"Check out this one!" Claire proudly shoved a seashell in her friend's face.

"Nice, no cracks or chips!" Karen beamed as her friend put it in her basket.

The two were spending an early evening beachcombing. The blonde had been aching to go back to the beach again, and the sand felt great between her toes. The cool ocean breeze was refreshing after a hard day's work.

The farmer looked into the woven basket. She had been finding shells much more quickly than her friend, and the container was already almost halfway full. "So, what are we collecting all of these shells for?" Claire asked.

"I dunno," Karen admitted, admiring a piece of sea glass and adding it to their collection. "Maybe one day we will get creative with them."

"So, you never told me how things went with Rick the other day," Claire used a broken shell to scrape away the top layer of wet sand and was rewarded with a pristine clam shell in exchange. She eagerly set it beside her and continued to dig in the surf.

Karen shrugged. "Things went fine; they always do…" Claire couldn't help but notice her friend sounded a little disappointed; perhaps she was thinking that something more would come of that night as well. She glanced at her friend and noticed that the brunette seemed frustrated while she noisily rifled through a cluster of broken shells further from the shore. "Rick means well, but he has a tendency to try to do too much… He really expects too much from himself, and may the gods grant mercy to those who try to tell him so." She thoughtfully rubbed her thumb along an unblemished scallop shell she found and stood silently for a moment, reveling in her find.

Claire found herself hesitating; she didn't want to pry, but she was more than a little curious as to what took place at the bar the other evening between the two of them. "So, what all happened?"

A guilty smile spread across Karen's face. "Vodka happened."

The farmer knew that this was an evasive answer, albeit an amusing one. Claire looked beside her and the clam shell she had dug up a moment ago disappeared; it must have been carried out by the tide while her back was turned. She dug again and to her surprise, she found an identical shell. "So… are you both doing well then?" she asked carefully.

"Yeah. Like I said, Rick can be stubborn, but he was really sweet the other night. He bought all of my drinks and walked me home," she gave her friend an impish smile. "I got a peck on the cheek, too," her face flushed and she beamed. "O-Of course… it was probably just between friends. I can dream though, right?"

Claire giggled; her friend wasn't shy about giving kisses, but it seemed receiving them was another story. "Of course you can dream, Karen. But I don't think that you have to pretend too hard," she admitted.

Claire's implication that Rick had feelings for Karen made the grocer's daughter turn a bright shade of red. She clattered through the empty shells and let out a nervous chuckle. "Well, what about you? Didn't you have a lesson with Gray the other day?"

The blonde bit her lip and nodded. She still wasn't sure how she felt about the whole thing. Karen's face immediately fell.

"What did he do?" she started right into her. "Do I need to kick his ass?"

Claire shook her head defensively. "It was my fault really… Everything was going fine, until I asked a stupid question," she muttered.

Karen's eyebrows furrowed. "Don't you know that there's no such thing as a stupid question? What did you ask?"

The blonde felt uncomfortable talking about the subject. She carried her clam shell to the basket and continued digging in the wet sand in an agitated manner. "W-Well… I asked him about Tucker's posture and I thought that his neck should be held higher like the horses I saw in the city… Apparently they get like that from wearing an uncomfortable harness, but I didn't know when I asked him. I did a little more reading on it… I'm such an idiot," her voice cracked as she stared down at the sand. "I must have sounded so stupid to him! It's no wonder he threatened to take my horse back to Barley…"

"He did what?!" Karen's voice rose in anger as she threw a shell in the pile, making a loud clattering noise.

"Well, that was when he thought that I wanted to use that harness," the farmer quickly explained. Her mouth felt very dry all of a sudden. "H-He apologized to me… Pretty profusely, mind you."

"I should hope so. So what happened?" the brunette put her hands on her hips and frowned.

"He said he was sorry and asked if I would still let him work with Tucker," Claire's stomach felt sour. "A-And I agreed… He… he was so happy he gave me a h-hug…" she turned a bright shade of crimson as she nervously dug in the sand with her fingers.

The farmer was so busy avoiding the brunette's gaze that she didn't notice Karen crush an old chipped snail's shell in her fist as she clenched her jaw. The young woman gingerly removed the shards from her hand. She would need to have a heart-to-heart with Gray; Karen was not happy with the way the young man was treating her friend.

Claire had distracted herself with collecting more sea shells. The farmer felt like she had stepped into a treasure chest. She had never gone beachcombing before, and everywhere she looked, she saw beautiful sea shells – all she had to do was scrape a small layer of wet sand away. She wondered why Karen was taking so long picking ones out. "Now here's another perfect one," Claire picked up a snail shell and proudly handed it to the brunette.

The woman's anger melted away at her friend's foolishness. "It's still occupied, you goof," Karen giggled, handing it back to her.

"Oh." Claire looked in the hole in the shell and saw the fleshy mollusk tucked inside. She tossed the shell gently into the surf and walked back to her basket sheepishly, crouching down beside it, studying the contents.

"What are you doing?" The brunette grinned; she had a pretty good idea she knew what was going on. Claire had been adding shells to the basket suspiciously quickly.

"I found a lot of clams that I thought looked perfect… I was thinking that I was just really lucky…" She rifled through the shells.

Karen laughed and tipped over the basket with her foot. A few of the clams started to burrow immediately. "You're such a helpless city girl!" She gave her a playful punch and laughed good-naturedly. "Here's a basic tip: if the shell's closed, something's probably living inside. I guess you could've kept them to eat if you wanted to; I know you're brave like that." The farmer ate all sorts of things that Karen would not dare to try – different colored grasses, herbs, and strange fruits that grew in the mountains. She wouldn't be surprised if the blonde had shared a squirrel over a campfire with Cliff. Karen highly doubted Claire ate any of these things in the city, and the young woman had dropped quite a bit of weight since they first met. It seemed when one was hungry enough, one couldn't afford to be too picky.

Claire set some pretty stones they collected off to the side and lined up the shells on the beach in a tidy row, grumbling. "Alright, Miss Expert Shell Collector, let's see how many of these are actually alive," she challenged. She'd show Karen…

"What the heck are you doing, Claire?" A deep voice from behind her caused the blonde to jump. The young woman recognized the blacksmith's voice and stood up abruptly, blushing. Of course Gray had to arrive when she was doing something stupid…

"She's catching clams and snails," Karen laughed. "We were beachcombing for empty shells, but she has a knack for picking ones that are still alive. Maybe we'd be better off digging for some clams and roasting them over a bonfire instead." The brunette teased, giving her friend a good-natured grin.

Claire turned around and noticed that Cliff had joined him. "Hey, Cliff. Hi, Gray." She tried her best to remain casual. She wished Karen hadn't pointed out her ignorance in front of Gray. She quickly brushed off the sand on her borrowed shorts and wished she her hair looked tidier. She ran a few fingers through it in a futile effort to push it out of her face, but quickly realized she had sand on her hands. She could feel herself turning redder as her heart hammered in her ears.

Gray didn't make any acknowledgement regarding her appearance. "Well, did you find any big clams?" he asked politely, tugging on the bill of his cap.

The young woman was grateful that he never seemed to poke fun at her; she didn't know if her heart could take it. "Not really," she laughed. "I'd rather catch some fish than clams anyway." The concept of eating clams wasn't particularly appetizing to Claire. Her parents were fond of them, but the whole idea of eating something out of its own shell simply reminded the blonde that she was eating a creature that had been living not too long ago, and it felt a little barbaric.

"Well… Cliff caught some really good salmon this morning," Gray mentioned, giving her a small smile. "If you really want to catch some fish, you should get him to give you some tips."

The notion of going on an outing with Cliff didn't bother the young woman, but admitting that out loud to Gray didn't feel acceptable. "But I use a rod," Claire replied automatically, confused by her mysterious emotions.

The brunette man shyly took a step forward. "I-I could borrow one from Gotz," Cliff stammered, wringing his hands anxiously.

She forgot about her strange apprehension when she noticed that her friend's arms were bare today and the bruises were nearly invisible unless one was searching for them. She felt a wave of relief; it seemed Cliff was a fast healer, although he had probably used some herbal remedies. "Yeah, that could be fun," the young woman grinned at her friend excitedly. "I don't think I have the reflexes for spear fishing. So you fish with a rod, too?" She hadn't noticed that Gray had artfully stepped back a few paces and gave Cliff the slightest of nods.

The young man took another tiny step closer to his friend and nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "Sure. I prefer spear fishing, but I started out on a rod. I learned from a master fisherman… Maybe next time we're in the mountains together, I can give you a few of the pointers Ray showed me."

"Alright; sounds fun! To be honest, I haven't fished much with the rod Zack gave me, and I never went fishing as a kid." Her face lit up in excitement. A free protein source sounded wonderful; she knew that she had been lacking proper nutrition, as she was still very hungry all of the time.

"Well, there's always time to learn," He smiled at her, and his eyes drifted down at the sand in front of them. "Ah… it looks like most of your clams and snails were still alive."

Claire looked down at her feet. Only a couple of shells remained, and one was slowly edging back out to the surf. "Oh, well," she laughed with a shrug. "I was collecting some rocks, too. Check out this one," she handed him a smooth flat rock that was flecked with pink and white. She was particularly proud of this find.

Cliff admired the rock in the palm of his hand. "A perfect skipping stone," he murmured as he ran his fingers along it, a flood of childhood memories at the river's edge filling his mind. A nostalgic smile spread across his lips.

"Well, that one's for the 'keep' pile," Claire giggled and snatched the stone from his hand before he got any ideas.

"I-I wasn't going to throw it," he insisted with a blush. "Where's the pile of rocks you're going to keep?" he asked, looking around them curiously.

"Um… you're standing in it," Claire stifled a laugh, pointing at his feet.

Cliff jumped as his friend giggled. "I'm sorry!" He turned redder. His attempts at appearing calm and collected in a social setting were fading quickly.

"Here, let's get some more rocks in the surf," Claire suggested, cocking her head toward the water's edge with a playful expression. The young man eagerly followed. The waves washed over her bare ankles and she looked at her friend with a huge grin. Simply being outside in a beautiful setting with good friends was enough to make her heart burst with joy. She was met with a happy chuckle in response; it seemed she wasn't the only one who felt this way.

Karen waited until the two were further out before she spoke. "Claire told me what happened the other day," her voice was somber.

Gray swallowed the lump in his throat, vaguely wondering which of his transgressions she had told the grocer's daughter. He hardly felt it appropriate to ask her to specify, lest the punishment become greater than it surely already would be. "Ah."

The brunette cocked an eyebrow. "That's all you can say for yourself? What do you think you're doing over there at her farm? Barley would be more than willing to give her some pointers, and he wouldn't judge her!" her anger erupted. "She needs encouragement, but you're giving her the wrong kind!"

The apprentice didn't say anything in reply; he knew that everything she said was true.

"Seriously, you're such an idiot sometimes. Keep your hands off of Claire," the brunette flipped her hair over her shoulder and folded her arms across her chest with a huff.

Gray felt his own frustration bubble to the surface. Karen truly was too protective over her girl friend, and he was tired of being treated like a villain. "I already explained this to Cliff! There was nothing romantic about the other day!"

The young woman mulled her friend's words over in her mind. "So Cliff knows about what happened, then." She watched the pair standing out in the waves. The young man had found a hermit crab and was holding it out to Claire, who let out a squeak in surprise and delight. Karen's anger faded a bit. The farmer was simply too cute for her own good and Cliff's pleased reaction to his friend's behavior made Karen's heart melt; her friends were, in her eyes, painfully adorable.

Gray let out a deep sigh. "Naturally, he was walking back to the inn through the path on the farm when he saw us… I… I talked to him!" he insisted, tired of having to defend himself.

"Good." The young woman's eyes didn't move from her friends for a few minutes. They stood in silence, and Gray sensed that her anger had subsided, much to his relief. "So where were you guys headed tonight?" Karen asked the blacksmith casually. "You hardly strike me as the beachcombing type," she snorted and gave him a curious look.

He let out a silent sigh of relief; she was finished scolding for the night. "We were going to Kai's," Gray replied vaguely. "He told me if I brought a friend, he'd give me a discount."

"Oh, that's harsh! So you just dragged Cliff along?" Karen roared with laughter. She lowered her voice as she looked out at the surf. "Is that really your only reason?" she cocked an eyebrow. Was it true that the stubborn young man was actually trying to help his friend?

Gray tugged on the bill of his cap; Karen was too perceptive. "Ann said that you two had plans out here tonight… Why don't you guys come with us?"

"Oh?" Karen looked far too entertained for Gray to feel comfortable. "Alright, then…" she turned to call out to her girl friend, but Gray caught her by the wrist.

"Hey… give them a few more minutes, okay?" he kept his voice low.

"… Ah, I see… Very well," she raised her eyebrows and smirked at him. It seemed he had a plan in mind, and she wasn't about to argue with it. The pair looked out at the farmer and the young man out on the edge of the water.

Claire didn't want to admit out loud that she had never skipped stones before; surely Cliff would think she was odd. The young man shuffled through the rocks on the shore and quickly found one suitable for throwing. He tossed it out over the water and got five skips out of it.

His companion watched in amazement. "Wow!" Claire exclaimed.

The young man felt a rush of confidence at his friend's reaction. "Heh, that one was pretty good," He looked rather pleased with himself. Cliff looked over at her playfully. "Now let's see what you've got," he nodded out over the water.

He had made it look so easy; it must be a really simple process. The young woman grabbed the first rock she found and clenched it in her fist eagerly. "Alright!" She chucked it into the water with great determination and was surprised as it landed with a deep plop. It seemed simply wishing it to skip across the water's surface wasn't enough to succeed.

"What the heck was that?" Karen laughed in the distance.

Claire rolled her eyes at her and grabbed another rock, her cheeks burning. She threw it harder this time, and only got a bigger splash.

The young man carefully shuffled through the selection of stones on the shore and finally settled on one. "Here." Cliff handed her a smooth, flat stone. "Try moving your wrist like this," he imitated the movement a few times. "It's like throwing a disk. Just let go when your wrist is fully extended." He got another rock for himself and demonstrated another throw, getting three skips.

Claire tried the motion several times with her own stone. It had taken her friend a few moments to find this particular rock and she didn't want to waste it. She was determined to make some sort of progress. "I'm bad at disk throwing, too," she admitted, laughing. "Koro won't be the only one who does terrible next summer at Beach Day," she giggled.

He gave her a warm smile in response. "Well, you can think of this as practice," he encouraged her. "Go on; give it a shot," he kept a kind, watchful gaze over the blonde as she bit her lip and looked over the water.

Claire summoned her determination and focused it in her wrist. "Okay…" She exhaled and tossed the rock over the surf. The young woman surprised herself when she got one skip. "Did you see that?!" She squealed in delight as her eyes widened, and she hopped up and down like a child.

"Sure did," he laughed. The young woman was very cute when she was excited. "Here, try it again," he offered her another stone.

Claire was so eager to throw the rock that it landed with a deep plunk again. If Karen had heckled her again, she didn't notice. The young woman was so determined to succeed again in skipping the rock that her focus was aimed solely at the task at hand.

"I know I can do better than that!" Claire wore a determined expression and searched in the surf for more stones like a hungry scavenger in search of a meal.

"You want something flat… Hey, check out this one," Cliff held it out to her. The smooth stone was round and flat and was a beautiful gray-blue in color.

Her eyes widened at the simple beauty of the stone. "How pretty… Don't throw that one," she breathed, giving him a pleading look. If he didn't want it, she was more than willing to keep it.

He was pleased to see that she found the stone as lovely as he did. "I don't plan on it," he replied as their eyes met. He closed his fingers around it. "This stone will stay safe," he blushed, putting it in his pocket.

The young woman gave him a kind smile and returned to her scouring of the water's edge. She spotted a rock with the right qualities and snatched it up eagerly. "Okay, I've found the lucky stone!" Claire announced, holding it up in the air above her with an intense face as if she was imagining a heavenly chorus singing out a fanfare for her sacred find.

Cliff laughed at her expression; a playful Claire was a lot of fun to be around. The blonde practiced the movement with her wrist several times and stretched her arms. By now, Karen and Gray had joined them and were watching silently with interest.

The farmer took a couple of deep breaths and popped her wrists. "Here we go!" She tossed the stone and got two skips out of it. The young woman felt a surge of adrenaline. "Yeah!" She yelled out over the waves, surprised at the volume of her own voice.

"Good job!" Cliff laughed heartily.

"I did twice as well that time," She grinned at him, feeling a surge of pride in her accomplishment.

"Alright, Claire!" Karen's sudden voice startled her. The farmer jumped and giggled.

"Not too shabby," Gray gave her a nod of approval.

Claire felt herself redden. "Well… Let's see what you guys can do, then!" It was time to pass along the challenge.

Karen sighed. "Really?" While she had enjoyed watching them enough, the grocer's daughter hadn't intended on actually getting involved with her friends' childish games.

The blonde nodded and dropped her voice into a serious monotone. "Show me what you got!" Claire's bright blue eyes were blazing.

"Okay, okay," The grocer's daughter roared with laughter. She grabbed a flat stone and threw it into the water. It landed with a loud splash.

Was Karen really as clueless about rock skipping as Claire had been? The farmer felt a sense of relief. "What was that?!" The young woman heckled her. "You threw that overhand!"

"That's how I throw," Karen retorted with a shrug, as if it was a problem that couldn't be helped.

"You're not using the right technique. You've gotta use your wrist!" the blonde insisted, mimicking the motion with her wrist that her male friend had taught her.

"You've created a monster, Cliff," the brunette laughed at her friend. He gave her an apologetic look, but it didn't look very sincere. She smirked and threw another rock overhand out of spite.

Gray couldn't stand remaining silent. "You're killing me, Karen," the apprentice tossed a rock and got three skips out of it. "See? Nothing to it."

"That was so cool, Gray!" Claire cheered, but she turned straight back toward the brunette woman. "Come on, Karen!" she stared at her friend intently.

"Yeesh… Relax, Claire," Karen giggled. "I haven't skipped rocks since I was a kid."

Cliff threw another rock and it skipped four times.

The blonde's eyes widened with amazement. "Go, Cliff! That was awesome!" Claire squeezed him around the shoulders and he reddened violently as breath escaped him. He found that he was quite unable to wipe the silly smile that spread across his entire face.

"You're not helping the situation, man," Karen rolled her eyes, but she was grinning as she threw another rock overhand. It arched high in the air and landed out far in the water with a loud plop.

Gray let out a low whistle. "Damn… You got some distance on that one…"

Claire stamped her foot in the sand, still overcome with adrenaline. "You're doing it wrong, Karen! Don't encourage her!" she laughed.

"How about we go get a bite at Kai's before Claire tries to see how far she can skip Karen into the water?" Gray suggested with a smirk.

The grocer's daughter gave the apprentice a sideways glance. "Your treat, right?" Karen winked at him.

The young man sighed, although he had a feeling he was getting let off easy. Either way, he was used to being scolded by her. "Fine," he said a little begrudgingly.

The brunette woman hurried toward the snack shack, but Claire hesitated before following her friend, shyly looking back at the men with a coy smile and twisting a strand of blonde hair in her fingers before heading there herself.

Gray gave Cliff a rough nudge. "Well, how about that?"

The brunette's cheeks burned. Either way, she was in a playful mood and he didn't want to read into the gesture too much. "I think that was aimed at you," his voice was barely audible as he stared at his female friend's retreating figure.

"Pah, you're just in denial that I did a good job tonight and helped you," the grin that crept across Gray's face was rather smug. He started to head toward Kai's, but he stopped when he noticed his friend wasn't moving. "Are you coming or not?"

Cliff was staring out at the waves with a pensive look on his face. "Y-You know what would really help?" He folded his arms across his chest and kicked at the sand as the ocean breeze played with his hair.

The apprentice thought that he had already assisted his friend plenty this evening. After all, Claire hadn't focused much on Gray at all tonight. "Huh?" his roommate grunted in response.

The brunette's posture stiffened as he gulped. "If you made a decision already."

Gray's stomach did a somersault. "Wh-What do you mean?"

Cliff's deep blue eyes locked onto his and the intensity of his expression caught the apprentice off guard. "You know exactly what I'm talking about… Look, I know you don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but right now you're hurting everyone's."

The conviction in Cliff's normally timid voice made Gray realize it was something that had been on the young man's mind for a long time now. The apprentice had never really thought about the situation that way. "Is that so…?" He tugged on the bill of his hat; startled at his friend's honesty and openness.

"Yeah." Cliff swallowed the lump in his throat. "If you don't want to do it for me, at least think of Mary and Claire and how they're feeling." He gave the young man a nod, satisfied with the words he had chosen, and started walking toward the snack shack.

Gray remained on the beach and found that his throat was tightening. Karen's words didn't tear into him the way his roommate's had. Did Cliff honestly believe he thought that little of him? This was the person he identified as his best friend, and after their discussion the other day he was saying things like this? He knew that the brunette had self-esteem issues, but his words – "If you don't want to do it for me…" Gray felt like his heart had been ripped out and ground into the sand.

He stared at the waves crashing across against the shore and blinked back the mistiness that was starting to form in his eyes.

"Goddess… what kind of friend am I?"

0o0o0o0

Author's Note: I've been dying to post this chapter for a while as well!

I once again would like to thank everyone who is reading, following, adding to favorites, and/or reviewing this story. This work truly is a labor of love and I am delighted that people are spending the time to take a look at it. In many ways, writing out my characters and their emotions has helped me sort through some of my own problems and helped me understand a little bit better about the way my own mind works. As always, reviews are always welcome and appreciated. :)