Archive of Our Own

"Are you sure?"

Rayla frowned, looking down at her toes in the sand. "It's a little late now, don't you think?"

Callum slipped his palm into hers—the one that wasn't holding her socks and boots. "No, not really. We could always just hang back"—he threw his thumb over his shoulder to the tapering edge of the forest behind them—"here. We can still have a nice, outdoors-y day, just…" He offered her a sympathetic smile as they both looked out along the shore. "Minus all the beach."

"You don't want to do that, Callum," she snorted softly, shaking her head.

"I want you to be comfortable—"

"I'll be fine, dummy." She was more than capable of a beach day.

"Oooo-kay," he shrugged, not bothering to hide how unconvinced he was, but stepped forward and tugged on her hand to follow anyway.

Ezran and his Crownguards had already made it down the sand, the former pursing his lips as he scouted out the perfect spot while Soren pointed at something along the horizon and jabbering on about something to Corvus. As Callum and Rayla neared closer, Soren spared the quickest glance then fixed his gaze back ahead, calling, "Hey, Rayla; need you."

She passed her armful over to Callum and went to meet him, trying not to recoil as the sand beneath her became wet and squishy. "Whaddya want?" she huffed.

His finger resumed its position pointing to the horizon. "Who do you think would win a race to that rock?"

Rayla shielded her eyes from the sun with a hand and saw the rock he was referring to, sticking out of the water a ways away. She raised an eyebrow. "How should I know? I've never seen Corvus swim. "

"But you've seen me swim!" Soren protested, flipping his hair cockily. "And I'm good, right?"

She rolled her eyes. "When you remember to take your armor off."

"I'm sure you would win, Soren," Corvus said, patting him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me?" Soren asked, seemingly offended. "What is—no, hey, wait, what is that I detect?"

Corvus raised his brow innocently. "Hm?"

"That—that was, um… some kind of…" he struggled.

"Haughtiness? Pretension?" Rayla offered, smirking to herself with the awareness she sounded like Callum.

"Yeah! Uh—h-huhhh… hypertension!" Soren stuck his finger in Corvus' face to a comical degree. "You think you could beat me!"

Corvus' mouth twitched into a nearly invisible smirk. "Why would you think that, Soren? Is it because you think I could?"

Rayla chuckled, leaving them as she turned back to her other boys. They'd presumably found a good location, as the picnic blanket had been laid out along the sand, and Callum was already sketching while Ezran rifled through his bag; she sat down beside them.

Ez smiled warmly and leaned around Callum to put a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks again for coming, Rayla. I know this wasn't exactly your idea of a day off—"

"Please, Ez. Why is everyone acting like this is the bravest, most valiant thing I've ever done?" she interrupted. "You've seen me swim plenty of times before! I'm fine."

He looked appropriately taken aback by her small outburst, but Callum simply sighed and shut his sketchbook. He leaned back on one hand and slung the other arm around her shoulder. "No use pretending, you know."

"What?" she shot back. She wasn't pretending—

"The ocean is different—you told me yourself," he said, indeed using her own words against her. His smile was genuine and just as irritating without the smugness; he pecked her on the cheek. "You're scared, Rayla. That's okay."

But, of course, she wasn't irritated, because he was being sweet and honest and, if anything, infuriatingly attractive. It didn't stop her from pouting and rolling her eyes.

Neither boy was fooled, with Ez laughing softly before continuing to search through his pack.

"I was scared of the ocean, too, when I was a kid," Callum offered.

"How times have changed, Mage," she chuckled, admittedly comforted by the image of a tiny Callum petrified of the sea.

"I was afraid of thunderstorms, too." He smiled, exhaling happily as he looked back to the tide.

"Finally," Ezran muttered from where he was kneeled. He pulled out a phial, the transparent yellow substance gleaming in the sun as he held it up. "Found it!"

"What's that?" Rayla asked.

"The new Sun guard oil we got from New Aurea," Callum answered. "So you don't get burned," he explained, although she was familiar with the concept by now. Smirking at her and, presumably, her abundance of fair skin, he added, "Some of us need more than others."

Probably a good call. Rayla had heard stories of elves leaving the Moonshadow Forest for warmer regions and coming back with their skin red and peeling off.

Soren and Corvus had arrived at the blanket by then, and Soren eagerly began tossing his armor to the sand. The rest of the boys followed suit, undoing boot laces and tugging off the already-minimal clothing they'd been wearing. Rayla shrugged her tunic off, though she had the convenience of having come in sufficient leggings that barely reached her mid-thigh. Readjusting her bindings and fixing the ponytail she'd thrown her hair into, she glanced to the side to find Callum unabashedly staring at her, eyes half-lidded and cheek resting on his knees. She scoffed with an unavoidable grin and accompanying flush. Like he hadn't seen her undress—much further—a hundred times before.

The boys were passing the bottle around, each applying a coat of the oil across their skin. At some point, Ez handed the bottle to Callum and turned his back to him, and Callum assisted with the spots he couldn't reach. When finished, he poured himself a handful and began to spread it across his arms. He was still wearing his sleeveless tunic and, well, Rayla could tease him, too.

She wordlessly tugged him over by the shirt and started undoing the fastenings. His momentary surprise melted into a grin. He shrugged it off his shoulders and returned to his arm, but Rayla shooed his hand away and gestured to the other side. "You do that one, I got this one," she said, keeping her face neutral as she began to spread the oil over his runes.

"How thoughtful of you," he chuckled, getting to work on the other side as well as he could with minimal movement from the arm Rayla was doing.

"Didn't wanna get singed to a crisp in the time it took you," she shrugged.

"Mhmmm." He moved on to his chest, absently looking straight at her as he lathered the liquid across his throat and collarbone. The damn hot idiot.

He handed Rayla the phial. "Do my back?"

She snorted at nothing particular, scuffling behind him and rising to her knees as she poured some more into her palm. Callum sighed as she worked it into his skin, turning his head for a brief moment, which gave her a view of his lashes fluttering prettily. She glanced across the blanket, pleased to find the other three occupied with each other, facing away. He was being more confident and smug than usual and she couldn't deny it was working, though she wasn't ready to drop her own calm-and-collected air just yet.

A kiss to the top of his head was too hard to resist, once she was done, then a ruffle for his hair as she settled back beside him. He was still doing his front half, though leisurely and with his attention more focused on whatever Rayla was doing. She knew he wanted his hands on her, but while those hands were busy, she figured she'd start on her legs. Those were a little too likely to get them carried away with this heated game they had going, it being right next to their friends, and all. It didn't stop him from continuing to watch her, of course, so maybe she slightly exaggerated the motions of ducking down to reach her outstretched ankle, or lifting her leg to reach the back of her thigh.

Before long, he stole her hand and planted a kiss to the back of it as he ran his oily palm up her arm. The tenderness melted her bluster; she sighed and sat back to watch him do as he pleased.

The combination of heat and warmth had her insides fluttering; it was hard to decide whether to focus on the feel of his touch working her flesh, the way he didn't even hesitate in lathering her sliver of exposed stomach or swath of her upper chest, the purposeful and light brush of his hands against fabric, the quirk of his mouth whenever she had to bite her lip to quiet a gasp—or the affection in his eyes towards her innocuous skin, the caring way in which he massaged her when he diverted to her back, the breath across her skin that she could tell was filled with contentedness, the sparkle in his gaze and somehow-bashful flush on his face whenever their eyes met.

After he was through with thoroughly coating her, she finally pulled him in for a kiss, sweet and deep and hot. He raised his hands to her face, and she assumed he was going to cradle her jaw like usual, but instead squeaked into his mouth in surprise when he smeared even more of the oil across her cheek.

"Hey!" she snickered, wriggling as he tried to spread it all over.

"This is the most important part," Callum insisted, failing to suppress his own giggling as she wrinkled her nose.

Grumbling, Rayla grabbed the bottle and dabbed out one last helping of Sun guard oil into her palm, then went after his face, too. He laughed and recoiled, but ultimately put up far less of a fight than she had. She giggled devilishly as she smushed his cheeks, then smoothed out the faux-unamused furrow in his brow.

Eventually, their lips settled back together; Callum had shifted to his knees to hold her waist, and she had her arms slung over his shoulders, fingers split between running gently through his hair and teasingly elliciting shivers at the top of his spine. Maybe the beach wasn't so bad, Rayla considered—

"Ugh, we have to eat on that blanket later, y'know," Soren commented, breaking the illusion of solitude the pair had fallen under. With a parting scrutinizing look, he jogged to catch up with Ez and Corvus, who were making for the water (after what she imagined was an awkward cough and head shake; few others shared Soren's need to call them out all the time.)

Callum rolled his eyes and flopped down beside her, squinting as he stared up into the blindingly bright blue. Pulling her knees to her chest, Rayla's gaze wandered to the sickeningly dark blue ahead of them. She snorted as Ez dipped a toe into the incoming tide, only to nearly get flattened as Soren whizzed past, barreling straight into the depths.

She tried to ignore the harsh twitch of her ear whenever a wave came crashing to shore, and the twist of her stomach when the next one looked like it was rising higher and coming in faster than the others, and the short plummet of her heart at what she kept thinking were shadows lurking under the surface.

Naturally, Callum had been right: the ocean was different. Over the years, repeated exposure to water had definitely dampened—heh—her fears. For one, she'd been on enough boats to nearly curb her seasickness completely—though, ships now made her stomach turn for separate reasons. Baths hadn't really bothered her since she was small enough for them to be the size of a lagoon, but, even still, she'd grown to find them relaxing. Chiefly, and apparently, her company would strip down for any body of water they could swim in, so she'd joined them in lakes, rivers, springs, and the like. As much as Rayla wished there were alternative summer activities that were just as appealing to them, she couldn't deny there'd been fun times spent splashing around playfully with each other.

None of that scared her anymore, because she always knew she was safe and in control. But the ocean? With its ruthless riptides and churning currents and walls of water ready to pull you under at any moment? With its never-ewnding stretch across the horizon (ignoring the fact that, from this beach, the coast of Del Bar was visible in the distance) and bottomless depths and incomprehensible potential for creatures never before seen? How was anybody able to just throw themselves to the wolves—er, waves like that?

Then again, there was an entire race of elves whose existences were directly tied to it. Then again, her kindred soul was an Ocean mage.

She spun her head to face him, apparently doing a poor job of hiding the furrow in her brow, because when he cracked open his eyes and squinted at her, he frowned.

Callum heaved himself back up with all the grace of someone who couldn't do a sit-up to save his life, which did get a chuckle out of her. "You okay?" He poked her in the arm.

She scooted closer, resting her head on his shoulder, sighing, "Yeah."

The ocean caught her sights again and Callum's followed. The boys seemed to be enjoying the water—Ez hopping on waves and letting them carry him, Soren trying to do underwater handstands and being repeatedly knocked over, and Corvus making sure neither of them drowned. Rayla found Callum smiling at the sight.

"You should go swim," she nudged. "I don't mind just relaxing." Whether or not she could really relax laying in the hot sun, with sand in her hair, too-familiar salt on the breeze, and the possibility of being swept up in a tsunami present whenever wasn't looking would prove to be a worthwhile question.

He shook his head and rose to his feet, brushing off sand that had stuck to the drying oil before stretching his hand out to her. "Nah. How about we take a walk?" he proposed.

She beamed, undeniably grateful, and took it.

Their fingers stayed interlocked as he guided her down the shore, briefly pausing so Callum could catch Ezran's attention and flash him a dorky two-fingered walk in the air to indicate their intentions. Rayla kept stumbling when her feet sunk into the sand, once kicking up a cloud of it in frustration; he moved them to the wettened part, and she tried to keep her likewise discontent with that texture to herself, feeling too whiny. At least she could walk, though.

And… yeah, maybe she could deal with it. The breeze was nice, and when clouds wandered in front of the sun it wasn't too oppressively hot. She was amused by the seagulls fighting each other for scraps of aquatic creatures on the shore, and even more so by those creatures when they were alive—the colorful crabs and burrowing sand moles were surprisingly adorable. As they meandered along, Callum told stories from when he had visited the sound before.

"I guess my mom had told Dad—Harrow—that I was terrified of Xadian squids," went one story. "Not that you would find them anywhere around here, but I didn't know that—anyway, it was before they had even gotten married, so he hadn't, y'know, been a dad for too long, and, well…" Callum winced with a smile; "He thought it would be funny to point at this big rock in the distance and yell, 'I saw it move! Squid!'"

Rayla laughed behind her hand; his nose crinkled, voice laden with amusement. "Yeah, exactly. Well," he continued, "I freaked out. I made them take me home immediately, couldn't sleep for, like, three nights in a row. Mom was so angry, and he felt so bad. I got anything I wanted from him for at least a month—and he never tried to scare me or Ez again."

Rayla picked up an especially smooth rock and shot it across the ocean, humming in satisfaction when it skipped for several yards. "Impressive for a father," she acknowledged. "Nothing could've gotten my dad to quit scaring me at every opportunity."

"Yeah?" Callum inquired with a surprised smile. She didn't offer a lot of casual information about her parents too frequently, and it was clear that he loved whenever she did.

"Yeah. Jumping out from behind things, pretending to be the monsters from stories, stuff like that." Callum looked around their feet for a moment, then got low to the ground to more closely inspect the nearby rocks, meanwhile Rayla smiled at the memories against her will just as he had. "To his credit, he only kept doing it because he knew I liked it."

"Ah, I see," Callum replied just as he found a stone to his liking. "Is that why you enjoy scary novels so much? Because he, like, established that love for being scared when you know you're safe?"

Rayla blinked at him. Huh. It was true—she did love the thrill of reading a good horror story. "Never thought of it like that. Doctor Mage," she added with a grin and an eyeroll.

He shrugged with a visible hint of pride, then promptly attempted to skip his rock like she'd done, only for it to plop right into the water. Rayla laughed loudly and he glared at both her and the sea, only serving to make her snort even harder. Once he had let himself smile, he crouched down again and examined the various rocks, shells, and pieces of kelp around them.

"Ooh!" he chirped suddenly, grabbing something Rayla couldn't make out before he stood and presented it to her. "Look!"

It was the flat, rounded shell of an oyster or clam or something, a soft purple in color. "Pretty," she nodded. But he was still holding it in her face, now narrowing his eyes as he looked between her and the shell.

"Rayla," he then grinned.

"What?"

"You know what this perfectly matches?"

"No…?"

Still smiling widely, the held the shell up next to his own face and pointed to his eyes. Ohhh.

"Aye, I get it," she chuckled, rolling her eyes. What a sap, what a cutie.

He gently closed his fist around it, sights returning to the sand. "Oh my gosh, more." He fell to his knees to eagerly collect more purple shells.

Rayla was blushing, now, at how entirely captivated he was by the prospect of seashells that matched her eye color. "You dork."

She knew these would inevitably end up in some kind of glass or dish at their bedside table or in whatever ended up being his office, proudly displayed where he could see them every day. It was a sweet souvenir…

Stooping down herself, she almost immediately found a greenish stone.

"How's this?" she smirked, presenting it to him. Callum pursed his lips in a silent awww and turned an adorable shade of pink.

But when she actually held it up next to his grass-green irises, the olive shade was far duller in comparison. "You know what, I can do better," she resolved.

He deposited a handful of the purple shells beside her and got to his feet. "Watch those, I'm gonna go grab a bag!" He darted off down the beach.

She laughed, now to no one but herself. They hadn't walked that far from their little camp, but she still wondered how he'd look by the end of that excitement-fueled sprint.

Predictably, by the time he came back and held out an empty pouch, his hands were on his knees in an effort to catch his breath.

"I think I have enough," Callum announced some time later, after a bit more scavenging, holding up the full-looking bag and shaking it, the shells clattering together. "In fact, I think I've already found the perfect one."

"I've definitely got some good options myself," she said, settling on the sand and cracking her neck that had just spent way too long craned down. Rayla scooped up her personal pile from off to the side and set it in front of them.

She showed him a variety of those green-tinted stones, and even a few stuck with algae and pieces of seaweed that made them appear verdant.

"Good job," he smiled when he thought she was done.

She scoffed. "No need to lie, Callum."

"I'm not—"

"C'mon now, I know these don't really match those gorgeous eyes of yours, love." He beamed softly. "But I have one that does." From behind her back, she whipped out her prized find: a vibrant green crystal. "Behold!"

His eyes—which did match perfectly—lit up. "Woah," he uttered, entranced as he took it and held it up to the light. It was a small but impressive hunk of mineral—somewhat reminiscent of a Stoneheart Emerald—edges polished by the ocean waves with a nice translucent finish. "This is awesome."

"I had to contain my excitement when I saw it—didn't want to ruin the surprise," she shrugged, understanding now why the specific color of his lover's eyes had made him so happy to hold in his hand. "Now, what've we got there?" she nodded at his pile.

His collection of purple shells was a lot more straightforward, with the variations in color, pattern, and size rather negligible. When he had made it through the hoard, he excitedly presented his most treasured find just as she had.

Only, that also wasn't quite as exciting as hers had been; it was still just a shell, though she could see how the specific tint and overall uniformity of the color would most accurately match her irises.

But she still put her hands over her heart and crooned, "Callum," and it was hardly a farce. In fact, the comparative innocuity of the shell made it even sweeter, because to the naked eye, it was just one of the twenty in its pile just like it. But to him, it was a little piece of her.

He smiled, carefully setting it in the pouch with their other treasures. They scooted in, shoulder-to-shoulder, and he slung his arm across her back while she situated hers on his waist, slotting together like second nature. They looked out across the water; in all the time they'd been lingering just out of the tide's reach, the sound of the crashing waves had become… nice. Soothing. Melodic.

The sun had been blaring on them for a while now, those clouds having made themselves scarce, and their skin was slick with sweat where it touched. Rayla wriggled her nose, suddenly aware of the moisture beading on her upper lip as Callum turned to her.

His smile was soft, considerate, encouraging. "Wanna go in?"

She regarded the sea again, the fast rush of the foamy ebbs and flows on the sand and the unpredictable pattern of the waves. She knew Callum was leaving plenty of room for her comfort, but his confidence in nudging her out of her comfort zone was so…

"Yeah, sure. Okay," she shrugged, smiling sheepishly.

He brightened as though he hadn't thought she'd say yes. "Really? Like, you're positive?"

"Yes, dummy." She pushed to her feet and wiped the sand off her butt, then swiveled to face him. "If there's one person I'm willing to get in the ocean with, it's my Ocean mage," she smirked. When he took her hand she added, less teasingly, "You won't let me drown, right?"

He held her face for a quick peck, then connected their foreheads. "Absolutely not," he promised, looking into her—apparently, shell-colored—eyes and stroking her marking with a thumb.

Their fingers stayed intertwined as they drew closer to the water—the small curve of Callum's mouth told her he knew she was squeezing his hand progressively tighter. The sand grew squishier and suddenly the tide came in, rising up to their ankles. Rayla squeaked at the sudden cold, earning a snicker.

For whatever reason, she paused, needing to process the feeling of the chilly water swirling around her feet before proceeding. When the tide receded, Callum looked at her expectantly—still considerate as ever, his eyes being enough to say he didn't expect perfection from her. She tried to move forward only to find the sand had swallowed up her feet.

"Oops," she chuckled in turn with him, and combined slow tugs with gentle wiggling until she was freed.

Callum led her by the hand deeper still, the waves continuing to shove them back and pull them in. They were up to their knees when he suggested, "This is good for a minute, right?"

She resisted the urge to insist he take her further and instead nodded appreciatively. "So," she ventured, "what exactly do we, uh, do now?"

He let go of her hand to shrug, then abruptly let his legs give out beneath him so he could flop into the water. She let out a yelp at the spray she got, confused as to what the hell he was doing. "Callum?!"

Happily, he simply sat on the ocean floor, scooping up a handful of sand and then dropping it back into the water with a plunk, and grinning up at her with a hum. "Wanna join?"

The idea of sitting down in the sea, either sinking like quicksand or vulnerable to being picked up and yanked away by the current, made her stomach turn. "I'm good—"

Just then, the next wave came barreling in and knocked Callum right in the face, pushing him to his back under the water. "Callum!" she shouted, way louder than she meant to, reaching for him.

When the tide receded and she pulled him up, though, he was laughing.

Unamused, she forced him to stand, gripping his arm. "Do not do that."

"Rayla," he said as he blinked away saltwater. "I'm not going to…" he trailed off, quirking an eyebrow at her.

She flushed, realizing that, yeah, maybe the lifelong beachgoer and, as aforementioned, Ocean mage wasn't going to be forever lost to the depths that easily. But the sea was unpredictable! She couldn't help it—

"It's not some terrible monster," he said as though reading her mind. He had softened, running a hand up and down her arm.

"You ever seen an entire ship get reduced to driftwood with one wave, Callum? Yeah, well, how am I supposed to trust that those waves will be nice to my humble elven body?" Rayla retorted. Of course she knew he was right that she realistically had nothing to be scared of, but her frustration with herself was getting taken out on him.

"It's just water—" He winced at himself. "Okay, well, yeah—but you're a good swimmer, anyway. And that's not even the point!" he urged, taking her hands when she huffed. Contrary to her thoughts, he said, "You're right—you should be scared of the ocean. It's pretty scary." He lifted her chin with a delicate knuckle. "But I've got you. The sea could turn into a terrible monster trying to get you and I still would not let that happen. Okay?"

"Now I've got that image, thanks a lot." She did feel a lot less unsteady and vulnerable with him holding her even just like this, and he had repeatedly proven himself capable of saving her from just about any situation with magic, and she would sorely miss his wet, floppy hair and salt-soaked skin if she got out now, so—"But, yeah. Okay."

"I won't let go," he assured, taking her waist to ever so gently guide her further out. "Do you wanna keep going?"

She nodded.

The deeper they went, the harder Rayla's pulse pounded—but, also, the tighter he held her. The water had risen to her navel when she noticed an intimidating wave surging way too close for comfort; she couldn't stifle a gasp. She braced herself, squeezing her eyes on instinct, sure it was about to knock her clean off her feet, but suddenly, Callum had both hands planted firmly on her waist. With a little jump, he used the momentum of the wave to keep her above the surface. Breathless with surprise, Rayla watched as she rose up and then down, feeling the water carry her like a feather on the wind. A soft, "Woah," was all she had to say when her toes were back on the sand.

"You okay?" he checked, the hands enveloping her waist pulling her back against his chest.

Still dizzy at the weightlessness, she turned, biting her lip and giggling, "Yeah."

Before he even said anything, though, he looked ahead and twisted his mouth in a grimace. "Okay, uh…" he chuckled. She furrowed her brow. "Uh, now is the hard part. We have to go deep enough to float with the waves, but to get there we have to, y'know… get there."

Rayla followed his pointer finger and watched with a shudder as the water rose steeply, curled in on itself, and began rushing toward them. Again, he propelled them up so they drifted atop it, but she still turned to him with horror when they descended.

"You want me to get right in front of that?!" she shrieked.

With a frown, he looked her over. "No. No, it's—it's okay, I have a spell—"

"Hey, wait." Her attitude shifted; clearly, he'd hoped she would brave it head-on. She couldn't just wimp out now. "I can do it—"

"Don't push yourself, Rayla." He pressed a kiss to her hair, damp by now from various splashes. "You're already doing so good."

"Doing so well," she corrected, not matching the snarky nature of the comment. His praise was successful in tempering her, and… yeah, if she was being honest, she did not want to meet the underside of one of those waves. But it didn't exactly feel good. "Well, I don't really want to get my hair wet, anyway," she bluffed.

He could've seen it as a farce from the other side of the sound, she was sure, but he happily accepted that answer.

There wasn't exactly a need for him to keep such a tight hold on her waist still—she had figured out the rhythm of the tide by now—but she certainly wasn't going to complain about the way he situated her at his side with a miniscule tug, the ease in which he was moving her no doubt helped by the floaty physics of the water. It made her blush all the same.

He poised his finger against the air and carved out a rune, incanting, "Bulla obice." It was as if his hand suddenly repelled all the water in contact, an invisible shield forming at their feet and growing around them. Rayla experimentally poked the wall of liquid, her finger penetrating the barrier but not disturbing the containment. Callum raised his hand and presumably sealed off the bubble over their heads.

She was still marveling at the creation when he slipped out of her arm and through the wall with a small blub. A wave came and shoved her bubble backwards, though the water simply bounced off the barrier. He flashed her a smile not unlike the one from when they dove into the Sea of the Castout, then outstretched both arms. Through a series of actions somewhere between pushing and guiding, he steadily moved the bubble further into the sea.

The waves were indeed becoming more threatening the closer she got to their crests, but on every impact she remained dry and protected, even though she couldn't stop her flinching. Callum was half-in-half-out, holding her suspended but using his legs to swim. Occasionally, his head would bob out of the bubble, leaving his hair drenched and flopping in his eyes—she moved it out of the way for him, lingering on the handsome confidence curving his lips. A few big waves caused him to duck into her protection, squeezing her tight from behind.

Against all odds, Rayla found herself submerged under raging tides and yet more concerned with all the wet skin and inhibited hands and fiery contact-fueled butterflies than the nerves. Granted, she wasn't fully in the water, but it was still an impressive feat on Callum's part.

They hadn't traveled that long a distance when, suddenly, she was bobbing up above the surface alongside Callum, who, with a wave of his arm, dispelled the shield. Water rushed into the empty space, swallowing Rayla up, but his arms were back around her within a second. Their toes could still touch the bottom, the water deceptively only coming up to the shoulder.

He was breathing heavily on her neck in exertion, one leg snaking around hers, and she didn't even complain about how wet he was getting her—her upper half, that was. Ahem.

The swells now built up underneath them and passed without force, naturally allowing them to peacefully float. Rayla had never liked to lift her feet off the ground while swimming, what with floating feeling just a bit too similar to getting-swept-away-and-tossed-around-by-the-current-like-a-ragdoll. However, the tide was stronger than her either way, so she couldn't really stop it from lifting her up—even though she reeled every time the water reached her throat.

Predictably, Callum was still grinning at her when she met his eyes, green shimmering bright in the sun. "You okay?" he breathed into the space between them.

"Mhm—" Rayla began to hum before she tensed, a wave rolling her. That sensation that turned her stomach upside down wasn't fully gone, evidently.

The buoyancy further allowed Callum to gather her up like she weighed nothing, and she complied by wrapping her legs around his waist and letting him cradle her.

"Better?" He used a dripping finger to move her hair out of her eyes.

"Mhm," she repeated, this time feeling perfectly secure overtop the churning tide, Callum proving sturdy. She let her head fall to his shoulder, the waves serving to lull her into a sense of calm.

He admired her openly, eyes half-lidded and fond, one hand stroking her back while the other trailed up and down her thigh. Hers roamed his chest, his collarbone, his shoulder—before climbing his neck and pulling him against her mouth.

They both exhaled into the kiss, warm as could be in spite of cold water and cooled skin. Their tongues slid against each other easily and the air—or water, actually—between their bodies was reduced to nothing as they were tugged flush to one another.

Kissing Callum always made her feel like she was floating—weightless, light-headed, like the ground beneath their feet (or mattress beneath one of their backs) turned to a cloud the second their lips touched. But, when she was able to close her eyes and truly believe they were coupled together amongst the stars in the sky, it was intoxicating. There was no floor, no air, not even any water—just them, two bodies melting into one.

Maybe it was the breathy whimper escaping from her throat that allowed a monstrous wave to silently build behind them, because by the time they noticed the ocean pulling them the wrong way, neither had time to react before it crashed into them.

All of Rayla's sink-or-swim instincts kicked in, and she fought the aggressive tide with matching intensity. It felt like forever and yet was so quick that she didn't even have the time to break for air, forcing her to hold her knocked-out breath best she could as they barreled for shore. The sand scraped her skin roughly. She couldn't make Callum out through the rush and stinging salt, and they couldn't maintain a steady grip on one another, but she knew he was right beside her the whole time.

After the harsh, terrifying blur, air hit her face and filled her lungs and she was crawling her way out. Rayla staggered—was she standing or still on her knees? Her head was spinning too much to tell—a short distance and promptly flopped back to the earth where the water couldn't get her.

Callum had pulled himself together much easier, on his feet and running over to her within seconds.

"Are you okay?! Are you—I-I'm—" Frantic words repeatedly died on his tongue as he struggled to catch his own breath. Rayla squinted up at the bright sky in a daze as he looked her over for injury. She knew she had abrasions on her knees from the sting that came with him wiping the sand away, and he squeezed the side of her thigh in a gentle apology.

Saltwater ruthlessly burned her nose and her head pounded, her entire body felt gross, sand stuck all over, and her lungs ached from the exertion. Realizing questions and answers weren't available at the moment, he panted out a spell to give them both back their air. In a few minutes he began repeating inquisitions about broken bones and such, which she answered with incoherent grunts confirming she was alright.

Callum used a few more spells to center her—she was fairly sure that was what was happening, anyway. They lapsed into silence, him sitting beside her and Rayla lying still.

It was many breaths in and out before she regained some sense; Callum intervened to hoist her up to her elbows when she tried and failed.

"You were right," he was sighing, eyes glassy and apologetic, thumb stroking her knuckles. "It's unpredictable. I'm sorry I let that happen, Rayla."

She looked up at him, at the quiver in his lip and raw skin across his cheekbone. "I'm okay," she breathed.

And… she was. That had hurt like hell, and for a second she was right back in that river, her little life slipping away before Runaan was able to pull her out—but she was okay. The tide was still crashing, entirely unaware and unmoved by what it had done, and the repetitive sound was no less soothing for it. The ocean hadn't protected her from its violence, but it had allowed her to drift peacefully on its rolling waves for even just a moment.

Callum had protected her though, best he could.

Something about true tides, was it? Deep oceans, what it was to love…

Her back flat on the sand, heart not yet stilled, a recent escapee of certain death, Rayla started to laugh.

Callum peered at her for a moment as though he feared she'd suffered brain damage, but a cracked eye and hand on his arm seemed to reassure.

In a blink she had risen and pushed him down, straddling him there on the beach while her hair dripped on his skin.

He'd check her over a million times, later, Rayla was positive—but for the moment, he didn't protest when she kissed him harder than before. Their tongues melded along with their breath, hands scrambling for purchase, bodies pressed tight. She lightly bit down on his lip and his nails gently scraped her spine under the edge of her bindings. Her knees squeezed his hips and they surged up, his grip on her ass encouraging the friction between their already-scant and soaked through layers. Her fingers dug into his ribs how he liked and his moved to grip her horn, both of them groaning in tandem when—

"Call-ummm!"

They broke apart with a gasp.

"Ray-laaa!"

Ezran's sing-song calls echoed across the shore, and Rayla had just enough time to fall back beside Callum as he sat up and adjusted his swimwear before Ez climbed over a dune and found them there.

"What are you guys doing?" he asked, mouth quirked, standing over them with a hand on his hip.

"Learning what it's like to be a beached whale," Rayla replied. It was at least halfway true—maybe fully. She didn't know what whales got up to when they washed up together. Maybe they made out. Nature worked in mysterious ways.

He didn't linger, curtly announcing, "Lunch," with what might have been an eyeroll as he turned and headed back down the beach.

Callum and Rayla looked to each other, immediately sent into a soft fit of laughter at the sight of each other. They certainly looked washed-up.

Rayla made sure to grab the pouch containing their beach treasures, before they set off down the shoreline, hand in hand.

Soren and Corvus were already eating when they returned to the picnic blanket. The former of which was three-quarters of the way through the absurdly large sandwich he'd packed. "What happened to you two?" he'd asked, looking between their banged-up bodies and sand-caked heads of hair.

"Shark wrestling incident," Rayla deadpanned, cruedly spitting some sand out to the side.

Callum summoned freshwater to rinse the two of them and aspiro to quickly dry them off, refreshing the other three at their request. Rayla felt leagues better when she finally sat down on the blanket to eat her lunch. It was a standard meal—which was to say a thoroughly entertaining and pleasant meal. Stories and opinions and everything in between floated around as they lounged under the shade of a cloud Callum had summoned. After they'd all had their share of jelly tarts, Rayla reclined her head in Callum's lap; he finger-combed her undone hair as she rested her eyes for a few minutes.

At some point, they set off toward the water and Rayla blearily followed, yawning but smiling at Callum to ensure she was up for it. Instead of resuming a swim, however, Ezran and Soren each dropped to their knees in the not-dry-but-not-super-wet strip of sand and began to scoop it up and into a pile.

"Uh…?" she chuckled.

"Sand castle time," Callum grinned.

It was no wonder, with her multitalented partner-in-competition on the team, that Corvus, acting as judge, selected Callum and Rayla's impressive fortress of sand as the winner.

"No fair!" Soren protested. "They got to use tools."

Rayla smirked as the last in their series of ice shards Callum had made melted in the sand beside her. "We worked with what we had," she shrugged cockily.

Callum bumped her shoulder, the both of them tuning out the sore losers' grumbling as they tilted their heads at the same thing: the outline of a heart traced into the back of the structure, designating the room he'd oh-so-sappily referred to as where they lived.

The afternoon only made the sun shine hotter, so naturally, the urge to return to the water only grew.

"You coming?" Soren asked them, stretching out his arms and slowly backing towards the sea.

Callum opened his mouth to speak, and she knew he had been about to casually deny the offer from his genuine surprise when she took his hand to follow Soren. She grinned back at him and he mirrored it, the glint in his eye unmistakably proud.

They didn't go as deep this time—splashing around with their friends providing a good excuse to stay closer to shore. Much fun was had experimenting with Callum's magic; they tried out surfing on sheets of ice for a while, the braver among them letting him launch them like an arrow through the water—although, Callum's refusal to use a spell that could turn his lower half into that of a shark after he brought it up was met with an ocean's worth of disappointment.

The greatest discovery made was the potential of his water volcano spell, which he repeatedly used to shoot them high up in the air; even Corvus couldn't resist the thrill. When Rayla tried it, nervous but far too curious, she plunged back down and landed right in Callum's arms bridal-style, another move he pulled off with the help of aquatic dynamics. Soren groaned in exaggerated disgust while Rayla giggled, Callum spinning her around.

But at some point, the group had grown spent and thus Rayla ended up with the water to her shoulders again. Callum was extra careful this time, though, and it was a lot less scary with her friends—her family—by her side.

Making sure she was facing the incoming waves, Rayla once again hopped into his arms, settling around him like a cuddlemonkey on a tree trunk. They floated without incident, the boys having drifted far enough away for them to sneak in plenty of kisses, and the water providing cover and an excuse for subtle friction. They giggled in between pecks, aware of what stupid, oversexed teenagers they were.

It was hard to believe they wouldn't be teenagers together soon enough.

As the sun dipped, they all returned back to the shore; Callum, Rayla, and Ez had settled on the blanket when Soren brought up the challenge everyone had likely either assumed he'd forget or forgotten about themselves, that being his swimming race.

"It's getting dark, Soren," Corvus said, drying his torso with a towel. "I'd hate to see you get eaten by a shark; they like their prey pretty."

Soren grinned at the comment, but didn't back down, continuing to resist.

When Corvus at last sighed, "Fine," Soren took off for the water.

"Gonna stay put and let him merely think you're actually racing?" Rayla guessed, snorting.

"Certainly thinking about it." He dutifully followed his fellow Crownguard down the shore. For all his exasperation and propositions of deception, he didn't hesitate to dive in right alongside Soren after he counted up to three—not down from three, up to three, Rayla noted.

Thankfully, their race had concluded before the sun went down. Though it was fairly close and both men returned sweaty and panting, Corvus stole the victory.

"You know what? I'm not even mad that you won," Soren huffed as he collapsed to the ground, taking the water pouch Rayla handed to him.

"Oh?" Corvus chuckled, cocking his head.

"Yup." Soren gave him a firm pat to the shoulder. "Because you put in the effort." He then flopped onto his back, taking a big gulp of air. They all laughed, Corvus shaking his head with uninhibited fondness.

Their evening meal ended up consisting mostly of snacks, and in between banter, there grew a comfortable silence around the bonfire as night fell over the coast and crickets began to chirp in the trees. Eventually, they all agreed to turn in, one after another—though Rayla couldn't help her disappointment, watching Callum follow them to the trees to where they'd all be sleeping out in the open.

She should've known him better, though; when they reached that line between grass and sand, he caught her wrist. Ezran glanced back briefly and went on his way without comment.

He stooped and gave the space beside him a pat—the space in which she happily settled into. They'd sat together under the stars enough times to not need any words for it, but the ocean breeze across their bare legs and under their tunics combined with the sound of crashing waves Rayla could decidedly say she now enjoyed was a welcome addition.

Breaking the silence, Rayla spoke softly: "Thanks for not pushing me today. Even though I still ended up getting a little more ocean than I signed up for—thanks." She stroked a thumb over his knuckles.

Leaning into her side, he exhaled contentedly. "I didn't need to push you, Ray. You're incredible enough on your own."

"It's just water," she shrugged with a bashful grin.

He pressed a kiss to her hair. "No, it's not."

He was right. It wasn't.

She climbed back into his lap, and Callum snorted at her as if it was a surprise. As if they hadn't both known from the minute she'd agreed to join this little beach excursion exactly what was on her mind when she said yes. As if either of them were going to let a day's worth of tension, built off ogling bare skin and bold touches and lovesick kisses, go to waste.

Their lips met; it was satisfying and not nearly enough at the same time. "Wanna go for a walk?" Rayla whispered in his ear, her actual question hardly concealed.

He looked at her in that funny way she loved so, so very much: mouth quirked, eyes narrowed cheekily, gaze all flirty and sparkly and loving. He flipped her over and hoisted both of them up. "So long as you're quiet."

Rayla smirked as he set off in front of her, knowing that the steady song of the tide would be sufficient cover for whatever noises she wanted out of either of them. Her appreciation for the ocean was growing by the second.