Backscene: On the Shore Who: Imenry Barras, Aurin Demarc When: Evening 12 Molioris Where: The beach outside Vigil’s Keep Summary: Two acquaintances run into one another outside Vigil's Keep one evening. Rating: Should be fine for all Status: In progress
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The sky stretched overhead like sheet of dark velvet, pinpricked by thousands of glowing lights. The moon hung over the water, half full and casting a line of pale light across the ripples of the ocean. Overhead the Keep stood atop the craggy cliffs, looming like a silent stone sentry. It's immense shadow fell across the pale sands of the little strip of beach. Here, down a winding cliff path, outside the walls of Vigil's Keep the sand stretched along the shore. A small wooden dock protruded out into the ocean, swaying with the occasional rough waves.
Imenry stood near the edge of the water, feet bare, pants rolled up to just below the knees. Her boots sat a few paces away in the dry sand, socks tucked carefully inside. The wet sand squished between her toes and under her feet. The air tonight was thick and heavy, unseasonably warm. It was humid enough that she figured a spring storm might be on the horizon. The water lapping against her feet was cold though, nearly icy as it slid between her toes and over the gentle slope of her feet.
It was quiet here, away from the crowds of the Keep, with no one else on the deserted shore this evening. The sounds of the waves crashing to shore her only company, along with the faint chirping of the nightlife in the surrounding long reedy beach grass that clung to the dunes and grasped stubbornly to the rocky surfaces of the cliffs. Her belly was full from the evening's meal, enjoyed in a crowded dining hall not two hours ago. After dinner most had dispersed, off in groups or pairs, or just alone like her. She'd bypassed the training room and explored the long stone halls of the Keep. But even that hadn't been alone enough for her mood; so she'd grabbed her sword and picked her way carefully down the rocky path to the beach. She'd seen it a few times from some of the windows in the Keep, spent time watching the ocean.
The ocean which made her think of Viara, of sailing across the expanse of it and away from her problems. Not that it had worked, of course. It had only brought more troubles in the end. But the ocean was still beautiful; at turns both calm and violent, serene and dangerous. It could cradle you or smash you against the rocks. In any case she wouldn't be venturing out very far. Growing up in the mountains didn't really make a swimmer out of one. What small bodies of water there had been were always solid ice.
The weight of her sword was reassuring against her back and a breeze slid off the ocean now and again, stubbornly pushing against the heat of the night and teasing her hair away from her face. Imenry tilted her head back to study the night sky, immediately judging her location by the stars scattered across the night sky. The moon's pale glow washed over her face and slid over the silky strands of her hair, shimmering against her eyes.