Of The Clouds And The Tides

Step one: First meeting

The morning sun rose again as Cove was perched on his rock again. He had made a habit out of waking up early enough to watch the sunrise, as he knew nothing would be able to interrupt him. The sun was always partially covered by the tree line from his spot, but he never minded. The scenery was still beautiful to him, even after years of coming up and looking at it. He itched idly at the kelp wraps around his arm, the memory of the wound still fresh in his mind.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement in the trees. His gaze flickered over to the spot, and he saw the young purple harpy from yesterday emerge. She flew out of the tree and onto the shore, where she moved to watch the sunrise as well. She hadn't noticed Cove, but him knowing he now had a partner to watch the sunrise with, even with the distance and even just for today, made him panic a small bit. He turned his focus away from the harpy and back to the sky as the sun continued to climb over the horizon. He knew that soon it would be too bright to watch the sun, so he savored the time he could. He saw the harpy sit down just in the corner of his vision, and plant her hands on the ground, as if she was perched on a tree branch than in the sand. Her wings relaxed, and the tip of one began to get washed over by the waves. She didn't move.

Cove found his vision wandering back to the harpy on the beach. He saw her look at the water line as the waves rolled in, and scoot closer to it, dipping more of her wing into the water as the waves rolled up the sand bank. Cove blinked as the harpy simply watched the waves roll up on her wings for a while, before standing and walking out into the water. He watched as the harpy began to bounce slightly, before suddenly kicking into a run and sprinting around in the ankle-deep water, a smile on her face as she twirled and jumped and splashed. The harpy, in her excitement, moved into deeper water, wading out to near waist deep.

She smiled even larger as she turned around and fell backwards, out into the water. She dunked herself fully into the water, and quickly popped back up, shaking water out of her hair. She spun once more in the water before looking back at the sunrise, her wings sinking and floating on top of the water. Cove looked at the sun as well, realizing that it was nearly no longer sunrise. The harpy looked out at the sea and scanned the horizon. Cove watched her stop as her eyes landed on him, and she squawked loudly as she panicked, losing her footing and falling under just as a wave rolled in. Cove watched for a moment as the harpy reappeared above water farther from shore. His eyes widened and he moved forward, trying to see if the harpy could handle herself.

The harpy struggled against the waves, being pushed and pulled as the water moved. Cove panicked, and pushed himself into the water, swimming over to the harpy as fast as he possibly could. He quickly found the bird, and helped her stay above the surface as he swam her back to shore. The harpy collapsed onto the wet sand, coughing as she shook from the cold of her wet feathers. Cove held his torso above water as he watched the harpy, worrying to himself about her.

The harpy slowly sat up and looked at Cove, squawking as she quickly rolled away. Cove held a hand up, the other still being used to support him, in a gesture that tried to show he meant no harm.

"I-I'm safe! I wont hurt you!" The harpy looked at Cove, her eyes wide. Her panicked breathing slowed as she continued to stare at him.

"You.. saved me?" The harpy looked at Cove, the feathers on her ears flexing outward. Cove nodded, and the harpy smiled a little. "Thank you," The harpy smiled at Cove as she spoke. He looked at the ground, feeling his cheeks warm slightly. He had only now realized the harpy was likely around his age, which is to say, fairly young.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Sam!" The harpy spoke happily. Cove looked up at her, her smile was practically the largest thing on her face. Cove couldn't help but smile too.

"I'm Cove." He spoke quietly, now having shifted his weight that he didn't need an arm to support himself anymore. He felt the fins on his ears spread a little as Sam's smile softened.

"Cove's a funny name for a merman" She said. Cove blinked, and he shrunk a little. His gaze fell back to the sand as his hair fell around his face, nearly acting like a veil. He felt oddly embarrassed because of the comment, he'd been receiving it his whole life..

"I'm not saying it's bad!" There was some panic in Sam's voice as she spoke, the words practically spilling out of her mouth. Cove didn't move, but he heard Sam's hands hit the ground in sync. He heard her sigh and turn to face the sea again.

Cove slowly looked up at the sky. His ears slowly flexed as he listened to the waves crashing next to him, keeping his tail wet. Sam glanced back at Cove and looked up, too.

"What's so interesting up there?" Sam asked, confusion audible in her voice. Cove looked at Sam, confused.

"What do you mean?" He asked, his ears flexing close together. Sam looked at him, her head tilted.

"I don't see what you're looking at in the sky" Cove blinked at her statement. His ears flared outwards as he stared in disbelief at Sam.

"It's- It's the sky! I see so much going on up there- And- It's- It's all so interesting-" Cove sputtered his words, he had no idea how to react to Sam's question. Sam simply stared back at him, slowly shrinking away, her brows slowly furrowing as a frown crawled onto her face. The feathers on her ears twitched, moving inward towards each other, laying flat against her head. Cove sighed as he gave up trying to articulate his words.

"I like the sea more than the sky.." Sam spoke quietly as fixed her posture. Cove blinked, but smiled a little.

"I guess we both like the places we don't live in." He said. Sam's ear-feathers spread out back to their normal positions as her expression changed from regret to understanding. She giggled a little and nodded, looking out to the sea again. Cove looked out as well.