sand moved like warm velvet between her toes, the last of the days heat clinging to the memory of morning as the moon started her gentle assent in to the gathering obsidian night. her eyes clear and grey, piercing the mist that gathered on the shore, the gentle lapping of waves a heart beat of the earth. ships mored in the shallows sounded mast bells that rang clear into the night, something was moving through the water. something came ashore she nodded in reply, holding the box in an out stretched arm