The fog was a misty veil, separating him from the dock he knew was there, magnifying the sounds across the water and making the gentle slap of tidewater against the statue fill his ears with a hollow, eerie ring. This was a perfect day for... memories.... He gently cupped the pendant in his hands, rubbing his thumb against the heartstone. Trying, by sheer will, to feel the small pulse of warmth from it, as he had the day before. He knew he wasn't mistaken. He knew it was starting, and he was sure he'd felt the small, brief, pulse of life within the dark, intaglioed gem. The pulse of life that called him here, to this graceful statue of the woman he dreamt of.... The woman no one would believe he'd swum along side under Aesry's stars, 7 fortnights ago. Just seven. It felt like an age. The disembodied chime of a buoy bell echoed through the shifting mist, like a calling.
Vespers of the sea. With a wistful sigh, he stood and placed his hand at the caved marble elbow, of a beautiful Merelew maiden, as if to lead her away with him. He wished it were so. Carved scales along the statue's tail, glinted in the fading day's last rays, giving it a pale illusion of movement and color. He finally tore his gaze away from her and the darkening horizon, to retrace his steps along the stone walk, already beginning to be submerged by the evening's tide, leading back to the dock proper. By lantern light, he took one last, lingering gaze, before ascending the landing stairs to the dock, and pointing his sodden boots toward the amber glow of Taelbert's Inn, a warm meal, and a fitful sleep. ~ 2007
