This story just kinda came to my mind while I was painting...so I've written it down (plus some), but this is just an introduction of sorts:
A young woman wearing an elegant dress stood bare footed and wet skirted amongst the tide pools. Her long hair, having recently been disheveled, played in the breeze that swept off the ocean. After looking out toward the crashing waves for a few minutes, the young lady slowly bowed her head, as if praying or contemplating something, and immediately launched her entire body forward into the face of an oncoming wave. A man, who had been fishing nearby had sat quietly watching the whole spectacle from the time the lady ran onto the beach till she stared placidly into the darkness. An uneasiness roused him from his spectating when she bowed her head and he began running toward the foolish young woman, just as she slipped under the water, shouting, “what the bloody hell are you doing woman?!” The man charging into the water to fish out the largest catch of his day. Seizing a handful of the dress fabric and some long hair, he yanked upward, “you’ve got my hair!” she yelled as her head emerged above surface. Scrunching her face, she twisted around and fighting the other hand as it attempted to pull her toward the beach. Wrestling in the surf, she screamed, “let go of me, or I’ll have you arrested for assault!” Angered, the man shouted back, “assault?! I just saved your life, you little brat!” as he continued to drag her further up the beach. It wasn’t until the two were some distance from the water, that he loosened his grip and let her slide to the ground so she could rub her assaulted arm and head. She looked up at his bearded face and arrogantly suggested he disappear before people came looking for her, because she could and would have him arrested for any number of reasons. He replied sarcastically his apologies for not allowing her to drown in the ocean and was more than happy to turn a blind eye, in the occasion she stupidly repeated her performance. She called after him, “not that it’s any of your business, but I had no intention of dying! I was just going for a swim!” He ignored her while he packed up his fishing tackle and hurried away from the beach, annoyed that his favorite fishing spot had been marred. The young lady still sitting on the beach, held her head in her hands, letting out a long audible sigh.
Only two hours earlier the young lady and recently arrived princess AnaKatia, was entertaining suitors’ during a party held in the honor of her grandfather King Harold IV. King Harold was known as Harold the Generous, which was largely in part due to the monarch’s well-known pecuniary generosity, but Harold the Generous also generously defeated his enemies and they considered him a prophet, the king anticipating all offensive movements against the Kingdom of Dredan. Dredan, often plagued by invaders, was surrounded on three sides by the sea and abounded in precious ores such as gold and iron. Rare spices were also carried in and out of the port of Dredan, therefore making the encompassing sea rich with pirates.
