Ships That Pass in the Night

The long, white hem of her dress brushed against the cool evening sand with soft, subtle sounds, mimicking the gentle rhythm of the tide. Her bare toes curled into the miniscule white rocks with every step, the balls of her feet pressing further into the malleable ground. Looking backwards, she smiled gently at the man behind her, charcoal hair fluttering lazily in the wind as he trailed along her steps.
Falanyel stopped, tugging on his hand, pulling him closer. She stared brightly up into his frosty blue eyes while he wrapped an arm around her waist. Slowly he rocked her forwards, his other hand holding hers up and to the side charmingly, then he settled backwards again, establishing a sentimental rhythm to which they waltzed.
“It’s far,” He sang to her, voice deep and low, sharp eyes locked on hers. “Beyond a star…”
“It’s near beyond the moon.” His voice dropped to a soothing whisper as he brought her even closer to him. Falanyel sighed, resting her head on his shoulder in a desired moment of contentment.
“I know beyond a doubt,” Cool breath tickled at her ear as he continued to serenade her. “My heart will lead me there soon.”
She didn’t know why, but tears began to tug at the corners of her eyes. Gulping, Falanyel held onto Samhan even more, latching on to the comfort he provided her.
“We’ll meet beyond the shore, we’ll kiss just like before.” The breeze picked up, brushing past her bare neck, threatening to undo her pinned hair. “Happy we’ll be, beyond the sea, and never again will I go sailing.”
Weakly, Falanyel brushed the unwelcome tears from her eyes and gazed up at her husband. She was met with thin lips curved upwards and icily blue eyes. On the surface his expression was playful and loving, as one might expect from a newlywed groom, but something about the dark rims of his eyelids, the piercing coldness of his gaze, made Falanyel shiver.
They stared at each other, rocking slowly in the cool autumn wind. Slowly Falanyel began to ask herself why she had married Samhan. She didn’t even like Samhan. She didn’t like how he got in the way of her flirting with Hardin, she didn’t like his lazy smirks, and she didn’t like how his eyes pierced straight through her, as they were currently doing. His gaze held her captive, and Falanyel dared not break eye contact, for fear something bad might happen if she did.
Falanyel couldn’t quite place it, but something about the situation felt surreal. In the back of her mind she knew Samhan hadn’t ever proposed, they weren’t married. She stared up at him, brow furrowed as she began to process the absurdity of the situation.
A slice of skin broke off from Samhan’s cheek like porcelain might break off from a statue.
Horrified, Falanyel released Samhan, stepping backwards while watching her husband crumble. His face decayed, sections of hardened flesh falling to the ground, until all that remained was a blackened skeleton and a pair of glacial blue eyes.
The cold wind whipped at her skin, undoing the knot that held her hair up in a delicate design. She stared at her husband with no small amount of terror, wondering what she had done to subject him to death.
With a voice darker than night and deeper than the sea, Samhan murmured, “Falanyel, my beloved wife.”

Falanyel woke with a start, the warm morning light peeking through her curtains, cold sweat cresting her brow. She breathed heavily, mind racing as she recounted the dream as many times as she could. It was like a convulsion. Each time she reimagined it she shivered, she cowered, she scared herself to death, but she had to do it. She didn’t know why, but she had to.
When the vividness of the dream began to fade and her breathing began to return to normal, Falanyel bothered to sit up. She stared at her curtains for a few moments, trying to get a handle on the time of day. Two voices rumbled from the floor below her, one of which she recognized belonged to her father. The other gave her goosebumps.
Shaking her head, Falanyel tried to dismiss all thoughts about the dream she’d just had. Dreams meant nothing, even if Dawnhollow wisdom said otherwise. But Falanyel wasn’t really in the mood to trust Dawnhollow wisdom, given how the whisper wind incident had definitely not brought good luck upon her. Therefore, she had no reason to suspect that her dream was in anyway a premonition.
Hastily she dressed herself, braided her hair, and trotted down the steps to the kitchen.
“Morning father, Samhan.” She offered without even looking up to acknowledge the younger sailor.
“Good morning, Falanyel.” Her father greeted her brightly, moving out of her way so that she could serve herself a generous portion of eggs, paired with a biscuit. “Sleep alright?”
“Of course.” She lied through her teeth as she gathered her plate and a cup of tea before taking a seat at their small dining table.
“You did sleep in a bit, didn’t you?” The older sailor chuckled happily. “And you’re hungry too, I see.”
“Don’t want to be late to work.” She explained before stuffing her mouth with eggs. Falanyel chewed with unprecedented vigor until a body sat down in the chair beside her. Judging from the muscle definition she saw from the corner of her eye, that body did not belong to her father. She swallowed the eggs with a bitter taste left in her mouth.
We’ll kiss just like before.
“Morning, Falanyel.” The deep voice rumbled past her ears. She could tell his disturbingly blue eyes were on her, but she didn’t dare meet them.
Falanyel ignored him, focused solely on trying to finish her breakfast as soon as possible.
“Goodness, you must be starved.” Her father commented as he sat down across from her. “Never seen you eat so fast in your life!”
“In a bit of a rush is all.” She murmured quietly before taking a big gulp of tea. “Got some errands to run before work.”
The old sailor chuckled. “Better hurry up then. I remember what was like to be young and able to sleep past the crack of dawn. Course I never did, did I?” From her peripheral vision Falanyel could tell her father had directed his next comment to Samhan. “Falanyel’s mother was the baker’s daughter, back in the day. Always up early she was, and I was always up early too for the few minutes a day I’d get to talk to her. She was so lovely, she was.”
Samhan chuckled lightly. “Did she know you were sweet on her?”
“What, are you kidding?” The old sailor exclaimed as Falanyel rose to dispose of her dishes in the sink. “Of course she did! I was as transparent as air, son. Lucky for me, Falanyel’s mother returned my affections, though I’ll never understand why. She was such an amazing woman.”
“Sounds like she was loved dearly.”
Falanyel grabbed her pack before she reached for the door handle. “Bye, father. Love you.”
“Falanyel, why don’t you wait for Samhan?” Her father suggested, goosebumps popping up on her skin at the mention of his name. “I don’t want you walking on the beach by yourself what with what happened yesterday and all.”
“I’ll be fine, father.” She tried to dismiss his concern. “It’s bright and early in the morning, and I know this area very well. I’ll be careful, if it makes you feel better.”
“Being careful would be waiting for Samhan.” The old sailor countered. “But I’m not gonna force you. Do your old man a favor though and at least walk home with him. Alone in the morning and alone in the evening are two very different things, you hear?”
“Ok.” She conceded simply, still reluctant to see Samhan in any capacity. “I’m going now. Bye, love you.”
“Love you too, sweetie.” He called back to her. Then, to Samhan, he said, “Let me tell you, my boy, when I was a younger lad, Neriah would always…”
Her father’s voice muffled as she pulled the door shut and set off to work. She’d finally extracted herself from the situation involving the one man she really didn’t want to see, but she still couldn’t get the image of his eyes out of her mind.