Lowe & d'Thalia Shipping
22 May 2010
The fine, warm rain of late May fell, and with it fell the soft mist and the smell of the sea, both of which were welcomed. Fine days were ahead, and Harold could feel them just as certainly as he could feel the rain on his skin.
He closed his eyes, breathing it in; it was not unlike the first May they were in Rhy'Din, if he remembered right. Nine years ago.
The bottle in his hands was sealed in the traditional fashion; wax and string and cork. Harry had never understood how, exactly, the messages in a bottle worked where often even the post didn't, but he knew they did from long experience, and when you could not find who you wanted to talk to, you had a good chance of writing to them if you threw the bottle into the sea.
Archie had been missing for a long time, though Harry only very recently heard of it. When they parted ways, it had been years ago now, and Archie had gone to teach, and Harry had been in the middle of a mess in the city. But then life happened again, and then there was Maia. And for Harry, the world and the universe finally felt right -- not the wild highs and lows, the cycles of heartbreak and renewal, and the long nights of silence and uncertainty, waiting. But determination and certainty.
Maia was his sea, and sky, and he was her fire. She knew him as no man nor woman ever had, and for that, Harry never forgot to be grateful to God and to fate and to the universe.
Still, it wasn't a surprise that hearing of Archie's absence sent Harry thinking, on top of the thinking that he had already been doing. And, in truth, that absence came as no surprise. The wind had finally shifted, maybe; had finally blown away. Harry didn't know. When it came to his best friend, Harry never did.
Still, he held the bottle in his hands, standing on the docks of the company he and Maia built, looking out to sea and into the mist. It was a warm day, with warm rain, and even if it was a little sad, Harry had to smile.
He looked up at the sky, then drew his arm back and let the bottle sail. In the pale light of the day, it flashed dully, and landed with a plunk into the water, bobbing under, and then coming back up.
Harry didn't stay on the dock to see if it floated away, or caught the current, or not. He could only throw it, and hope it did. And, wet from rain and mist, he turned to head back into the Lowe & d'Thalia offices to have a cup of tea and a kiss with his Maia.
Somewhere above, the wind stirred the quiet.
22 May 2010
The fine, warm rain of late May fell, and with it fell the soft mist and the smell of the sea, both of which were welcomed. Fine days were ahead, and Harold could feel them just as certainly as he could feel the rain on his skin.
He closed his eyes, breathing it in; it was not unlike the first May they were in Rhy'Din, if he remembered right. Nine years ago.
The bottle in his hands was sealed in the traditional fashion; wax and string and cork. Harry had never understood how, exactly, the messages in a bottle worked where often even the post didn't, but he knew they did from long experience, and when you could not find who you wanted to talk to, you had a good chance of writing to them if you threw the bottle into the sea.
Archie had been missing for a long time, though Harry only very recently heard of it. When they parted ways, it had been years ago now, and Archie had gone to teach, and Harry had been in the middle of a mess in the city. But then life happened again, and then there was Maia. And for Harry, the world and the universe finally felt right -- not the wild highs and lows, the cycles of heartbreak and renewal, and the long nights of silence and uncertainty, waiting. But determination and certainty.
Maia was his sea, and sky, and he was her fire. She knew him as no man nor woman ever had, and for that, Harry never forgot to be grateful to God and to fate and to the universe.
Still, it wasn't a surprise that hearing of Archie's absence sent Harry thinking, on top of the thinking that he had already been doing. And, in truth, that absence came as no surprise. The wind had finally shifted, maybe; had finally blown away. Harry didn't know. When it came to his best friend, Harry never did.
Still, he held the bottle in his hands, standing on the docks of the company he and Maia built, looking out to sea and into the mist. It was a warm day, with warm rain, and even if it was a little sad, Harry had to smile.
He looked up at the sky, then drew his arm back and let the bottle sail. In the pale light of the day, it flashed dully, and landed with a plunk into the water, bobbing under, and then coming back up.
Harry didn't stay on the dock to see if it floated away, or caught the current, or not. He could only throw it, and hope it did. And, wet from rain and mist, he turned to head back into the Lowe & d'Thalia offices to have a cup of tea and a kiss with his Maia.
Somewhere above, the wind stirred the quiet.