The last time she had been on the beach, Dawnflicker had talked to the then-Coast Guard; the time before that, she had run into Sunstar post-Nightclan, fearful of even talking to the new leader at all; and the time before that, she had nearly swam herself to exhaustion during Summerclan's uprising. In all honesty, she had been avoiding it, the feeling of water dragging her fur down, the taste of salt, had been an all too familiar reminder, and she'd resigned herself to sitting on the banks, staring out instead of going in. Everything else seemed to have changed except for that feeling — the Coast Guard had grown, she had struck a friendship with Sunstar, but her apprehensiveness had stayed the same. 

Sitting on the shore, the tips of her paws touching the waves that rolled it, her tail twitched behind her with that same sense of nervousness, that slight anxiety, and she almost convinced herself once more it was too soon to try. She lifted a paw, touched the top of a tiny wave as it hit the surface. It was cold, a slight foam at the top, and just as she remembered it. She placed it back on the sand, pad sinking into the sand, slightly uncomfortable. Her tail flicked faster behind her.