Image: Scene break ornament. End Description.

Image: A whimbrel–a type of shorebird with a long, thin beak–is wading through the surf on a beach. End description.

The whimbrel splashed across the shore; its legs elevated it away from the water, giving it more freedom than the sandpipers that ran to and fro. Asmeret kept their binoculars trained on it, only lowering them when the shfft shfft of sand warned them of someone’s approach. They stretched and smoothed their feathers.

“Hey Az,” Cat greeted. He handed them a sandwich before sitting down on the beach towel laid out in front of their tent.

Image: Asmeret is sitting cross-legged on the beach, in front of an orange beach tent. They’re wearing a khaki t-shirt and khaki shorts, and are holding a pair of binoculars. Cat–in a striped blue tank top, blue shorts, and sunglasses–stands next to them, holding out a sandwich wrapped in foil. Behind them are some low sand dunes partially covered in grasses. The sky is blue with a few clouds. End description.

“Thanks,” Asmeret said.

“Seen anything interesting?”

“Just the usual transients. But it’s still nice to watch them.”

Cat nodded in earnest. “It’s good to get out. You know, I still think it’d be simple to have someone from the Society take you into the forest. To see those woodpeckers.”

“Red-cockaded woodpeckers?” Christ, he wasn’t wasting any time bringing this up.

“Yes! Witches do jobs like that all the time.” He took his own sandwich out of the bag and unwrapped the foil. “I could go with you, if that’d make it less scary.”

“No.” Asmeret’s voice was stern. The vast longleaf pine savannas had to be fae territory. They couldn’t just waltz in- having another fae protect them was a moot point. Plus, Cat’s promise of comfort was dubious. They guessed he probably didn’t even put on enough sunscreen during his train ride to Grand Shore. The desire to see bobwhite quail and woodpeckers and the desire to not see any monsters played a violent tug of war in their chest. “I’d rather stay here. Close to the city, ok?”

At least like this–looking out over the lapping waves and infinite horizon–they could pretend that there weren’t overpriced condos sitting a few hundred feet behind them.



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07.23.22
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Kata's editor, C.K., is in town for the week! I'm excited to hang out with her, we havent seen each-other since 2020.

I wanted to announce 2 things: First, I'm going to be an artist at Othercon for the third year in a row! Registration is open until August 6th. Second, I'm participating in Aimee Cozza's sci-fi/fantasy coloring book zine! I've actually already finished my piece and I'm super excited for this. I'll be sure to let you know when the Kickstarter launches. Oh, and I'm still open for commissions.

The whimbrel image is referenced from here. This site was a big help when I was trying to figure out what local bird to draw.