RascalKingHurrah

The Nymph and the Rascal

Sep 15th, 2019
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  1. She lives out where the land reachs out to gently caress the water’s edge. The soft sounds of surf are her lullaby. At night she slips back into the ocean to rest and come birdsong at day break she emerges from the surf wrapped in nothing but a soft cloak.
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  3. This water nymph, she is elusive and mercurial, and many men have thrown themselves at her feet. Some because of her wit, some because of her beauty, and some because of her voice but all of them wanted to be claimed by her, or to claim her as their own.
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  5. She has eyes like the sky after a storm a sea. Now clear blue, now gray. Her smile and laugh grip you and make you smile with her. She is charm incarnate, and wit personified and woe to anyone, man or woman who underestimates her. She laughed at them all and continued her moonlit dance in the sea. She chuckled at them and continues her sunlit dance in the wildflowers. Every suitor, and every detractor was suitable dealt with. Put in their place, then sent away.
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  7. One morning as she emerged from the sea she spotted a man sitting alone on the shore. He sat in such a way that his toes avoided every attempt of the surf to dampen him. He sat quietly, broad shouldered with his eyes on the sunrise behind her. He looked at her, nodded, and then continued his silent contemplation of the sunrise.
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  9. He didn’t speak to her, and she found this curious. He was strange for a man. She went about her day, dancing in the meadows, and periodically when she looked up she would see that man. Standing on a dune and looking at the mountains far behind her. He looked at her, nodded, and went back to studying the jagged peaks beyond.
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  11. A week passed like this. She went about her life, and there he was. Acknowledging her but continuing with his life and not interfering in hers. On the 8th day as she emerged she sopped as she passed him and asked
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  13. “Who are you, and why do you see on the horizon?”
  14. He slowly pulled his eyes from the space where the ocean meets the sky and gave her a smile. It was wide, and split his bearded face and made the corner of his eyes crinkle.
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  16. “Me? I’m just a rascal. I don’t see anything yet on the horizon, but I hope to.”
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  18. She nodded and went about her day. As she returned that night she asked him
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  20. “Have you seen it yet? The thing you’re looking for”
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  22. “No… not yet but I feel it coming closer”
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  24. The rest of the week passed like this. She would ask if he had seen what he is looking for, and him answering
  25.  
  26. “No… not yet but I feel it coming closer”
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  28. On the 15th day as she came out of the ocean she sat beside him and looked off with him for a few minutes. She leaned close and kissed his cheek before dancing off to the meadow. She didn’t see it, but his smile was bigger than the horizon and brighter than the sun. Many days past like that.
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  30. One day, she did not rise from the ocean. The rascal’s eyes left the horizon and he studied the surf. His posture spoke of worry, and he did not leave that spot to stare at the mountains that day. He stayed there until the next dawn, when shakily the nymph emerged and sat beside him. She put her head on his shoulder and told a harrowing tale of a carless ship that had struck her. She was hurt, and scared and vulnerable. She was fraught with questions about the “what ifs” and possibilities of the accident. The rascal simply put his cloak around her and spoke of things he knew to be true.
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  32. "You cannot dwell on the what could haves… they will drive you mad. Good things are coming, they’re nearly on the horizon and you will be glad when they are here.”
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  34. She was comforted by that, and while she didn’t dance that day, she enjoyed sitting quietly with him. After that, somedays she would go and dance, and others she would sit with him.
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  36. One day, without a word, or looking at her, he put her hand in his. She breathed a long sigh and enjoyed the comfort he provided. He began walking with her to the meadow, holding her hand, and then back to the sea at night in the same way. Each of them still able to dance or stare at the sky as they wanted, but able to enjoy each other’s company as well.
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  38. One day, as they walked, he spoke
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  40. "Would you be mine? If I agreed to be yours?”
  41.  
  42. She smiled, and nodded, and kissed him. He gave her a gift, of leather and brass. A thing of the earth and land.
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  44. He showed up for her, every day, and she for him. He would sit, and keep his eyes on her.
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  46. One day, many months later she asked him
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  48. “Why do you no longer look to the horizon? What about the thing you hoped to see?”
  49.  
  50. He smiled and kissed her and said
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  52. “That good thing is right here next to me.”
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