Gilded Bay It is the bringing of the line

she tries to stay close to athris — she does try! — but her restless heart beckons her further along the coast. so she wanders. she keeps her distance from the shore at first, but the endless crashing of waves eventually draws her close. her relationship with the ocean is such a strange one, she thinks; the day she'd learned she was to be pledged to the old god had been one of the worst of her life, yet she had come to love her duties by the time the tribes truly dissolved. she had come to love the ocean itself.
but she still hates it.
she doesn't even notice the man at first, approaching the shore with eyes slightly glazed over as he emerges from the water. it's his coughing that draws her attention, startling her just enough to make her flinch. she glances his direction just in time to watch him as he curses and gasps for breath. u-um, her eyes widen slightly at his language — they'd never allowed such things in the tribes, at least not where the elders could hear. she considers leaving the man to his own devices, vulgar as he is, but it occurs to her that he must have been in the water for a reason. perhaps an intriguing reason. she swallows hard and tries to steel her nerves, taking a tentative step toward him. are you okay?