Beyond The Blue

questions and answers,

__

urmured low secrets to rocks as if conspiring with wind in a language older than remem

ster-slow, vast, incomprehensible. The glass she leaned against was chill and slick with condensation. Beh

in her thickest woolen b

cob

stbitten. There had been no time for questions, only the instinct in her stomach. Something in his eyes-glittering, mournful, old a

with a soft, dewy sheen, kissed by salt and something less material, as if moonlight had been stamped into flesh. A white scar as long as his fingers crossed his

e cottage itself was simple-driftwood beams supporting rough stone walls, thatched roofing she'd put in order the previous sp

this m

gasp, measured. Th

ion like most waking from near death. Instead, they landed on her wi

w silk, a low tide scraping

e," she answered.

tomatically, her hand touching his arm as she steadied him.

whispered. "You

flatly. "You would'

met. Neithe

a name?"

d, a heartb

aco

ded. "M

like lanterns-unfastened b

owly, his movements slow, ribs wrapped tight in fresh bandages. They spoke in fragments-questi

w why a young woman lived alone at the edge of the world, with the eyes of a wolf and the habits of a hermit. But Ana

d to him-never stuttering, never flar

beyond striped with ash and purple. Mist clung to clif

r?" she asked ov

hifting. "More t

you weren't mean

something dark in his expression. "But I

e to an ab

dre

n a moonlit beach. Standing at the

ing in her thr

ce at her. "I'm sorry

id softly. "

ed to him that sh

ets into the rafters and the fire settled int

sun, rich blues carved in by memory. There were coral arches looming above her, carved with sigils that softly shone. She d

the depths-warm, i

ght

with sweat, her body thrummi

as still. The

s were silent. Stars glimmered overhead, but the moon-full, low, a

stood b

cob

it too," h

"The sea's

eplied. "I

nveloping them like memory. Two strangers bound n

rned t

are

ry long time. When he final

"And a mission. But neith

whom?" she

r y

itched. "You

m n

d stilled. The sea shimmer

er couch, but something older, regal, shrouded in seafoam and stormlight. Hi

as not what

did. And somewhere far beyond the cliffs, pro

it

__