Wheeling Gull Isle salt sting

Coelacanth wasn’t feeling well today; she was assailed with bouts of nausea that kept her jaws tightly clenched as bubbles of sticky froth collected upon her lips. It was not a good look for her, and she kept largely to herself because of it. Rolling in mint did nothing for her, but she found that nibbling at the flesh of the coconuts that occasionally washed ashore from the grove on the Teekon mainland helped settle her stomach — and the scent of vanilla blossom was equally soothing. It came to pass that she mostly smelled of vanilla, coconut, and berries — with the whole island under her claim, she shamelessly indulged her sweet tooth! — with the ever-present undernote of salt.

An alerting howl drew her interest, and she began moving toward the shoreline — but when the winter raven howled not once but twice, Seelie quickened her pace. She washed her face to present a less rabid countenance and filled her mouth with berries, not for her own delight, but for the stranger who had so piqued her tauhou’s anxiety. Upon meeting Maegi for the first time, Coelacanth had ardently wished for sugar to jumpstart the girl’s energy and help her inland, and she didn’t want to be caught unprepared this time around. Despite the pain that shot through the play of muscles across her withers and along the nape of her neck, she kicked into a sprint.

She arrived on the scene with a reassuring nuzzle against the sandstone female’s cheek. “Good, good girl,” she breathed, approaching the male without hesitation and making to curl her tiny body around him. Gently she dropped the berries at the strange wolf’s paws and began to bathe his face, heedless of her own safety. It wrenched her heart — she wanted him to be Aditya, wanted them to be able to start everything over! — but she drew a deep, even breath that cooled the hot stinging of her eyes before it could become tears. “Cold,” she whispered to the island’s guardian. If he didn’t warm up, he wouldn’t be able to digest anything, let alone move further inland.

At long last, “Komodo,” she whispered, her cerulean eyes conflicted, yet pleading. “Find.”