Shells after the Storm

Over the past two nights, a squall turned storm could be heard from miles away. Yet, after the rain comes sunshine and rainbows! And, surprisingly: shells! 

“ ‘The best time to find shells is after a storm, as the sea gifts the shores with an array of treasures’ or so it says,” Treo opens one of Hysi’s many books, before glancing at the immobile body in the bed. “Still asleep Hysi? It’s almost Umbraveil, come on!” 

Not even a twitch. Figures. Treo sighs and closes the book, a guide to find trinkets and shines. He looks at the doorway of the den, and trudges out, replacing the covering with an illusion of stone and rocks, just as an added measure of safety. 

She could have answers later. She has got to find shells, now! Apparently, the best ‘time’ is early morning, but the sun’s well up past the horizon now, so he had to hurry. She gallops, wings flapping once, twice, before soaring past the forest and towards the cliffs which carve into a beach. 

Oh, and what a sight it was! Logs of driftwood punctured the landscape and the ocean was still a dangerous dark grey. Treo shivers, unsure if it’s due to the ghostly sight or colder than normal temperatures, but still putting one foot in front of the other. 

The things he does for aesthetics… she really should get paid for it! Treo snorts at that thought. “I wish!” 

Still, the colours and designs of seashells would be more than enough payment. He tries to go towards the coastline, but was stopped in her tracks as the rough, rocky sand dug into his soft, sensitive paws. 

Face squinching in pain and annoyance, Hysi huffs and jumps a short distance onto a piece of drift wood, the moist wooden texture being much kinder on her feet. She crouches down, head lowered and eyes wide open to try and see if he could spot some more shells to add to his collection. 

There wasn’t much he was looking for, although he supposes that the general rule of thumb was that the bigger they were, the better they are. Intact shells would be good to have too, although Treo does have a soft spot for imperfect ones too. And colours! As crazy as they can get, or intricate patterns would automatically go into her hand. (He doesn’t bring a basket because she doesn’t want to hoard shells.)

She still remembered the beautiful, red lined clam shell that was the size of a claw. It was one of his first finds, and he remembers it fondly. He doesn’t know where it’s gone, but he’s sure that it was cared for or would be cared for in the future. 

One time, she found treasure shards in the sand! Their glimmer caught her eye, and he couldn’t help but wonder about the story of said coins. Was it from the depths, an escapee of a sunken pirate ship chest? Or was it from a wishing well- a wishing cliff? Did someone just accidentally drop a few shards on a stroll along the coast line? The mystery was one half of the beauty, certainly, but treasure shards were also shards, so… yoinked! 

Sometimes, she gets tricked by pieces of junk and rubbish. Like a white terracotta piece, from an expensive vase. Or a net that looked almost like seaweed. 

Memorably, there was once she found a real message in a bottle! But he certainly could not read the words. He recorked it after taking a mental image of the letter and tossed it back into the sea. Afterwards, he went back to Hysi’s home and inked the characters down, leaving it on the table for when the other Arcanai finally woke up. 

Other times, she would find small creatures emerging or digging in to the wet sand, but that is a story for another day. 

Today, he was trying to find shells to care about. But Treo is slightly distracted by all the pieces of driftwood. Some of them look perfect to become furniture! And others have squiggly lines and shape that intrigued her oh so much. 

But she couldn’t exactly lug the pieces up the shore all by herself, so she stored them by a nearby alcove, hoping that others would not take them if noticed. With all that being done, Treo went back to the beach trying to find something that could catch his eye…

“Oh, what’s this?” Next to a cute little purple clam shell, Treo spots a long tube of white. “”Maybe Hysi can tell me when she wakes up.” 

Satisfied with today’s find, Treo starts the journey back to her home. “Oh man, I’m feeling slightly hungry… I wonder what sort of food they have at the festival?”