(Flashback) Slaves of the Muran Sands (Anja)

[Blythe]

56 Fall, 505 AV

Blythe was standing on the shore of the beach, her white dress whipping around in the wind, her blonde hair flying wildly all around her. She was waiting for her friend, they had agreed to meet today to catch up, having not seen each other for what felt like a very long time. Blythe simply could not wait to see her.

Blythe was looking out at the sea, the waves crashing into the shore, creating piles of bubbling foam that soon burst and wet the sand, darkening it to a deeper shade of beige. The sun was high in the sky, shining down upon the water and causing it to shimmer, it glowed a bright yellow color, and rippled the farther out you looked, before the waves crashed on the shore. It was positively breathtaking.

Blythe smiled happily as she looked out at the water, taking a deep breath in, and allowing the salt of the sea to lick her lips, the smell of the sea to fill her nostrils.

Blythe bent down and took off her shoes, placing them by her bag which was on the hot, dry sand beside her. The sand instantly seeped into the crevices between her tiny toes, warming them, threatening to burn them even, but Blythe didn't bother to move. She simply liked how it all felt.

Blythe closed her eyes and held her arms out, letting the wind whip around them, and for all the beauty that surrounded her to overtake her senses. The sounds of the waves crashing, the sound of birds chirping innocently overhead, how the sand felt, how when her eyes were closed, all she saw was a big yellow and orange blob swirling around and around.

[Anja]

With rushed footsteps Anja made her way to the beach. In the distance, she could hear the waves crashing, and the smell of saltwater felt as though it alone would lift her up off her feet.

The wind grew more intense the closer she got to the shore. She held her loose dress close to her tiny body. With clenched fists she held the top sheer, silvery layer to the white one beneath, keeping them together. She held no desire to maintain an acceptable appearance; all that mattered at this point was the meeting with her friend.

As she came over the hill of sand and looked out to the sea, she spotted Blythe. Unable to contain her joy, she ran as fast as her petite legs would carry her and threw her hands around her.

"I've missed you so!!" She exclaimed.

[Blythe]

Blythe opened her eyes, she had begun to feel someone's gaze upon her back. Was it Anja? she wondered as she turned to find her friend running down the beach, kicking up sand and holding onto her dress as she went.

When Anja reached Blythe, she exclaimed, "I've missed you so!" before she threw her arms around her tightly, bringing Blythe's body closer to her. Her hands felt warm on her back, and Blythe soon found herself returning the gesture, smiling happily, eyes glimmering, as she wrapped her arms around her friend's neck and held her next to her. "Missed you two," Blythe whispered into Anja's ear before the wind could carry it away, or the crashing of the waves could drown her voice out.

After a few moments, Blythe pulled back, holding Anja's elbows in her arms, and stepping back to get a good look. She looked liked Blythe had remembered- same basic mode of dress. Same messy white hair, pale skin, and crystalline blue-green eyes, that always reminded her of the sea.

Blythe smiled radiantly over at her friend. Eyes lighting up. "So how have you been?" she asked as she linked arms with Anja, willing her to walk along the beach with her, a short ways, knowing that no one would take her things.

[Anja]

With more radiance and bounce than she could remember having since her last visit, Anja took Blythe's elbow in her own, as offered. With a glance out to the sea, she inhaled deeply.

"Things have been well! Quiet, and adventure-less, but well all the same, friend." She kicked at the sand gently, feeling it's warmth swell over her toes before dispersing into a little storm and falling back to the ground. She shook some of the excess from the folded hem of her dress, and asked, "And yourself?? It has been so long, Blythe. So very long. I'm curious as to where you have been, what sort of things you have experienced!"

Anja was genuinely intrigued. She had read of magical things in books, none of which she had seen with her own two eyes, but that she hoped to one day soon. She wanted to know everything her friend had encountered.

[Blythe]

"Things have been well! Quiet, and adventure-less, but well all the same, friend," Anja replied as she took her elbow and the pair started to walk along the beach. "Well aren't you exciting?" Blythe laughed, as she glanced down at her feet, which continually kicked up sand as they walked, sometimes hitting Anja with some stray grains.

Blythe wasn't sure if her friend had chuckled or not, but she continued their talk by asking, "And yourself? It has been so long, Blythe. So very long. I'm curious as to where you have been, what sort of things you have experienced!"

"It has been rather long," Blythe said, as the wind whipped both of their hair around, and made a loud whistling noise. "Unfortunately, life hasn't been too kind to me of late..." her voice began to trail off... "but I don't want to talk about that, there's no use in dwelling on such things. And, other than that, I haven't done much other than give readings, paint, and help my sisters care for their children! How hectic that life can be!" she laughed, doing her best to conceal the pain she now felt- as a lightning strike seemed to shoot through her heart, making it feel heavy. She didn't want to think about Fawn, not right now, it hurt too much.

Quickly brushing the painful memory away, Blythe stood in place, wondering what the two would do or talk about, realizing that neither of them were the best conversationalists, or so it seemed. Was there something her friend wanted to do? she wondered, thinking that the sands of time may have finally caused them to grow farther and farther apart as Blythe struggled to overcome the pain of losing her child, and carrying on day by day, feeling as though she had accomplished next to nothing being that she had yet to raise a family of her own, or develop any noticeable, or rather useful, skills.

[Anja]

Anja was almost taken aback that Blythe was unwilling to share what was ailing her. What could have possibly been so traumatizing that it would cause Blythe to want to shut it out completely? She felt a small pang in her heart at the thought of her friend being, what appeared to be, highly devastated. She wanted nothing more than to console her, but she knew not where to begin. Anja concluded that at this point, the best thing she could do was respect her opposition to discuss the situation. She smiled at Blythe, hoping to convey just that.

With a gentle brush, she slid her arm out of Blythe's and skipped forward a few feet. Here she halted, looking out to the sea.

"It's so pretty isn't it?" She then chuckled. "Ha, who am I kidding? Of course it is! Who could deny it?" She stepped into the wet portion of the sand. The sand still felt warm, but the texture wasnot as satisfying. Anja, of course, was barefooted. She preferred being barefooted. Shoes were too much of a hastle. She stepped back and kicked at the sand again, close to the damp layer.

She looked at Blythe suddenly with a gleam in her eye. She plopped down on her knees and started to scoop sand up into a mound, patting it and smoothing it. She laughed, feeling like a child again. With a sheepish grin she looked up and asked, "Sandcastle??"

[Blythe]

With a gentle brush, Anja slid her arm out of Blythe's and skipped forward a few feet. She stopped there, and looked out at the sea. "It's so pretty isn't it?" Anja chuckled. "Ha, who am I kidding? Of course it is! Who could deny it?"

Blythe chuckled as she stood in the sand a few feet away. She was also barefoot, and the waves were coming up and licking her toes, dancing around then before retreating, and then coming back again and again to say hello. "Not me!" Blythe laughed as she took a few steps closer to her friend, making little sandy splotches in the wet sand she walked through to move closer to Anja.

Suddenly, Anja looked up at Blythe with a gleam in her crystalline blue-green eyes. Anja plopped down on her knees and started to scoop sand up into a mound, patting it and smoothing it delicately with her hands and fingertips. Blythe smiled down at her friend shyly.

Anja looked up at Blythe, and with a sheepish grin she asked, "Sandcastle?" Blythe shut her eyes, smiling radiantly from ear to ear, "sandcastle!" she called as she opened her eyes and fell to her knees, making a low thud and whishing sound as she sank into the wet sand, causing some of it to jump out at the sides of her body from her impact. She felt like a little girl again, and fondly recalled the few other times she and her friend had sat on this very beach, making sandcastles, or what she fondly referred to as 'sand mountains,' since all they had ever managed to craft rather well, out of sand, were rounded off piles of the material, occasionally decorated with sticks and stones, as well as seashells they had picked up along the shore.

Blythe stared down at the moist dark beige sand before her, and started to scoop it up into piles, patting it down, and smoothing it out with her hands. Pretty soon, she had made a small, rounded off hill, about 10 inches wide, and another 7 high. She poked a hole in the side, intending it to be a window; when a large wave crashed into it, and dragged it into the sea.

Blythe looked out at the water, which was shimmering beneath the sun's reflection. It looked to be both a bright blue, and green. Blythe shrugged, knowing that such things- having your sandcastle eaten by the sea- tended to happen, and that she shouldn't let it get to her, shrugging, she scooped a pile onto the small mountain of sand that her friend had been building and smiled as she patted the cold sand in. It was clinging to her hands, and clinging to the area between her nails and flesh. It tickled.

Blythe smiled, allowing the moment to wash away all of the bad things that had happened to her of late, and allowing herself to fully enjoy the time she was spending with her friend, feeling like a little kid again. "Remember when we used to build sandcastles as children?" she asked her friend, realizing that they hadn't worked on one in years now.

[Anja]

Sanibelle giggled as the sea stole away Blythe's mound. She scooped some sand up and placed it on top of the tallest mount, creating a tower. Or rather, towerish-mound. She took a twig from her left and stick it in the top.

"Yes, I remember, she answered." How could she forget? It had been some of the greatest days of her life. She missed them, and was thankful to be in a way reliving them. The years had passed, but her enjoyment for the time she had with Blythe had not. She could not remember the last time she felt so young and free. There had been a lot of responsibilty since her mother had passed away.

Anja continued to shift the sand into mounds of castle walls and inner buildings. She created makeshift flags with Blythe's help to be placed on the corners of each wall. Twigs were broken and used as doorways and tiny pebbles were used to line the hollowed out windows.

When she turned to dig in the sand for more pebbles, she uncovered something shimmery, something of a much different texture. She picked the sand around the edges and plucked it from the moist sand. It was a seashell, a small one, with glimmering periwinkle and coral splotches.

"Ooh, this is pretty!!" She passed the shell to Blythe tenderly.

[Blythe]

"Yes, I remember," Anja answered as she piled even more sand on her tiny little sand mountain. Blythe thought that she must have been trying to make a tower. She laughed, it just looked like a giant, uneven mountain, much like their youth. It was brining back such fond memories for her.

The two of them continued working on the sandcastle Anja had started. They broke several twigs to make doors and windows, dug a line around the front of the castle, closest to the water, and when the waves poured into it, it created a mote. They created flags out of twigs and leaves, and added onto their sandcastle, making several towers and rooms for their imaginary sand kingdom folk to inhabit.

As the two dug through the sand for more pebbles to decorate their castle with, Blythe looked up at her friend, she seemed so happy to her, and she couldn't help but smile, she liked it when people were happy.

Blythe watched as Anja dug through the sand, slowly. She watched as Anja unearthed a shinier object from the sand's dark depths. Anja picked away at the sand that surrounded whatever it was with her fingertips, before plucking her discovery out of the ground. It was a seashell, a small one, with glimmering periwinkle and coral splotches. "Ooh, this is pretty!!" Anja said as she passed the shell to Blythe tenderly.

Blythe looked down at it as she held it in the palm of her hand, "it is pretty," she said, as she turned it over with her fingertips, examining the specimen more closely, thinking that it was what her grandmother referred to as a "cockle shell." This gave Blythe an idea, "hey Anja, do you know how to read shells?" she asked.

[Anja]

Anja loved discovering new things. She loved anything that sparkled, shimmered, shined, and so forth. This "cockle shell," as Blythe had called it, was right up her alley. She smiled, feeling proud of her finding. When Blythe asked her if she knew how to read shells, her face lit up. She had heard of this special ability, but she had no idea how it worked.

Anja shook her head at Blythe. "I have no idea," she replied inquisitively. She sat and smiled, curious. She felt like having an adventure. "Could you teach me??"