There was a cove at the east facing side of the island and the land rose on either side of it. So they pulled the ship in as far as they dared, to hide it. The sloop and two dinghy's were lowered and used to shuttle crew and water barrels to shore. When Nymeria got close to the shore she jumped out and swam the last yards to land. She ran around the small beach of blackish sand, no check that, she exhilarated along the beach and into a small copse of palms. She was back on land.
Arya shouted at her, "Stay close girl." But the wolf gave her an askance glance and shot into the trees. Several large white birds rose into the air at her passing and she soon pranced back into view with a large rat in her jaws. A gulp and it was gone. The away party consisted of Arya, Nymeria, Thomas, Jon, Belaletrix, a woodsmen, Drena, Caelan and two other bow armed treekin. The archers quickly shot down 4 or 5 birds which were tossed onto the sloop along with a bunch of coconuts to offload on ship as the sloop went back for more barrels and crew.
Jon chopped the top off of a couple of coconuts and they all enjoyed sips of the sweet water. Arya said, "We best get about finding this water, we shouldn't stay here long." So the group forged into the wilderness ahead. Captain Dirk had come ashore but he stayed back with 12 members of the crew who were offloading small barrels that had once held foodstuff. The smaller barrels would hold about 80 pounds of water, light enough that they could be carried to the waiting open larger barrels on the sloop and dinghy's. They spread out the barrels and made a semi circle around their beachhead to guard against rats. They killed 20 or so of the creatures before the rats gave up getting close anymore.
As the group made their way inland the palms gave way to scrub bushes, tall grasses and some forest trees. The land rose before them towards tall walls. Thomas quipped, "Clearly the walls of a very old volcano, we should find fresh water in a lake at the center." And so they forged ahead. Caelan and the other two treekin started talking and Belaletrix translated, "They are saying there are no trails in the grass or trees that would show signs of larger animals here." They could hear Nymeria crashing through the underbrush around them. If there were any animals she would scare them up. An hour or so later they entered a marshy area and began to see signs of what would have been the wall of the volcano on this side. They started climbing some of the loose rocks and boulders. "Look at this!" Thomas shouted just ahead of them. As they climbed onto a flattish area an ancient ship wreck was sitting off to one side. "Like a giant wave picked it up and deposited it here," Thomas ventured. "Wonder if there is buried treasure here?" The rest laughed and Arya said, "Any treasure was carried off long ago by the looks of that wreck." Thomas smiled at her and said, "You never know."
They crested a small rise and before them lay a little lake. Arya pulled a ships whistle and blew three blasts, the signal for the crewmen to come to get water. They made their way down to the waters edge locating a good rocky spot that would allow filling buckets. Arya sat down on a larger boulder and pulled out some lunch Bart had packed for them, Thomas sat down next to her grinning, "Look over at the eastern wall of the volcano. About halfway up is a large cave opening. We should at least explore that."
On the poop deck Brienne was practicing sword moves with one of the other men at arms. She was pushing herself even though she was still sore because the four knights, herself and the two other captains were in charge of defending the ship if attack came. Gendry had mounted the thunder box facing out to the open sea and loaded it just in case. They heard the three whistle call and Gendry said, "Good they found water."
Later two courses of carrying water had already happened and Dirk and the crewmen turned back to shore to dump their loads. On the third pass it was well afternoon and the crew brought extra casks with them. Everyone loaded up with water and they made their way back to shore. As the away team waited for the sloop to return to take them to the ship a rather large grey and brown brindle cat ran out from the brush and headbutted Arya's leg. She scooped the cat up and it purred. Nymeria bounded out of the brush sniffed at the cat and then leaped to the sloop just pulling in. Arya dropped the cat and climbed aboard, but the cat jumped right on the boat behind her. Thomas laughed, "I guess you have a cat now Arya."