The stairs were slow-going; she did not want to misstep and risk slipping, especially not after the news she’d received the day before. Navia took each one carefully, giving only a brief glance behind her to make sure Théadan was coming with before her eyes glued to her feet. He pointed out how pretty the beach was while they descended toward the white sands and Navia smiled to herself while she nodded, happy to hear the scenery laid out before them impressed him. Before she could answer him, his hand landed on her shoulder and she glanced back at him again, unsure of why he had chosen to do so.<br/><br/>Navia did not think Théadan careless enough to toy with her while they walked on such precarious stairs, so she figured he was either using her for balance or keeping a hold of her in case something happened. Either way, she hoped to assuage any worries he had and rested her cheek on the back of his hand briefly, having no other way to try to comfort him. “We’re fine,<i>kamin</i>,” she added right before he asked what her mother and she would do when they visited. It brought another smile he could not see to her lips and Navia briefly looked out at the curved beach they were getting closer to with every step. They had visited the spa multiple summers, always finding time to spend a day at the beach together, and they were always happy memories.<br/><br/>“We would swim and have a picnic, yes,” Navia answered while rolling her eyes at his little jab of a question he’d added, “And I don’t remember being a nuisance directly to my mother, if that’s really what you want to call what I am to you.” She twisted it right back in his direction with a chuckle before shrugging and continuing on, “We’d look for shells too, and sometimes we would find ones we thought were pretty enough to have holes put in so we could wear them as necklaces. I should still have one in Mandira. Sometimes we would build sculptures in the sand and decorate them with the shells we found. Then of course if we were lucky enough to witness the sea turtles coming ashore to lay their eggs, we’d sit on these stairs and watch so we wouldn’t disturb them.”<br/><br/>They neared the bottom then, and Navia hesitated, unsure if she should share more if it could potentially lower their light-hearted mood, but she was speaking to Théadan, who never judged her for her emotions and was easy to change the subject with in favor of more positive conversation. “The last time I was down here was a few months before my mother died,” Navia explained, stopping on one of the last steps before they would reach the sand. She gazed out at the beach with a small frown and shrugged, “We could not do much as she was very weak. We rode horses here instead of walked and did not come down the stairs. Instead we stood up on that cliff and watched the turtles from there. I remember being disappointed and sulky that I didn’t get to come down here and play like I had in the past, but now that I’m older and I know my mother’s mother had brought her to this place as well, I see why it had been important for her to go one last time.”<br/><br/>She didn’t want to dwell on her mother’s death, but the experiences they’d had while she was alive. So with that said, Navia stepped out of her khussas, then gestured for Théadan to remove his own shoes. “We don’t want to wear these in the sand,” she explained to him, taking a couple more steps down toward the grainy white earth waiting for them, “Sand sticks to everything and can be uncomfortable when it does, so it’s best to keep our shoes safe of it since we have to walk back.” Then it was finally time to step foot on the beach and Navia did so with a grin, the sand welcoming and enveloping her feet warmly, pushing between her toes and over the top of her dark feet, the contrast stark. She took a few steps out, then turned back to Théadan with a bright grin, eager to see what he would think of the soft, fluid sand. He’d gotten to watch her experience so many new things, snow, showers, bread that wasn’t flat, fire building, that Navia was excited to finally stand where Théadan had been.<br/><br/>She took a few steps while she watched for his reaction, both hands holding the basket in front of her and swinging idly. “What do you think of it? Wait until you feel what it’s like when it’s wet.”