"I've never seen the ocean this close up, you know?" Numair said presently. He left his shoes sitting in the sand at Hawk's feet and walked the remaining short distance to the shoreline.

The very edge of the waves flowed in, breaking over the tops of his feet. He merely stood and took it in: the clear green water that faded out into a brilliant blue the further out it went, the sunlight glinting so brightly off the waves that it made him squint, the cloudless sky meeting the sea at the horizon in a perfectly straight line.

"...No ocean in Aetheri, I guess?" Hawk said from behind him. He knelt and put his hands out as the next waves came in, allowing the cool water to flow over into his palms.

"Not near the capital, no," he replied. "Only at the far southern border. And no one lives out there. Aetheri is quite...empty, in places," he added.

Hawk didn't say anything. The waves receded, and the last of the seawater flowed out of Numair's hands. He gently shook his hands to dry them.

"It's so strange," he said, mostly to himself, and rose again. "So vast and moving. It's almost difficult to comprehend." He turned then and realized Hawk had been staring at him this entire time. "...What is it?"

Hawk started. "Hm? Oh. Nothin'. Jus'...lookin'," he mumbled.