Yokka was grateful for every day that she was able to wake up and look out of her apartment window at the sprawling ocean. The morning light was still soft at that point, steadily growing brighter to fill the nooks and crannies of the expansive woodwork making up the docks and ships. Today, that morning light was also dancing over the harvest festival flags and poles and tents that lined the shore. There was going to be food and games, too much alcohol, and a whole lot of fun. A celebration was being held that week to mark the season and give thanks to all of the workers who put in so much time and effort to make the harvests successful.

She couldn’t help how the sight of the festival made her think about the life she had left behind in order to pursue her dreams. After all, similar harvest festivals were happening in many of the cities and towns that supported the agricultural sector all over Belrea. The harvest festivals she had attended as a youth had been based much more extensively on inland farming like fruits and vegetables and honey. In contrast, the city’s main focus was on celebrating the local fishing and salt industry.

Living on the shore with the boats and the briny ocean was quite different from the life Yokka had grown up with. Her father being part of the agricultural sector automatically meant that she had grown up learning to do the same; though her passions had always laid elsewhere. She had never hated working the farm with her family, but it had never been her first choice either. Yokka had worked the fields as expected, but thoughts of the sea had never been far from her mind. Not once had she considered taking on the family business, always feeling the call of the ships. Mud and manure could not compare to sawdust and salt!

How long had it been now? She was only about three years older than when she had first moved from the farm to her own place in the city, but it honestly felt like decades had passed. Not that the time had been dragging. On the contrary, it was speeding by like a fast current. It just also felt like she had always been there on the docks; the farm sometimes a distant memory of a separate life. It really had been a separate life though.

Back home, the same warm sunlight had greeted her each morning with a gentle glisten of the morning dew that rested on the farmland. The ocean had been out of view behind some hills, but she knew it glittered just as well. Rather than the carved wood and stones of the docks, short trees spread out from the farm in one direction; in the other direction stretched rolling fields of tilled earth and growing crops. The air was filled with the scent of dirt and hay, and morning birds sang melodic little tunes. There were also the senses of her family. The scent of the morning coffee brewing and breakfast over the fire. The sounds of her parents trying to calm the bickering of her siblings, or just talking as they prepared for another long workday outside. The sights of loving smiles, and the feeling of her mother’s encouraging hugs…

Now she woke to the scent of salt water and fish and carved wood, and the sounds- well, the ocean gulls couldn’t be called melodic, and neither could the gruff directing of the dock hands, but she had grown used to those. To make up for all of that, though, she had the sounds of the waves.

And she had the feeling of her own heart. Yokka could walk out of her apartment building and feel contentment. The details of life on the dock might be irritating, but all of the bad paled in comparison to the independence and the experience and the growing pride she carried around within herself. She was her own woman, making her way and following her dreams. It was all about to pay off even more with being hired to a new ship. It was a gamble, certainly; after all, the guy had just walked up to her out of nowhere and offered her the job. She had a good feeling about accepting the offer though. This time, she was really going to go see the world.

It was almost shocking to think about how her life had changed when she had moved from the quiet farm to the busy city. She did miss some things about being back at the farm, but she would never give up what she had worked so hard to earn on her own. Yokka embraced change, and was looking forward to adjusting for whatever came next.

(Word count: 804)