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Arabeth dreamed she was on a sinking ship and when she woke, she knew her love had died.
It was two weeks ago that their men had left– just long enough for them to reach the ocean beyond Agate Island. She climbed the cliff to look over the sea and this time, no one laughed. The villagers brought her the wood-framed mirror and walked her down to the beach.
Her feet sunk into the sand, grounding her in the tide pool's shallows. A sea star stretched its orange limbs over her, tickling her shins, and moved on. Kale organized meals, each family agreeing to take a turn feeding their Arabeth, or staying with her during the night, propping her up under both arms so that she could sleep while standing.
The ship took three days to return this time.
The men were haggard, their cheeks sunken in as they came ashore and slumped against their families.
Kale grabbed her brother's hand, pulling him up so they could walk the narrow path leading from the beach to their home in the heart of the village.
"How long was I dead," he asked her.
She patted his arm. "Not to worry. You're back, and you'll stay this time."
Pushing her hand off him, Eagan turned towards Arabeth. "Death is stronger than your magic. It knows what's beyond the sea and the sand."
Arabeth's eyes opened wide. His words, while spoken quietly, were uttered with the force of a tidal wave.
"Enough!" Rob moved Eagan aside and took his wife's hand. "There are things that don't need to be spoken of."
He brought Arabeth back to their house and made love to her just as he always had since the day he'd become her Rob. His love hadn't changed, but the man doing the loving had. She held him that night, rested his head upon her chest.
"Please, Ara." His tears slid down her chest, soaking into the bedding. "Please."
#
Villagers guarded the ship as the sailors sat idly on the shore watching it with a longing normally reserved for their most beloved loves. They wouldn't be sailing off in the dark of night if the villagers had anything to say about it.
Be reasonable, they argued with their sisters, their wives, their parents. We are sailors, this is what we do. We trade goods with faraway ports and that's how the village survives. You need us to leave, and we need to go.
Their loves wouldn't hear of it. The village would survive even if their men didn't set out to sea for a long while. Let them trade inland if they felt the need.
Inland. The sailors shifted on their feet, eyes sliding back and forth amongst each other. Well, if we must do so.
The next day, they headed east, away from the constant roar of the water, up past the cliffs and beyond. Kale went with them, as did Sariah's son, Brynn, to ensure they made it to their destination.
In less than a week's time, Kale and Brynn were back with weary expressions and without the sailors.
"It was something strange," Kale reported to Arabeth. "One of us was always awake to watch them, I swear to it. They were all there, all eighteen of them. Until they weren't. When the sun came up, they were gone. We hiked half a day to the north to get to the nearest shore and saw the ship sailing away just as it did the other time. I don't understand it. How did the ship even get to that part of the coast?"
How indeed.
It had been anchored in their bay the night before, but now it was gone and it had taken their men with it.
The villagers looked to Arabeth then. They waited for her to give word that their loves had gone again to the ocean floor, to climb the bluff and look out at the sea, to stand with her feet in the sand and call the dead back to the living.
The dream came less than a month later, and with it, the same course of action. This time, it took five days for their boat to reappear.
Arabeth stood with the mirror in front of her and her admirers behind her as the men dragged themselves to shore. One look from her dear Rob and she cast her eyes to the sand. He held her to him.
"My love is always with you. My love. But I am beyond the sea and the sand now. Please, Ara."
She shook her head, just as all the others did in response to their loves. No. They were right here. Now. Alive by a miracle they could never understand. This had to be right or it wouldn't have happened.
"How long was I dead?" Eagan asked his sister. "Can I be dead longer next time?"
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