Wheeling Gull Isle luson

the sea gave. god gave.
heda collected clams. these days, her coat was coated with a fine spray of salt, which clung in crystals upon her brow. she had taken fully to their life beside the ocean.
soon she wanted to see bartholomew. but heda was interested in the dark woman, and looked around for the lost soul.

A dark woman she was not. But she came across the other pale-furred girl anyway, and lingered a little at the periphery, admiring the blood-red stripe along her top line.

She'd never seen anything like it.

After a few moments, Blueberry moved forward, giving a brief chuff in greeting before settling nearby, watching the young woman at her work.

Are they hard to catch? she asked. If there wasn't a pile of shells already, she'd seen wolves at this before, whether snaring fish or other sea creatures.

She needed to practice, herself, if she was to stay here.

heda looked up with a smile. "at first!" she exclaimed. "i pray when i work. it makes the gathering easier."
she looked toward the girl again, into the deep color of her eyes. "you're — blueberry, right?" heda rose and stretched, climbing out of the water to join the other on easier land. "it gets easier the more you do it, just like singing or praise or dancing."

Praying, praying. Again with all that. How had she found herself in a nest of zealots, after seeing the worst of her mother's fanaticism?

Still, she gave the young woman a smile, and a nod at her name mentioned.

I'd like to try, Blueberry replied, beginning to edge down to the water. It was chilly—even more so, recently—and she felt it even before her paws reached the surf.

She looked over to the other wolf. And your name is. . .? She'd gotten some brief introductions, but all of them in passing, and she couldn't remember names for the life of her.

Not with her mind all wrapped up in finding Vesper, anyway.

"heda." the young advisor smiled and then waded down into the cold salt alongside blueberry. she gasped lowly as the water struck her skin, squeezing her eyes shut. "i'm in here every day! you'd think it got easier," she added with a laugh.
"the clams are here." she indicated the side of the large stones sitting in the ocean. "you'll have to hold your breath to get them." 
heda demonstrating, drawing in air audibly before she dipped her head beneath the surface. her teeth closed around one of the shells, and she separated it from the side of the rock with a firm tilt of her head.
up again, streaming, heda showed the little animal to blueberry.

It was hard to tell the shells from the other rocks on the seabed.

How do you know which ones are edible? she asked Heda, when the other wolf had submerged with her catch. She stared at said catch, mouth watering slightly, thinking about the meat within.

Fish seemed easy enough—just catch the wriggling ones. But these didn't move.

It was a different game altogether.

"look at the shell. if it is a dark color, take them. if they are white or silver, leave them." she showed blueberry a pale clam she had earlier pried from the rock.
"you can eat both, but the lighter ones won't taste as good."
heda sighed, looking with pleasure out toward sea.

Oh, she murmured, gazing at the pile Heda had collected.

She then turned her attention to the churning sea, eyes narrowing to catch the shades amid the churning waters. She thought she caught a glimpse of dark amid the brightness and ducked down, feeling the sea roar against her ears and nose and—

Lurched her head up, shell clenched between her teeth; she placed it down, looking, and—

Oh, it's dark! Blueberry exclaimed. Like you said! She began to try and pry at the clam's mouth, hoping to open it.

rolled for success!

heda grinned in encouragement. "like this!" she grabbed one of the lighter clams, on the bank, and demonstrated how to put the side of a bottom canine against the lip.
in time, the halves separated.
heda looked to see how blueberry was faring.

She went shallower the next time, noting Heda's instructions, and plucked out a shell—only to find that its halves were already split, and the meat within seemed. . .limp and discolored.

Dead? she asked her hunt-partner, cocking her head. It reminded her of meat gone bad. She sniffed and recoiled; even the sea-salt could not mask the scent of decay. Dead, she decided, and sent the clam shell flying back into the water with a deft flick of her paw.

Blueberry sat, then, and looked at the water. Are there other animals to hunt here? she asked. Besides fish and other sea animals, I mean.

She'd never acquired a taste for seafood, being so young in her childhood here and only living off of mother's milk. Afterwards, she'd been fed with inland fare; this was so far out of her normal that she found herself struggling—though she didn't mind fish, too much.

heda nodded approvingly as blueberry took the lesson and applied it in that moment. "sometimes deer come over on the sandbar, from the mainland. we have some here. i hunt birds. and there are turtles near the tidepool, though you have to leave psalm alone. he's the big one."
her gaze was wondering. "do you want me to show you?" she had time to tour blueberry around, and maybe she even wanted to do it.

Yeah, please, Blueberry said fervently, nodding. She wasn't having much luck with the shellfish, and she was kind of desperate to make a new friend.

Along the way, she queried: Why do you have to leave Psalm alone? What's special about a turtle?

She had not encountered her mother's grackle, nor any other animal familiars. For Blueberry, anything non-canid was something to either avoid or to eat.

She followed Heda with a little exuberance, vibrating slightly.

"the tide pools first, then." heda grinned and began a soft lope in that direction. "psalm is — so big! i don't think we could eat him if we tried." 
so big did not encompass the size of the leatherback turtle which had chosen the island for its docking point.
the forest was vibrant, fed by mineral-rich water. she paused to scuff playfully in the black dirt before wading beyond the treeline into the cold water which filled dozens upon dozens of small pools. "tide's in!"

Blueberry chuckled, casting her head from side to side at the thought of Psalm. Big, so she understood. Meat was not an opportunity without multiple wolves.

Her pale paws cast dark shadows in the earth.

She raced after Heda, calling out, Whad'ya mean? Is that important?

Oh, sweet child.

She ended up ankle deep in the pools, tongue lolling, watching for Heda's next command.

heda looked back. "oh! oh, man, i'm sorry!" but her voice was a laugh as she splashed back to blueberry. "okay. so when the tide is in, that means the waves reach all the way up here." she pointed out to sea and then wiggled her toes against the cold sand.
"when it's out, the pools have water in them, and it's easier to hunt what's inside." heda waded out once more.
"do you see that big boulder thing out there?" she asked, motioning toward the object that rivaled the boy mo in size. "it's not a rock. that's psalm."
the advisor was off again, plunging into deeper water as she moved toward the giant animal, though kept a slight distance.

She felt slightly foolish, and tried not to let it show, though she felt the embarrassed frown tugging at the corners of her mouth. If she were human, she would have blushed. 

Instead, she gave Heda a brusque nod, then glanced in the direction of the other's gesture. 

Oh, he is big, Blueberry marveled, brows lifting. She was reticent to follow, but did so anyway, at an even greater distance. 

Didn't want to make any more of an ass of herself than she already had today, right?

as advisor, she forgot sometimes she wasn't so old. she felt closer and closer to blueberry, but thought it too weird to say anything so soon.
heda took them away from psalm and then toward a larger pool. "look! there are starfish!" and without fanfare she shoved her whole face into the water, eyes wide.