The sun was up - though not very high in the sky yet - when the volunteers (or voluntolds) began to gather at the meeting place on the beach for the shell-collecting contest that Hadama was hosting. Baskets had been set out in stacks, lined with cheerful blue-and-yellow muslin cloth, and a table held an assortment of small pastries alongside carafes of cold, fresh fruit juice and hot coffee. There wasn't a cloud in that blue sky and the morning was still cool enough to be mostly pleasant - though the temperature was already beginning to rise.
The ocean was only a few steps away, however, the waves low and inviting as they lapped a little lower with each gentle rush onto the sand. Hadama stood in the surf, feet bare and legs clad in swimming trunks of sober dark blue with a pattern of tastefully small but cheerfully flaming molten pineapples. The solemn king had one basket over his arm and was leaning down to collect a few shells from his feet: a red-and-white swirled flat shell and large, light blue spiral joining the handful of others already in his basket.
There were others already joining him and still more arriving. The 'contest' was set to run until noon, and the rumored prize was a favor from the King himself for the person who collected the most shells of the appropriate size in the greatest variety of colors and shapes.
Nova Ronin Sohalia Vesper
The ocean was only a few steps away, however, the waves low and inviting as they lapped a little lower with each gentle rush onto the sand. Hadama stood in the surf, feet bare and legs clad in swimming trunks of sober dark blue with a pattern of tastefully small but cheerfully flaming molten pineapples. The solemn king had one basket over his arm and was leaning down to collect a few shells from his feet: a red-and-white swirled flat shell and large, light blue spiral joining the handful of others already in his basket.
There were others already joining him and still more arriving. The 'contest' was set to run until noon, and the rumored prize was a favor from the King himself for the person who collected the most shells of the appropriate size in the greatest variety of colors and shapes.
Nova Ronin Sohalia Vesper
