We float before the sea at dusk,

As the cold set in the desert, the stormclouds rose above and came forth. Though no drops fell, just the dryness of the shivery night and the sound of booming thunder in the distance, an occasional light in the sky from the wandering lightning. A sunkiss dripped away from the world and a night came - though light shocking the ground in a large crash, and the sand splashing away from the initial thunderstrike.

Though upon the light disappearance, a wolf stood in its place. Wet as if a rainfall came, but the desert remained dry, the only moistness that came from was from the lone wolf. Droplets came off her fur and formed to the ground ; she was completely drenched in the smell of seasalt, and a strand of seaweed that remained stuck on her back fell to the sandy floor. A paw rubbed away from the water that clenched to her eyes, and she looked around.

“It's dry.”

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Leap leapt. 

From one life to the next, from one mate to the next, from one world, one desert, one foot to the other. 

She woke tucked beneath a stone outcropping half-covered in a dune, though the dog was quick to get to her feet nimbly and step out to a cool desert covered by clouds, the threat of rain refreshing but looming on the air. 

The matriarch narrowed her gaze, rounded ears swiveling as she peered around her new surroundings. The shift of the sand beneath her paws was familiar, but the landscape, the sky, the scents were not.

The scents were notably lacking the smell of her pack, her family, and the Sandskipper leader felt dread form a heavy, gaping pit in her gut. Where were her people. It didn't matter where they were as long as they had each other, but even if Leap had been home, being away from their presence would have been just as disorienting and concerning as it was now.

She spotted a droplet of ocean just ahead, navy blue practically neon and flashing with giant arrows above her with how the colors clashed with the sand. It even stood out, though less so, against the unusual cloud cover. Leap left her tail swinging loose at her ankles, though she dropped her head level with her shoulders as she moved languidly to approach the stranger.

Sharp hearing picked up a faint dry from what her nose told her to be the wet wolf's direction. Perhaps she wasn't the only one transported here. Good. There was a chance she could collect her wayward pack, then, regroup. Together, they would be fine. Together, she could fix this. And if she couldn't fix it, well, together, they would survive. That was all that mattered. 

The small dog halted, then, choosing to observe from a distance. She was uncertain, whether to approach the strange creature. She knew of wolves, but they didn't look like this. They resembled...big, red jackals more than the stories of hulking lupines that roamed colder climates. This wolf looked more like what the stories spoke of. Those, apparently, traveled in formidable packs, much like her own kind. A lone dog was a dead dog, and she didn't know enough to know if this blue newcomer was as alone as she, or if she carried packmates with her like the water clinging to her coat. 

Still, Leap didn't turn to run, either.
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Vendrussel shuffled the water off as she shook her pelt, though the scent of sea salt still highly clung to her pelt, and faintly within the air. It was quickly covering from the moonlit desert scent, but the water would not leave - especially at how cold it was. She shivered, a confused look giving around as ocean eyes just squinted before her. She saw this was like a beach, yet the air was so cold and the cactus that hung around was not native to what she knew. Neither, could she see the ocean - a dragon who was completely out of her realm.

The last bit she remembered was being pushed off the sacred cliff. It was almost laughable she seemingly drowned there - yet.. Vendra was here. She wasn't truly sure if it was death or maybe that the ancients gave her a second chance - an enlightenment she had yet to reach. There was a confidence strumming in her chest on this thought. The pinnacle of the life itself was to achieve a partner, through death and life, to present oneself in front of the masters and spirits of ancients.. Achieve their dualism, partnership and granting to the eternal reincarnation.. Yet, the water dragon had no partner.

Someone who she thought was to be a partner, seemingly betrayed her. She held a rather.. Cold smile, thinking of this man, her claws digging into the desert sand. The group of dragon worshippers do not tolerate betrayal. The ultimate dishonest and disgrace, to the point wolves would rather kill themself then to even thought of it, and someone, who was so close to her side, actually did so?

The ancients pitied her. Maybe they blessed her in this new life - where she could make a true legacy, unlike the betrayal that was given.

"Ohhhh, what are you?" In the midst of her entangled thoughts and newfound confidence, she looked audibly shocked at the oddly, painted wolf before her. Ears large and colors amiss, she had no idea if that was a wolf in the distance.

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The wolf noticed her. She had been expecting it, tilting her good ear back slightly, uncertain. 

The dog stepped forward a bit, closing some of the distance so the two could speak more comfortably but not daring come too close. 

The bigger canid spoke some strange, foreign language, and the dog's big ears twitched, expression nonplussed. "I don't understand that. Do you speak this language?" She tilted her head expectantly.
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"Ah, my bad, I'm used to speaking my home tongue." Vendrussel understood language quite well - it tended to be the universal language for many wolf packs.. Though her homeland may have been reclusives, they held a neutrality with a few others, a general understanding about their nothern waters. It was their land. A draconic area where they were very territorial over, and often ran wolves off without a second thought. Fluidly, as she spoke, she tilted her head a bit upwards, an ocean-gaze giving a look around at the desert night.

She highkey wanted to asked what they were, but gave a rather awkward cough and asked a different question altogether, "Where are we?" Said, the soaking wolf.

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The wolf apologized and Leap twitched an ear dismissively. It was no problem, she was just glad she didn't have to work around a language barrier while navigating communication with the wolf. 

The wolf looked around, and Leap waited for her to spit out whatever she was ruminating on, or finish adjusting to the new environment, whatever was going on with her.

Where were they. The one question she couldn't really answer, not in a way that was satisfying. "A desert, far from my home, and I suspect, yours." Being soaking wet was a dead giveaway. Something was afoot here, but Leap cared much less about that and much more about her packmates, her children.
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She had heard of the desert, but of course never been there. Vendrussel had to inhale sharply to get a general understanding to what had occurred - she was at the cliff, she fell into the ocean, and appeared in the desert. The timeline does not seem to make sense, though the acceptance of 'renew' came relatively fast, she had trouble processing the in-between of ocean, then desert. Did she have a lap of memory of some sort? Surely not, that wouldn't explain why she was wet, and seaweed that now was on the moist sand. 

"This isn't hell, right? I'm alive, you're alive, maybe not sure what you are, but we are living right?"

She really had to make sure the ancients didn't just send her to some limbo of space and time, but an actual place.

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