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The summer heat was brutal on Melody's fins, making it difficult for her to stay on land for very long, even with the insulation of her fur. Midday was almost unbearable most of the time, so she regulated her land-time to the mornings and evenings, when the heat hasn't settled in quite yet and the air was still cool. She swam to the shore, her strong tail pushing her through the water until her paws hit solid ground, walking up onto dry sand. She was meant to meet a friend at the beach today, but as she looked around the small crowds scattered across the shore, she couldn't spot him. Sometimes it was just too hot to make the trip, and Melody suspected today might be one of those days where he wouldn't be able to make it.

Still, that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the beach by herself. It was fun to watch the families and other soquili enjoy themselves as the day came to a close. She stopped in her tracks when a pair of foals zoomed past her, smiling as she watched them splashing out into the shallow water to play. As she looked across the dunes again, her ear-fins perked up in interest when she spotted the small blue usdia by himself and his collection of seashells. She made a beeline straight for him, a bounce in her step as she approached. "Oooh, you found so many pretty shells!" she cooed, admiring all the different shapes and colors. "Were you out here all day collecting them? It must've been so hot out!"

"Oh, but you worked so hard collecting them! Maybe... just one?" Melody acquiesced, reluctant to take from his collection, but unable to resist taking at least one of the pretty shells. She looked over the shells carefully, gently tapping a short claw against a clam shell with a soft pink hue. "I really like that one... if you're really sure you don't mind? I don't want to accidentally take your favorite!" she asked, trying not to sound too excited, but unable to completely keep the hopeful tone out of her voice. She had a large collection of her own back at her cove in the ocean, and it would make such a pretty addition!

She smiled softly at his shy demeanor, settling down in the sand across from him. She didn't think twice about asking if he even wanted the company, too excited to try and make a new friend. "I wish I could show you my collection too, but I keep them all at my home under the water. I could always bring a few up to show you another time, though!"

Giddy with delight, Melody picked up the pink shell with a paw, turning it this way and that to admire all the little details. Her own tail swiped through the sand behind her almost like a wag, but the dampness still clinging to her body caused most of the sand to stick instead of fly everywhere from the movement. Her ear-fins flared up at Oshin's suggestion, excited at the prospect of showing each other's collections to each other. "Oh yes, I'd love that! My name is Melody, but it doesn't have a fun spelling like yours. I like to sing, though, so I think it still suits me!" she giggled, carefully setting her new shell down beside her.

"Shells under the water are still beautiful, but in different ways, I think! The way the sunlight shines though the ocean casts some pretty reflections on their surfaces, highlighting them differently do on land. Sometimes it can almost look like a whole new shell!" She lifted her tail again, this time to fan herself as the cool water began drying on her body, starting to warm her back up. "Gosh, You land-dwellers tolerate the heat much better than I can. I can't even come up during the day for most of the summer," she lamented with a small pout. She didn't have very many friends in the ocean yet, while on land it sometimes felt like she couldn't take two steps without bumping into someone new. "I can't believe you were out here all day!"

"I'll be okay for a little bit longer, I think! I'm not too dried out yet, and the setting sun is helping keep the temperature a little lower. The breeze keeps me cool too, but it also dries out my fins and scales faster. We'll just have to keep our meetings to the mornings and evenings for now! " She smiled brightly at him, grateful for his concern. Most of her land friends understood how she struggled out of the water sometimes too, but it always made her feel happy to be thought of. She hummed to herself thoughtfully, tapping the tip of one of her tail fins to her chin. "Would you like to learn? To swim, I mean. I can try to teach you! My tail helps, but I have lots of land-friends and I've seen how they swim, so I can just teach you how they do it!"

Then maybe she'd be able to show him what seashells looked like underwater, too. Though she didn't know if he was comfortable dipping his head under, let alone open his eyes, it was something they could work towards if he was interested. Given how he seemed to like sea shells as much as she did, she suspected he might be willing to try, at least! It would be so much fun to compare how their collections looked in and out of the water. Even if he wouldn't dunk his head under, they could still look at them though the surface of the water on a day the ocean was calmer.

Giggling at Oshin's pun, she nodded eagerly to his plan, already excited for the next time they ran into each other. "In that case, maybe a nixie would be a better teacher than me! I guess it would be a bit different with our different weights and the lengths of our legs... oh gosh, and we have different feet too!" She splayed out her paw in the sand, her ear-fins drooping a little at how different they were and how that might affect her ability to teach him. Still, she was determined to help, and if she couldn't do it, Melody was certain she could find a kind nixie who would be willing to help -- or at least give her some pointers! "I'm sure we can figure it out together!"

As the pair of them relaxed in the sand, the other soquili on the beach began their trips back to their homes as the weather grew cooler as night time approached. Foals whined about not wanting to leave, but their eyelids were heavy from a day's worth of play, betraying their exhaustion. But Oshin and Melody continued to talk as the beach emptied out, engrossed in their discussions about sea shells and future swimming lessons, and the promise of meeting again. Eventually, Melody's skin began to itch and the soft membranes of her fins started to feel stiff, and she begrudgingly had to admit defeat, just as reluctant to leave as the foals had been. "It was so fun to meet you, Oshin! I'm glad I made the trip out of the water today. I'll bring all my favorite shells for the next time we meet!" she promised, already thinking about which shells she was going to bring. She wanted to make sure she had a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, selecting ones that she found in the ocean rather than on land so they could compare the differences.

Maybe if she came on land earlier in the day, they could spend more time together -- as long as she could sit under the shade!