Wheeling Gull Isle It took me so long to find out- but I found out

wc:545
Just a quick read-only for when he gives Meerkat some time to hang out with Nuwu.

While Meerkat spent some time with her friend, Bronco roved along the beach so he could give her some space. He wouldn't wander too far away, but he was just so tempted by the smells and sights that he couldn't simply sit and relax while she and Nuwu got caught up. This was only the second time he had ever been to the coast before, and he was going to make the most of it. He could only imagine how cruel the sea breeze could be when influenced by the bitter tongue of winter.

He meandered this way and that, and like a child he dodged the waves as they rolled in, side-stepping with bouncy steps every time it threatened to nip at his toes. At one point, he even lost his composure and yipped at the water when it rose too quickly for him to avoid- and he cast a glance over his shoulder, hoping the girls hadn't seen him acting so foolish. He couldn't help it- the beach was fun.

Fortunately for him, the low tide had pulled back to reveal all manner of things left upon the shore which stretched out further into the inlet for him to investigate. Shells, colourful rocks, little shells that scuttled and moved- and creatures with pincher legs on them that Bronco immediately disliked. He managed to avoid the cliche move of having one clamp onto his lip simply because he didn't like the way its eyes looked. Something about a creature with eyes that grew on twiggy cranial projections weirded him out a lot.

Eventually he found something that had been washed ashore that didn't quite fit in with everything else. It was a semi-sphere in shape, and had been hollowed out. He sniffed it, and licked the inside only to recoil when he realized that the ocean had left a distinct salty taste to it. It looked like it might have been wood- but in all honesty, he had no idea what it was, or what it had come from. The outside was almost hairy, but it didn't look like something that had been alive once; it looked like it had been part of a plant...Just not like any plant he'd ever seen before.

In all likelihood, it had fallen into the sea along the opposite shore, to the south, and had been carried toward the inlet by the current. Tossed about on the waves and cracked against rocks, and smoothed by the sand of the beach, the coconut shell had been split more or less in half, and had had all of its fleshy innards either eaten by sea creatures, or carved out by the waves.

He nudged it, and then gave it a smack with his paw, watching as it skittered across the sands toward the shoreline, where a wave rolled in. It engulfed the coconut shell for a moment, but when the wave withdrew, it left the shell upon the shore- full to the brim with salty water. It was then that Bronco was given an idea- and while it meant he had to fight the next three waves to get the shell back, he managed to wrestle it from the sea, and would carry it back to the Glen with him.