Gemotions

The salt spray kissed Elara’s face as she leaned against the railing of her sailboat, the "Wanderlust." The rhythmic creaks and groans of the vessel were a lullaby, familiar and comforting. Years melted away with each gentle rocking motion. The vast, indifferent ocean stretched before her, an expanse of blue that mirrored the cloudless sky above. She hummed a tuneless melody, the melody only she knew, as she adjusted the sails. Life was good, this far removed from the clamor and the ghosts of the past. Then, the thin, cream-colored envelope arrived, addressed in an unfamiliar hand, and the world shifted on its axis.