Companions In Fate

The Sun shines down, warm and nurturing, as they sit, cozy, upon the ebbing shore.

Neither speak. Neither face each other. They only rest, one with the Nature that surrounds them.

The host is a round fellow, one who has known these beaches for as long as he can remember. On the surface, he is unassuming. But cast it all aside, and he is a cool drink of water, indeed.

The guest is arguably less uniform, and certainly less settled than the first. His scalp remains shielded from glaring rays, his tan more natural than gained.

But if they did talk—and if they did face one another—their conversation may have gone a little like this:

"I was shaken by these winds, so very long ago," the host would say, "and had fallen at once to kiss these sands. However, I find, all remains unchanged, and I cannot return, or even leave, to find further fulfillment. Still, I am happy to say, it has brought no great adversity to my shape of being."

The guest, an outsider, would most certainly embrace this commonality amongst them. "I, too, had found myself upon the ground, lost and green with unkempt confusion. However, soon enough, luck had found me, and I had come to journey amongst many hands, and across many lands. And I'll tell you this, my friend: still I have found myself lost in this place."

The ocean sprays them off and on as they bask amongst the tranquil blue.

Eventually, the host would say, curious: "Please. You must tell me of the sea. For I have known it all my life, but have never traversed its flowing landscape. How is it that you have come this far—so far from your own, distant land?"

Glowing with fever, his shell ruffled, the guest would confess: "I had a companion once. We flew upon high winds, kissing Heaven and Earth alike. But, as I had been in their pocket for so long, they finally cast me aside, abandoning me here." But, as before, the guest shines still with hope in this newfound companionship. "However, it is true that I, too, have never bathed in the flowing waters of the ocean, and, in that way, I am not alone after all."

The ocean laps even higher, closing in, as paced and methodical as their own destinies had preordained this unexpected encounter to be.

Still, the host is filled with a watery reserve. "My friend—I am so sorry."

The guest remains on his back, staring toward the virtual ocean high above them.

Eventually, the host would ask: "What shall you do now?"

The guest would not respond for some time—and the response, for lack of a sweeter center, would be a corny one. "I think...I think I shall leave it to the ocean to take me home once more."

And, as if in response, a splash of sea would strike their face, spilling down it like a shared tear.

The host, all the while bristling with warmth, would advise their new companion. "My friend: I feel we are on that same path. And I feel we were destined to take it together." Then, after a pause: "Don't you feel the Sun urging us on?"

The guest would not respond, but instead remain motionless. Action, as they say, would speak louder than words.

The day drags on as the tide approaches. Soon, it would overwhelm the two of them. Within their forms, dreams, perhaps, would broil on.

Until, without a word, the embrace arrived. At first there would be tension as the guest is swept, at once, away, bobbing upon the waves, sending their new friend a silent goodbye.

However...yes!...there is hope as the host is carried forth, too. Possibilities are abound as they find themselves, once more, together, bound by the pleasantly billowing sea.

And so it was that they, together, rode the endless, adventurous tides. And though neither saw the other another again—as much as could be foretold within the trappings of assumption and time, at least—they remained nestled implacably between the sea and the sky, never knowing what lands they would discover next, but all the while believing that, when they got there, the day may come when they would find each other again, and share of their newfound memories, and dreams, and aspirations; when they would touch upon that fateful embrace once more, even as their shared silence begged that unspeakable rapport between them.