The waves rolled and sank upon the sandy shoreline of Port Royal as the sun was setting. The white foam was visible at the curling point of the waves and would often be left on the sands to dissipate or else be pulled back into the waters. Seaweed as well as horseshoe crabs were also often swept upon the shore. Starfish, however, were her favorite things that found their way onto the shore. Andante smiled and bent down to pick up the brown and amber colored starfish, looking at it. She could feel its appendages sucking at her soft hands and she turned to the young man next to her and smiled brightly. "See? "
The young man smiled and nodded. He then gently took the starfish from her hands and turned it over to reveal the underbelly of the creature. It was white and in the very center was a small hole with tiny little teeth. "See its teeth? I wonder what they eat with those." he asked. The girl shrugged and looked at the teeth as he handed the starfish back to her. Giving a glance to the ocean, she hurled the starfish back into the water, watching as it made a splash in the waves. Maric laughed and looked back down to her.
"You know that's useless, don't you? It's just going to get washed back up again."
Andante shrugged. "Maybe it won't. There's always a chance."
Maric simply shook his head and continued walking. Sand was sticking to his bare feet, as he had taken his boots off several hundred feet down the shoreline. He looked down to Andante's own bare feet for a moment and smiled. She noticed his glance and looked up at him, smiling back. The redness of the evening sun seemed to hide the color that appeared on the boy's face as he turned back to face the western orb as they walked. They simply wandered in silence as they were oft to do on evenings like this.
"Don't you have to play the organ at Mass tomorrow?" He asked, looking at the sun as it continued to set.
"Don't you have to serve at Mass tomorrow?" Andante retorted, smirking at the boy. They both laughed.
"Okay, okay. Yes, you're right. We should probably be heading back home now," Andante said, sighing happily at the ocean.
Looking down to the bottom of her dress, she noticed it was fairly well soaked and salted. Just the way she liked it. This wasn't one of her favored dresses, it was the cream colored one. It was particularly girly, something she had found rather useless for playing on the beach.
Noticing his friend had stopped to look at the waves again, the sixteen year old boy turned and looked with her as well. He looked at her face, turned orange by the rays of the setting sun. He caught a glimpse of her eyes and immediately smiled. "Dante," he said, and she blinked, looking at him. He confirmed immediately what he thought he had seen.
"The marks in your eyes look like stars in the sky."
Andante simply tilted her head and smiled faintly. "Thank you." She didn't really know what else to say. He smiled to her and looked up at the sky. He pointed to a constellation in the sky, her eyes following his direction. "That constellation. You can see it in your eyes. The gold flecks in them."
Andante slowly nodded and looked to him. His eyes turned back to her and he sighed. Reaching around his neck, he pulled a silver necklace from his neck and held it out to her. She held out her hand and the piece of jewlery dropped into it. "I want you to have that to remember me by when I'm gone."
She looked to the necklace he had given her. It was his Four-Way Cross that he had got upon being made an altar server. She looked up at him confusedly. "But you've had this for at least ten years... " she said. To her, it was a bit much. That cross she held in her hands must have represented an era to him.
"Exactly the same amount of time I've known you. Besides, I'm not going to be serving in the town we're moving to. I have no need of it. " He offered.
She sighed. "I wish you didn't have to go."
He nodded, but said nothing more. They both turned to look back at the waves. With one motion, she placed the necklace around her neck, adjusting her hair so that the necklace fell under it. He smiled warmly and looked to her before his eyes trailed back to the waves.
"Yes... But you know, when you look up at the stars... It's the same sky we're looking up at. So, we can never be too far apart."
With those words echoing in her mind, she awoke with a start. She looked down at her nightgown, making sure the cross was still there. Seeing its silver color, she smiled. Parts of it had been worn to a strange yellow color and she couldn't place why. She wondered idly if her silver were turning to gold. It was a nice thought, one of the few nice thoughts she recieved as a crew member of the Flying Dutchman.