Wheeling Gull Isle Two Storms

He starts out as the sun rises, chasing trails of light across the beach paths. Down by the shore the winds are calm and the skies silent. He maneuvers around the bones of conifers, washed up from the sea and graved along the foreshore. This stretches of the granite coast is pocked with rocky pools, capturing an abundance of intertidal sealife. Judah scuttles around them, pawing at anemones, trying (and failing) to mouth a school of miniature shoal. In the next pool he finds a family of scallops and fishes them out with his teeth, starting a neat pile at his side. He’d need to gather more this morning- he had a second mouth to feed.

Judah shakes the oceanwater from his cheeks and glances up towards the greenhills, where the girl- @Racharra- was still sleeping.

GASP

she should've suspected something when she woke in the middle of the night fighting a clogged nose. racharra stirs as Ra demands that she gets up, his sun insistent on shining into the den. but she couldn't; a cough violently shakes her to escape. she hacks, and with a drag of her paw buries the flem. the act alone was like moving a boulder, and Ra couldn't have any sympathy in at least moving the light away from where she slept.

except he does! when racharra flops over to her other side, she perks when she meets silver and copper eyes again, bright even as his figure cuts a shadow.
..good morning. she croaks through dry throat.

He gathered as many scallops as could possibly fit in his jaws and trudged for the den. The girl was awake now, her golden eyes peering up at him and a low greeting on her voice. She sounded awful- he supposed all mainlanders were delicate to the thick salt air.

The boy deposited the shellfish unceremoniously at the mouth of the den, the shells clanking together as they thudded on the shale. Lapping at the excess slaver on his lips, Judah took several intrinsic steps backward and lowered his hips into a seat. He pretended to be particularly interested in a passing gull to his left while keeping the denmouth framed in the corner of his eye.

she lurches up onto her feet, though her head hung low as she watched the scallops unceremoniously fall from his mouth and onto dirt.
golden eyes flick between him and the scallops — a plate wouldve been nice!!

rarely does she get to eat seafood, rarely does she like seafood, but her stomach had an entirely different stance in this — slobber and dirt covered scallops were the tastiest things in the world right now!

racharra joins him finally, sitting across from judah. thank you.. and the girl gets to work on opening the scallops. her brow furrows as she finds the best nook to crack open the scallops — usually, they'd been opened for her — but guilt kept her as tightly shut as the scallops are to ask for help.
..aren't you going to eat? she clears her throat, fighting against the flem that clung to her throat still. to hack and cough like a madwoman in front of judah is the last thing she needed!
we can share? and she can watch how he opens his!

It is enough to rouse her and the boy is privately pleased to see her enthusiasm. His eyes are curious upon her as she sits up, looking more alert. She fumbles with the shells, mulling them oddly underfoot. It hadn’t occurred to him that a mainlander would have no idea what to do with a scallop. Amusement pulls his lip into a furtive, half-smile.

“Like this,” Judah gestures, taking a shell in hand and positioning it firmly in place with his claws. He slides his molars into the pleated grooves, forcing the husk apart. Inside the glistening heart is well-preserved and the boy noses the opened shell towards Racharra.

“For you,” he extends, despite her invitation. Nerves were making him shaky. He didn’t think he could eat.

pressure built in her skull, watching him so quickly and confidently open the scallop — it was nothing really, yet when she caught a glimpse of even a weak smile. and that was enough for something to stir bashfulness within the girl.

with the passing of her tongue, the heart slides into place and it doesn't take long for racharra to be reminded of her hunger. politeness was thrown to the wayside, at least until she'd finished eating.

thank you.... again. she chortles, swiping her tongue over her lips as when she's about to repeat the gesture, she hesitates.
never did she like the way her teeth looked. especially lately. especially now when under judah's gaze; she didn't want him to see her ogre tusks, she didn't want to scare him!
insecurity stood between her food, and her stomach has to remind her again of its hunger. she inches forward before repeating what he'd taught her. rather easily too, but that isn't much of a surprise for herself.
her eyes search him, worried for what they may find.

Judah stood a little distant, like a shepherd keeping vigil over one of his flock, ears ticking to nearby caws and the steady thrum of windswept leaves overhead. But there was no danger this morning. They were alone on the island.

Racharra was quick to pick up the tactic he’d shown, dividing the scallop shells into two halves with ease. He’d seen her strength under moonlight but he couldn’t help to notice how the sun was running it’s beams along the muscles in her shoulders.

The bounty was quickly ebbing. He was debating whether or not to go out for more when her voice rose again, clearer this time.

His shoulders raise into something of a shrug and he dips his nose just once- a universal inference of don’t mention it.

For all his reservation, the boy was relieved to see her in good spirits. He wanted to tell her the tide would be out until noon, that she’d better get going if she wanted to make it back to mainland before the waters rose once more. But the words didn’t come. For the first time he considered how empty the isle was. How very isolated he felt. How he was reluctant for her to leave- a stranger, who he didn’t know a thing about.

Judah reached his arm back, the unsightly one with the nub, and tucked it behind the other. “How’d you end up out here anyway?” He flicked his ears forward, in full accord of her now.

he stood watch over her, like a mazoi would. the leg could've been from a hard fought battle. unless the sea itself decided his leg would belong to it. she too could've been taken by it too, had it not been for judah. 

but he was not a mazoi to her nebet. today, he and her were equals, racharra decided so when she did not declare herself.
i ran away from home. she speaks casually between scallops, licking her lips as she prepares the next. the heat got too much. another splits open.

i'll be back. just wanted to get away from it all for moment. crack. she splits this one a little too open, and the scallop's heart sits entirely exposed. racharra looks up to judah.  i was angry. i think i still am. perhaps the sea sensed that. she lingers stiffly, before continuing her routine.

sorry. what about you? i assume this is your home, but.. aren't you quite young to be living alone?

He was absorbed by her mannerisms. She tried so hard to appear casual. He’d been trying the same- perhaps that was the only reason he could see through it.

“Ocean’s good for heat. Sorry all the same.” What kind of heat, he wondered? But he wouldn't press the subject now. When Judah pulls his eyes up to her’s he’s once against struck by just how bright they are. Warm; golden; like mom’s had been.

“My family ran away from home, too.” His voice tapers to shrug. He forces the image of them from his mind. 

The girl had a savage appetite. It was hard not to appreciate that.

“C’mon,” Judah urged, rising to three legs and swinging a head over his shoulder.

is it? for the waters, probably. another crack of a shell rings out, and the pile she pulls from becomes lighter and lighter.

oh. she tilts her head with a frown. mine did, too. i'm going back, just.. a hum trembles from her throat. not now.
she reaches for another mindlessly, but her paw finds only what remains of her feast. that ocean heat makes itself known to her finally as a stuffy sensation burns her cheeks. luckily, she doesn't have to say that she wants more — judah reads her like a book!

the ocean's heat is humid compared to the dryness of her home. she can feel it even now, in the thickness of the breeze that hit her when she follows judah. at this rate, he could tell her to walk into the ocean and if she couldn't stop to think twice she would oblige.
where are we going? luckily, racharra still had enough reason to ask.

They walk on, following an old footpath down the hillside. The land is fertile, kept green by frequent rains. There are few threats on the isle yet still the boy sorts scents as they move, identifying everything but the musk of other wolves. They are alone still.

He drinks in the salt as they ascend to the sea and gives a louder, nearly playful explanation, “Gonna teach you to hunt.”

Hunting on the island is different from the inlands, requiring more observation than finesse. The still exposed tide pools gleam beneath the morning light as Judah clambers over the sweating lavastone embankment, the sole foreleg speared out in front to catch his weight. Racharra is tall and athletic beside him and Judah’s curses his limp.

“You’ll recognize what’s safe to eat by knowing where things grow and what they look like,” mismatched eyes peer to Racharra, wondering if the mainland girl would care to know this. He crouches in front of a small pool teeming with life, a little microcosm of the greater oceans. “General rule- if it’s colorful leave it be. You’re looking for shells that blend with the rocks.”

"What do you see?” He asks, turning his chin towards her. She's near enough for him to smell her; sweet and ripe he can scent it perfectly. His jaw flexes and and he flicks his eyes quickly back to the water.

sights hidden to her at dusk came clearer in the morning light. racharra stops momentarily while following, only to bound up behind judah. she halts again, though, when he announces the schedule for today.

hunting for scallops? if it was just for those, then that wouldn't be too bad, she thinks foolishly. while she didn't mind the activity, she wondered the reason for it. perhaps the boy probably didn't want to be taken as a fellahin, though heat brushes against her cheeks at the thought of someone else having to bare witness to her lack-luster hunting skills. 
what if he knew all this time of her status. and he decided to tease her, to humiliate a nebet of akashingo for a quick laugh. the idea of him pulling a joke a cruel as that after saving her, though, didn't feel right. for now he has her trust as she peers over the ledge of the pool

she sees herself and him, their image rippling by the life that lies underneath it. she takes a quick glance towards judah as she inches her head closer and closer to the pool, just to make sure this is what he means before gently dipping her head in. her vision blurs under the water and seagrass tickles her cheeks, and yet the tide pool's beauty isn't lost on her.
i saw fish, and other creatures and.. things! she gasps as she pulls her head out from the pool, careful to not look at herself in her reflection — for her sake and judah's she'd rather imagine that she remained dry and beautiful. i'm not sure what they are. few organisms were things that serpent lake had, yet even the fish looked different. nothing of the lake was nearly as vibrant as this one little piece of the ocean. she dives back in, this time looking closely for shells.

The girl’s face is pulled from the shallows, water trailing from her cheeks in long flowing twin veils. It thins out the shape of her head and ruffles her fur, a goofy little look for someone so graceful. Judah pinches his lips, quirking them off to one side in feeble attempts to stifle a laugh. He can’t remember the last time he did.

“Yeah…lot’s of things.” She’s charming.

He kneels closer to the runnels, seeing textures of stone, observing shells, starfish, and glimmering agate. He points them out to her with the names he’d learned from his parents when he was a kid: muscle, hermitcrab, minnow. Others he’d never learned names for, so he’d made them up. He told those to Racharra, too: slime-mouths, needleballs, tube-fish.

“Dish ish wha 'ew wan,” he mumbles, snapping a small, brown-shelled scallop from the stone with his teeth and plunking it on the rocks. “This tastes the best- trust me, I’ve had the privilege of trying ‘em all.”

A show is made of halving the shell and slurping down it's meat before Racharra has the opportunity to snatch it. He gulps and laps his maw coarsely. "Your turn," his eyes challenge.

In the headwinds, the boy's tail gives a little flick.

her cheeks flush an uncomfortable heat at the boy's stifled amusement, glancing away as he did. not out of embarrassment, though. a part of her wished to see more of his smile, but she wouldn't press as the topic moved onto a lesson in sea life.
i met a woman named minnow. she says in between judah's lecture. i didn't know it was a fish. what did her name mean, then? what did his?

the scallop he presents to her shatters into hard chunks, and before racharra could even think he slurps up the meat callously. its slime hits her nose as the temptation to throw him into the pool boils then quickly simmers — he'd just take all of the scallops for himself if she gave in to her hunger rage. and in the end, these were his pools that she was playing around in. she shrugs it off with the roll of her eyes and the bat of her lashes before diving back inside. not without turning this little hunting lesson turned into a hunting competition.

she's careful to not inch too close to the hermit crabs or the needleballs, and it takes her a moment of exploring the pool before yanking out her own scallop. but she would not show judah. racharra turns around and indulges in her catch almost just as quickly as he had with his.
you're next. her tail thumps against the floor.