup! Golen admonished from the treeline.

Benna jumped around in an exaggerated play bow, then whirled back to face the water, tail high to show her disdain for his concern. He growled low in his throat, and she wagged her tail, teasing or appeasing, he couldn’t tell.

It’s time, then, pup. What are you waiting for? Golen tried to infuse more irritation than amusement into his tone.

Still wagging her tail and playfully bounding into the waves, Benna ran into the water, her white coat quickly hidden by the surf. Golen’s golden eyes glittered in the moonlight as he settled into the leaf litter, tucking his paws under his chin, to wait for her return. He had dreamed of the ocean since he was a pup on his mother’s teat, but his white fur darkened to black under his first new moon. He would never go underwater like the white wolves. He closed his eyes to slits, keeping watch while he rested. He dreamed.

Benna jumped over the waves when they first splashed cold water on her belly, then she took a deep breath and dove into the next one. She crouched low under the turbulence, and as her paws touched the sand, she started walking. The first breath underwater was always the most challenging, just like the first breath back in air. It helped to find a distraction, and Benna looked around the deepening water for something to—

There! An urchin! Careful, careful, or she’d be pulling the nasty sharp spines out of her nose for hours. She padded through the sand and tapped the urchin gently so that it floated up from the sand and hung in the water like a puffed up balloon fish. Benna slowly blew out the last of her air and opened her mouth to fill it with the cold salty water. She leaned closer to the urchin, noticing the little white tube feet waving in between the wicked brown and yellow spines. She swallowed the water and tried not to gag. If she gagged on the air when she returned, Golen would tease her all the way back to the den.

He’s just jealous, she thought meanly, then whined an apology in her head. It wasn’t Golen’s fault, and she knew how much he’d always wanted to come underwater. She would bring him something special. With that thought, she spread her paws wide and swam on, leaving the urchin bobbing in her wake as it drifted back down to the ocean floor.

Dogs in house:	Houdini
Time writing:	~20 minutes
May word count:	16,081