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The sea smells like salt and firelight this time of night. Like all the day’s memories curling out into the wind, asking to be let go.
I sit on the flat of a warm stone just past the rise, where the cliff crumbles into driftrock and the ocean laps at the base like it’s whispering secrets only the moon gets to keep.
The tide glows.
It’s not even fair, how beautiful it is.
The bioluminescence pulses with the waves, dimming and flaring like breath. Like the whole planet’s exhaling slow.
I’m not sure I’ve taken a breath all day.
I pick up a piece of broken shell near my boot—smooth edge, burnished silver with a pinkish ripple. I roll it between my fingers.
Nessa would love this one.
Probably try to feed it to a sea beetle.
I smile.
Then wipe my eyes, because I hadn’t noticed they were wet.
He findsme like he always does—quietly, and right when I need him.
“Didn’t mean to sneak,” Vael says, voice low. “You weren’t exactly hiding.”
“Didn’t think I had to,” I mutter.
He settles in beside me, close enough for his thigh to press against mine. Warm, solid, familiar.
We sit there for a while. Not talking. Just watching the water.
The second moon’s out tonight—the pale one. It hangs lower than the amber one, like it’s eavesdropping.
Finally, I break the silence.
“She broke a post today.”
He nods. “I saw.”
“She cried.”
“So did you.”
I make a face. “Shut up.”
Vael grins, just enough to crease the corner of his eyes.
I nudge him with my shoulder, and he doesn’t lean away.
“Kevari says she’s ahead of where most kids her age are,” I murmur. “But still behind on some of the… emotional stuff.”
“She’s five.”
“She’sours.”
He leans back on his elbows, face tilted toward the stars.
