Wheeling Gull Isle can you paint with all the colors

about a month before present date, ava had discovered psalm had a predilection for flowers. it had originated with her flower-gathering mishap with dinah and towhee -- and later in a fit of rage, she'd destroyed nearly every flowering head she could and then sent the rest out to sea.

during one such episode, she'd discovered psalm -- and watched in awe as the turtle ate her offering.

since then, it had been her small little routine to collect what budding fronds she could, offering them to the great water-beast. some were handily accepted, and others turned away -- as the days passed ava gathered a better understanding of psalm's palete, and a sense of kinship grew.

to share this special thing with someone else was a rare moment of vulnerability for ava. she watched, breath baited, as her cousin stepped towards the regal creature. seal called it a turtle -- ava remembered this word, turning it over in her mind as she watched psalm lumber forth.

the sea-leviathan's flippers churned in the sand. in what seemed a huge effort, it turned its head sideways and greedily set in on the bouquet, all the while watching the terrestrial duo with a pair of knowing, intelligent eyes.