NOVEMBER

“Have you heard of urban legends?” She dug around in the sand with her toes, sitting close enough to the ocean that the waves brushed her legs every once in a while.

“Some. People had all these little stories about things that they couldn’t explain.” It raised an arm over them as if it could reach the sun and settled comfortably next to her, who was still in awe seeing it wear anything other than white and beige elf linen. She took a handful of wet sand and plopped it back, “Well, urban legends aren’t really like that. They are usually about things that don’t exist to begin with.”

“Like what?” It stretched its fingers apart and back together, having to blink when there was enough sunlight to hurt its eyes. It was truly a wonder of nature, and she inevitably sighed, as it traced around the hand she put behind for support.

“Like a train station.” She gathered her legs and sat a tad straighter, “They say that you can end up there, and never get back, because it really doesn’t exist.”

It hummed as some birds landed in the sea, fluttering water around with loud chirps. They dove into the water, and she couldn’t have envied anything more than being in their places, being a bird wild and free. “Connecting the dots, you think my land is similar?”

“Your land exists.” She washed her sandy hands in the waves, “That is, if I’m not going mad.”

“But what is real? What is it that exists to you?” It huffed, “Even my perception of reality is so limited, if not yours. If real is by all means things you can feel, what about the things you can’t? What if you can feel your heart beat, but not another’s? Does that make them less real?”

“Do you think about that a lot?” She slid a leg close and put an elbow on it, resting her head on a palm.

“It’s hard talking about these things with you.” It chuckled, “How can a mortal be so detached?”

“A mortal can be many things.” She waved her hand before touching the top of her head, “Oh, wow, I’m just about getting a sunstroke.”

“Do I need to get you anything?” It quickly moved forward, almost standing up when she simply shook her head.

“No, no,”

She pushed herself to her knees and opened two palms to the ocean, “I’ll just cool it off.”

The waves gently licked her hands as it smiled kindly.

“That works?”

“My mom,” She gritted her teeth, “she used to do this.”

“Noted.”

She poured the freezing water over her hair, wincing on instinct, and the way it observed her, as if it was a teacher watching a kid debut a homemade nuclear weapon in a science fair, made it just stellar.

“That looks painful.” It gave her a very necessary portion of thoughts, and the bridge of its nose crinkled in agreement.

She pouted as a shiver ran down her whole body, “Not painful, just cold. Very cold.”

It shrugged and took itself a handful of the water.

“I didn’t mean it as a challenge, you know.” She chuckled as it dumped the water on its own head.

“It’s not cold.”

“Well, might that be because you are a living oven?” She put a hand on its right arm, and then on the wet hair.

“Yeah, it‘s cold as ever, but you’re just not affected.”

“What can I say? It’s my job being superior.” It raised its chin and remarked boldly, letting her hand slide down from its head to cheek with a light scoff.

“If that’s the case, I must say you’re pretty impressive.” She put her fingers back into its hair and partially ruffled the wetness out.

“Why thank you, Miss.” With a marvelous accent of mockery, “As for me myself, I also think highly of you, and appreciate your very unpredictable nature.” It gave her the most brilliant grin of absolute joy ever.

“Ah, are we ridiculing each other now?” She smiled fondly as it did an immediate second take at its words. Its grin faltered a little, and she bit a cheek for not being able to keep her thoughts to herself for once. It sighed.

“Is it offensive?”

“No. Never with you.” She turned to fiddle around with a rock absentmindedly picked from the side.

Its shoulders jumped up and set back down abruptly, and she wasn’t looking to see it tense to the point of sheer panic, but was painfully aware of how thoroughly it searched her expression for any let of hostility. She must have expected such a reaction, and felt so stupid for making it uncomfortable again. It shouldn’t have been hard remembering who she really was having a conversation with, and it was absolutely not a mere mortal just like her sorry self, but the worst thing was, she knew exactly what she was doing.

“I am… Touched.”

“Do you have a favorite sweet?” She suddenly pushed herself to turn around, trying to dust off the wet sand from her hands after she made sure to completely face it, all while holding the rock.

“I like honey.” It took the rock, and then her wrists, and guided her to the nearest wave.

“No, no, I meant, any baked sweets?” She gave it an apologetic smile, waiting as the water carefully cleaned the sand away.

“I haven’t tried enough to know.” It pulled her wrists back, and flipped her hands over, weighting the rock in a claw.

“Well, you’ll have to trust my taste of food then.” She declared proudly as it dropped the rock in her palms.

“You’re going to bake for me?” She grinned, “Yeah.”