In the summer, Sky Beak flew over the small band of tourists visiting Basalt Flow.
“And this is the beach, Basalt Shore,” he said, getting his claws all over the sand. “With your binoculars, you can see several fishing boats from the nearby villages of Eggrich and Boar’s Cay! Just swim a couple meters from here and you’ll already encounter a little reef teeming with corals and jellyfish, not to mention the wide variety of fish that inhabit the Aracean shores such as the plump triggerfish and, if you go far down enough the coast, needlefish! Oh, and if you’re not familiar, don’t eat those! They’re inedible.
“But of course, it’s not like most of the other famous beaches you see in Aracea, for this one’s not given the beach nourishment treatment! For the environmentally minded among you, that’s good news! It preserves the aquatic life that thrive here, and what you see is what you will get when you bring your children and grandchildren over here over the next few decades!”
His audience took out their phones, and selfies appeared at the sound of fake snaps, their claws wrapped around their phones. They then split off to relax on the beach, and Sky went claws-off once he saw family and friends gather around on a picnic mat, ready to feast on bread, fruit, and deli.
It was enough to make Sky sit down on the stand, lie on his back, and contemplate as the sun baked his feathers.
Among them, a deer was hiking up to him, in sunglasses and all.
Sky quickly sat up. “Wait, Lingon?"
“Ah, nice! We both remember each other!” Lingon then extended his hoof out for a shake.
After standing up, Sky took Lingon’s hoof into his claw. “Well, good to see you! What brings you here? You came in alone?”
“Oh, Leeway gave me his van a while back, but I’ll just cut to the chase,” Lingon said. “I’m on another business trip in the country, but you’re the business I’m meeting with.”
Sky stopped shaking. “That’s an honor! But what for?”
Lingon winced at the sand getting stuck in his cloven hooves once he got back to all fours. “So, that company I was working for last time we talked? It’s under a huge conglomerate, and there’s a travel agency that could use some of your... spice.”
“Spice?”
“They’re calling for up-and-coming assistant guides for the first ever post-Change tour around Table Mount! There’s a lot of newbies hiding under the wings, but it doesn’t hurt to try.”
“Hm. That’s good, but why the rush? This high-profile stuff’s always got herds rushing in to apply.”
Lingon bit his tongue.
“Oh, something you’re not telling me?”
“Uh, yeah, Sky. Not something but someone. I mean—” he cleared his throat “—I don’t think it’s in my place to talk about your personal relationships, but that travel agency does fall under the Tourism Board’s jurisdiction...”
~~~
The answer kept him up at night.
He’d tried to sleep in the hotel. The cool wind wafting in from the open window delivered the gentle wash of waves from the sea.
But his claw tapped on the phone still charging on his desk. One app was on, checking for messages.
His last message had been an apology. Her last had been an apology, too. They would make up for it, they’d both said, Ocean fulfilling her promise on getting Sky a good deal after Basalt Flow, and Sky taking that deal, no questions asked, and doing his best.
He sat there, drinking in the ticking of the cuckoo clock. Though it did ring, it did not rattle his head with explosive bird sounds.
There was a television or TackTube to watch. Late night news, more of the same old diplomacy, though it was nice to see that Aracea would be sending some diplomats to the other side and take discussions of an alliance further.
A colder wind got him to stand up and see Basalt Shore once more.
The moon unearthed many pearls of lunar reflection upon the sea. High-tide waves crept up the sands, washing away all claw- and hoofprints from the morning tour. The smell of sea salt was heavenly.
But the sea was empty.
Ocean parked just outside the manor, Novo having driven her there. It’d been a long trip already from Manehattan, from the Convocation of Countries Headquarters to negotiate treaties and deals, and hold speeches with a bevy of leaders from both worlds.
Then came the invitation from Mount Aris’s Queen Novo.
“It’s a lot, isn’t it?” Ocean spoke from the passenger’s side. “Your niece’s little presentation did win me over in the end.”
A giggle left Novo's beak. “That’s my other niece, from the other side.”
“Yes, your... well, the Equestrian Skystar,” Ocean corrected. “Even with that, it’s a daunting prospect, staying there until next spring.”
“Not as daunting when you realize that both worlds have grown more similar by the day. Remember, you won’t be literally staying there the whole time. It’s a back-and-forth kind of deal.”
Ocean then ran a claw through the feathers that counted as her hair. “Still, a kingdom from Earth versus an artificial mountain that shouldn’t be that tall and an underwater city that shouldn’t even hold its weight under said mountain...”
“Sci-fi books say we’ll have cities on the ocean in a century; we’re just accelerating the process,” Novo said with a chuckle, her claws dancing on the steering wheel. “You must admit, Mount Aris having their own tourism board must be a trip for you, though their Ocean Flow isn’t a part of it.”
Ocean had heard snippets about the life of her Equestrian self. Flow did help around in the government, bouncing from position to position and granting royal patronage, but her home in the sea had told Ocean that she would stick with being a seapony forever. And the Equestrian Sky Beak was a part of the military or national security, at least, holding weekend ceremonies called “Proud to be a Hippogriff Day.” Her own Sky was right; there was aerial jousting.
“It’s about Sky, isn’t it?”
After being shocked cold, Ocean did nod.
Novo laid a claw on her shoulder. “I suggest you tell me what happened, and we’ll work out or schedule from there. They’ll be expecting an answer by tomorrow, and if we say yes, we’ll go this Sunday.”
With that, Novo left. Ocean silently thanked her for not having any security stiffs watching her every step of the way.
Inside, after a bath that consisted of liberal amounts of shampoo, she headed back to her bedroom. On her phone, she re-read the last texts from him and herself. The conglomerate’s new recruit Lingon, knowing Sky from some years ago, had brought about a nice bout of serendipity.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she put the phone on call.
“Hello? Ocean, are you there?”
“Yes, Sky. Finally. Were you busy the whole time?”
“No, I was actually trying to call you.”
“Me, too. Huh… that hasn’t happened before.
“Yup, that’s true.”
An exasperated sigh breathed through the line. “So, you first. Why were you calling?”
“I… uh, I have to tell you that I’ll be going soon. Any dates or any make-up stuff planned out? It has to be this weekend, and since tonight’s already the end of Friday, it’ll be a hassle.”
“Where are you going?”
“Well… to be honest, even if you secretly wanted me to not take it, I still would.”
“Oh, so Lingon told you?”
“Yeah. Figured it was a surprise sooner or later, but still. You’ve already made the arrangements, it seems, so long as I say yes. I was planning to say ‘later’ to it, but then the mayor recommended me for the job without me knowing. I guess the recent rumors about him going senile—but he means well, I know, paying me while I was injured with the whole paper work deal. I could refuse, but I’d be wasting some company’s time. Not to mention making a scandal, too. They’ll find out that you offered this to me, no matter how much political machinery you use to tie this info up. You know how politics can be, with me being attached to you.”
Laughter roared from her side. “That’s a good one! Heh, I can’t say it’s on the same level as yours, but I would also have to be going by Monday.”
“Going where?”
There was a sigh. “The other world. Equus. I’ll be going to Mount Aris and Seaquestria, get our Tourism Board to meet with theirs, coordinate, and all the other politicking.”
“I’ve heard that you and I are quite the pair on the other side.”
“Oh, that is true. Could you believe it? About their Ocean Flow being happy with being a seapony and keeping it that way?”
“And me really being into salmon juice. I just thought it was some rich snob fusion cuisine or whatever.”
“You sought to marry a rich snob, so that’s on you.”
“Heh. Caught me red-clawed.”
There was silence on the line.
“So, any last-minute plans, Sky? On my end, I can’t really book something out of Saturday tomorrow. There’s one more meeting with the Aris representatives before Novo and I go. And no, you can’t be their personal tour guide; they insisted on seeing everything for themselves.”
“A rotten way to be a tourist.” There was some crackled chuckling. “What a shame.”
“So, I guess you’re not available on Saturday? I was hoping…”
“Maybe not? I want to smooth things out with the mayor and Lingon before I go, and even if I get myself out of the mess, I’d then be contractually obligated to be a tour guide in Basalt for at least nine more months… oh, but it’s the weekend, right? But I’ll still be on contract for about that long, whether in Basalt or Table Mount.”
“And I’ll be off in another world for about the same time.”
“The negotiations last that long?”
“Novo said I’ll be moving back and forth, but I’ve seen the road plan. It’s not looking pretty for any rest or vacation back home.”
“Yikes.”
“Yikes, indeed, though that’s what you get for being a public servant in the midst of the worst magical phenomenon of all time.”
There was a long sigh from Sky. “At least we can both fly now, so I reckon it was worth it.”
She did laugh again. “You and being in the moment. That’s going to be the end of you some day.”
“And you being stuck with building everything else except the present… that’ll be the end of you some day, dear.”
Yet more silence.
“I’ll see what I can whip up in a jiffy,” Ocean then said.
“I get the final say as well, since you’re the puppeteer,” Sky replied.
“Oh, and what would you choose?”
“I… hmm, you know? In all of our national visits, we never did spend more than a day in the countryside.”
“The countryside, huh? That… is a good respite.”
“Or a little village by the shore.”
One last stretch of silence took over.
“Alright. I’ll see you when I see you, Sky. Expect to be at the airport tomorrow night, which is when we’ll have both decided where to go. Also, when we get there, calm down from all the spelunking or rock-climbing or whatever it is you were doing these days.”
“Hah. See you, too, Ocean. I’ll also make sure you won’t stress about the world while we’re there.”
The fishing village of Goldtail hadn’t seen better days than these; the boats kept coming.
Bridges of timber buttressing stone crisscrossed the settlement, linking bungalows standing only dozens of meters away from the sea. Only one parking lot remained, but for Sky and Ocean, that was more than enough.
They hung out in a boat, led by a fishergriff who doubled as their guide, instructing them on how to pull the net when fish came up, all on a boat powered by an ear-splitting engine.
“Come on!” Sky shouted, smiling as Ocean tried to pull the sagging net onto the tilting boat. “They’re just fish!”
“But they’re alive!”
“And we’ve got claws for the job! Just heave!”
The glorious bounty included common tuna and salmon, but fat and juicy jobfish and emperors that called these coasts home also ended up on their laps. They met their fate inside coolers partly made out of coconut shells.
Their journey ended in a big cooking house of old brick and stone. This time, Ocean took the lead, putting some seasoning over the juicy, fat slices of fish heating up on the charcoal grill.
“You hold the knife like this,” she told Sky, handling it well in her claw. “No, not like that! There… and angle it this way, so you don’t accidentally cut into the skin.”
“This is why I eat out most of the time.”
“You’re missing out,” Ocean said as she took on another raw fish. “Isn’t it nice to expand even just a little into making the very food you eat? You can make masterpieces like this for yourself once you’re good enough.”
And the masterpiece was served for everyone there once the sun had set, grilled in nothing more than salt and some citrus for flavor. Cooked to a light crisp over the fire, their sliced remains sat surrounded by herbs, spices, and vegetables, their pink-cooked meat glinting against the soft flames that lit up the gathering hall.
Everyone in Goldtail had a good meal that night.
Ocean woke up to the noise of ruffling.
She got up. The hut had been cramped; it was the best nature could offer, at the smallest space nature could affordably house two people.
“Honey? Sky?”
She did not hear him respond, but the wind whistled in the sky.
Through the window, she could see a silhouette having just landed on the sand.
She stood at the window and took off, gliding her way to his side.
Outside, the night would’ve chilled their old human skin to the bone, but their new coats of feathers and hair kept them warm.
“You’re gonna ask me something, right, Ocean?” Sky asked.
“How do you know?” she asked back.
“Because I just… know.”
They stared at each other without a word. Their faces had their feathers rumpled up, and their beaks had a few scratches already from the fishing trip.
“It’s just past five,” she said. “Soon, it’s a trip back to Aris City, and we part ways for the better part of a year, so you better say it.”
He nodded. “What I mean to say is… you’ve got plans when we’re done with our thing?”
“Hmm, you got them too. Back in the house… or maybe some place smaller. More intimate.”
“You know I like that word.”
“Shut it, you.”
They sat down, feeling the coolness of unfamiliar yet precious white sand against their legs. The fading in and out of the water was a beat their hearts slowly drummed to.
“Where’s the time gone?” he said. “We’re over fifty now, and here we are, talking like we just met for the first time.”
“Maybe because we just did.”
Sky flicked a talon close to his eyes. “I like the sound of that much better.”
Ocean stretched her hindlegs forward to feel the spray of the sea. “It won’t be easy. Just having to be with each other for a little was testy enough, but we can see each other some more. For one, I didn’t really know you’d be into fishing.”
“And I didn’t know you were scared of live fish!” After a glare from Ocean, “But I I also never really did think of you as someone so interested in cooking.”
“I am. Dabbled in culinary classes, asked whatever chefs Novo would send me, watching videos on TackTube… it’s like riding a bike. It comes back to me when I really get into it, when I have the time.”
“And fishing… well, I’m getting on in years. I heard it’s an old man’s pastime.” A nervous giggle left him.
For the two, the world shrank. It became only the soft white sand, the simmering waves of the sea, and each other.
“Now,” Sky started, “I can always send a text. Or a letter, given the whole across-the-universe thing.”
She smiled, sensing everything. “Keep in touch, then. And once we’re back…”
He nodded, fully understanding. “Once we’re back…”
She nodded back, taking out a shard that shone in the moonlight. “But first, the water seems fresh tonight.”
Sandbar woke to the sound of distant splashing. He’d been too clumsy on his pony hooves to do it quietly, but he got up regardless and sneaked out of the hut to see what the fuss was going on outside.
His parents had scolded him for disturbing the peace, but it turned out that he wasn’t the only one waking others up. Steps could be heard from the other homes; the sound of windows opening were caught in his ears.
Then, he saw the two figures fly in the sky, dipping just enough into the water to splash against each other. Just as they were about to land, they sunk into the sea.
Two little flashes emanated from the ocean, and when the two creatures popped up, they were no longer hippogriffs but seaponies, their fins and scaly heads immersed in a morning that grew brighter, banishing the night and their honeymoon away.
Just as the sun broke through, they kissed.