Salt And Sea

• Maya Gauci, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2018

Owain closed the window shutters, struggling against the fierce winds. The roar of the ocean suddenly died down to a dull crash against the rocks hundreds of feet below.
Llewellyn set his goblet down on the hardwood table and stood, pulling his fur cloak over his shoulders. He placed a calloused hand on Owain’s shoulder. “It was good to see you again, cousin.”
“And you, too.” Owain hesitated. “I pray for your safe return.”
Llewellyn stepped back. “Five months, Owain. I will not be gone long.” He smiled. “Find yourself a queen while I’m away. My father always said a man cannot rule alone.” Owain glared, but Llewellyn ignored him. He glanced outside, uncharacteristically anxious. “They’re calling it the worst storm in a hundred years.”
Owain adjusted his crown fussily and grumbled, “I’ve seen worse.”
“Only in dreams.” Llewellyn chuckled. “They aren’t real.” He bowed, and left.
Owain tensed at Llewellyn’s words. Perhaps not your dreams, he thought, but did not dare speak it aloud, lest he would be thought madder than they thought already.

Owain dreamt again that night.
The sea was eerily still and silent, like a looking glass. It reflected the sky perfectly, and he could not tell where the line of horizon was drawn. Every sound he made seemed to be sucked into the sand.
"Find yourself a queen… A man cannot rule alone."
Llewellyn’s words echoed somewhere far away. Owain bellowed at the sky, drowning out his cousin’s snide remarks and telling the dream-world that he was not a man — he was a god, a deity, and there was no woman worthy of his divinity.
And then, the waves washed up around Owain’s ankles, but he did not flee like most would at the chilling water. He stood stoically, watching the sea. When it pulled back again, there was a woman on the beach.

Owain woke as he always did: silent and still, like a corpse rising from a tomb. In the dark, he reached out for his crown. The familiar weight settled on his head. Owain crossed the room and cast open the windows. The smell of salt filled his nose. He inhaled deeply.
The world was unlike how it was in his dream, and the storm still raged, yet Owain donned a cloak and ventured out.
Although he struggled to find his way down the winding path, as soon as Owain stepped onto the beach the wind stopped. The air was still, and the waves began to quell.
Just as in his dream, there was a woman on the beach. Every part of her was as white as sea-foam, from her hair, to her perfect, unblemished skin, and even the pristine dress she wore.
In that moment, the world seemed to whisper to him, There is the only wife worthy of you — she is salt and sea, and she will be your goddess.
And Owain knew that this woman would be his queen, for there could not, would not be another.