Dragoncrest Cliffs but i say it is what one loves

val continued to worry the sand, pressing the shell absently into its surface and retrieving it again. once, he lifted his gaze and saw erzulie boring into it -- he quickly averted before a fresh wave of tears threatened to sting his eyes.

what had the sea done to him? val thought of all of his interactions in this life -- how once he had nearly drowned in the surf and the salt and water had assaulted his nose. he thought of how he'd been assailed by its creatures -- the crab that had held steadfast to his nose, the jellyfish that had stung him when he walked along the wrack.

he thought also, of something else. of something unutterable. something he couldn't make sense of, a foreboding too heavy for a child's heart to bear or a child's mind to parse. how many times had he died in the water? he was certain more times than most -- and it was in his dreams he saw glimpses of past lives in the pelagic.

all of which ended violently.

"i can't explain." val mumbled, pushing with one claw the shell in the sand. "i jus' don't like it."