Sand is Weird
Caelen was a little ball of energy, more so than usual. He was extremely excited to be heading to the beach with his papa! He tugged on Xithian’s hand as they began to near the region. It’d seemed like they’d been walking FOREVER! But now the sandy area was in sight. And just beyond that, the ocean! Caelen squealed, something so high pitched, it caused the simply-dressed Yuan-ti man to wince. The little toddler began to hop up and down; he never seemed to run out of energy (much to Xithian’s dismay)! “Papa! Papa! Look! Look!” He pointed towards the beach with ever-growing glee. His hooves clacked on the hard pavement, ready to reach the sandy surf.
Why the beach? He could’ve chosen anywhere, but no, it was the beach! Xithian sighed and shook his snake-like head; this was going to be a disaster. He, personally, didn’t mind the warmth and the sun, but he just knew that his new charge, Caelen, would be in for a rude awakening. There was sand at the beach, and sand got EVERYWHERE. Not to mention, Xithian was pretty sure that tiny hooves didn’t work so great on sand. But this was Caelen’s choice, not his, so he was going to honor it.
“Yesss, I do ssee it,” Xithian finally responded as they neared the grass before the sand. His pessimistic attitude towards life would definitely not let him enjoy this day. “Pleassse remember what we’ve talked about: sssafety. Don’t go out of my sssight.” He looked down at Caelen, who’d been staring at the sand the whole time. The only thing that was keeping him in one spot was the fact that he was tethered to Xithian via holding hands. The snake-humanoid sighed again, this would not go well if Caelen wasn’t willing to listen. “Caelen-” he started but was abruptly cut off.
“I know, papa! Come oooonnnnnnn!!” Caelen tugged at his father’s hand, hoping that he could move him. Instead, it looked like Caelen was just going to walk in place, Xithian’s form not budging. This too caused the man to sigh (though he did a lot of that). “Pweeeeaaaasssseeeee?” Caelen finally remembered his manners.
“Okay,” Xithian released the spawn, who took off, full-tilt into the grass. He watched carefully, only to see Caelen fall face-first into the sand once both hooves had hit the material. Yep, he knew it. Another sigh and he hurried over to see if Caelen was okay. But before he could make it, the little boy was sitting up, trying to figure out what happened.
Both hooves deep in the sand, Caelen wiggled them free, having to pull his feet almost straight up, an awkward movement to watch. But he didn’t let it deter him. He was going to have fun here! Standing back up, however, caused his hooves to sink in the sand again. He didn’t know this, but his weight was not being displaced enough for him to be walking on top of the not-so-solid surface. Xithian, on the other hand, with his broad feet, walked effortlessly to a nice shady spot under an umbrella. Caelen puffed out his cheeks; if he was anything, he was diligent, and proud of it! He pulled one hoof straight out of the sand. He was doing good (for a split second), until he fell on his side. Too much momentum.
“Do you need help?” Xithian watched in slight amusement. He knew that Caelen would tell him no, but he figured he’d ask anyhow. The one time he wouldn’t ask, and Caelen would probably need his help.
“Nope,” came the expected reply as the little toddler sat back up and then stood once again. Good thing he had tough skin, with as much accidents he put himself through. If he didn’t get something the first try, he’d ALWAYS try again, until he got it… even if it meant repeated falls that would cause a normal child injury. Caelen slowly pulled his hoof out this time, spreading his arms to keep his balance. His knee was almost to his chest and he looked rather silly. Making himself look even more comical, his tongue stuck out of the center of his mouth, a telltale sign that he was concentrating. Wavering from side to side, he placed his raised hoof down in front of the other one. Considering it a job well down, he beamed up at Xithian who nodded in approval. Caelen repeated the whole act, including the pride-filled looks to his father, until he got down to the water.
The sand near the water’s edge seemed a little harder, and darker. Caelen was able to walk on it here a little better, but he wasn’t sure why. He didn’t really give it much thought, though, and began his mission he’d come here for in the first place: a sandcastle! He had seen something on TV about it and it seemed like something he HAD to do! Xithian brought the bag he’d been carrying over to Caelen and the spawn dove in, pulling out buckets and shovels and other plastic sand toys. Once Caelen had everything he wanted, Xithian retreated back to the shade, ready to watch the spectacle that was about to unfold.
Caelen had learned all the basics of sandcastle building from the show, or so he thought. He didn’t really comprehend the whole wet sand sticks, dry sand doesn’t, though. So, without knowing better, he scooped up a bucket full of dry sand, packed it down, and quickly turned it over. If he’d done it right, which he was certain he had, the sand would be in the shape of the bucket. Eager to see, he pulled the bucket straight up, revealing… a loose mound of sand. He puffed his cheeks out in disappointment. What happened? He’d done it just like in the show!
“You have to ussse wet sssand, Caelen.” Xithian offered from under the umbrella. Normally he just let Caelen figure it out on his own, but he didn’t want to be out here all day today. “It’sss the darker sssand, by the water.”
“Oh,” Caelen gasped, looking around for the darker sand Xithian spoke of. Spotting some rather easily, he scooped it into the bucket. He was sure to pack it down again and quickly turn it over. This time, after he’d lifted it, it left the shape of the bucket in sand. “PAPA!” Caelen squealed in joy, “Lookit!” Xithian smiled and nodded, knowing that if he didn’t acknowledge the accomplishment in some way, the spawn would keep asking him to look. Diligence, yep, Caelen had it in spades.
Now knowing how to build the castle, Caelen had the task of trying to make it perfect. In his mind, perfection was equal to symmetry, not that he knew that word, just that he knew what was perfect. He sat there, trying to figure out where he needed to put the next bucket in order for him to be able to build a nice wall between the two towers. After much deliberation and “measuring” (eyeballing) where he needed to place the next bucket, he decided. Another perfect bucket-shaped tower later and he was placing wet sand between the two towers, creating a wall. After finishing the wall, he crawled back, to survey his work. It HAD to be symmetrical. It had to be something he’d be proud of. Satisfied that it met his expectations, he crawled back and added another tower behind the first row. It was smack in the middle, but about twice the size of the first two. This was going to be the main castle part. To say he was an expert at castle plans was FAR from the truth, he was just kind of making it up based on what he thought looked good. So, he had a wall with a mound on either side and one large mound in the middle; that looked pretty amazing to him. But it needed something…
“Papa!” Caelen called, not sure why his castle looked boring. “It needs somefin’!” He looked to Xithian, who’d been watching him the whole time.
“What about decorationsss? Like flagsss or windowsss?” his father offered back.
“YEAH!” Caelen turned back around quickly. He scanned the area and found that the beach was littered with various shells, rocks, and sea plants. He began the arduous job of collecting the materials in a bucket, and then brought it back to his “planning area” in front of the castle. He began looking through his bucket of treasures to see if anything was to his liking. To his dismay, all of what he found, did not have a match. His cheeks puffed out once more and he tried to figure out what to do. This was discouraging. He tossed the things aside and figured it best to carve out windows and other details. That way he was sure to make it perfect.
It was several hours of Xithian watching Caelen move about the castle in an awkward fashion. He’d been “measuring” and making sure that everything was in the same spot as its partner on the other side. After much work, he was finally finished… and COVERED in sand. There was a central door; it led to the big tower, which had a matching door. Each of the smaller towers had a few windows and odd designs that matched its partner. The large tower had several pairs of windows, each mirrored on the opposite side. Symmetrical designs that matched in style to the two smaller towers also adorned the large tower. Caelen liked it. It wasn’t as fancy as the ones on TV, but this one was still perfect. He beamed broadly at his father, who smiled back. “Looksss good!”
“It’s perfect!” Caelen corrected, turning back to his creation. He was sure this would last forever, as a testament to his amazing skills!
After a few more moments of letting the spawn admire his own work, Xithian began packing up all of their belongings. Scooping up Caelen as the last thing, they were ready to head home. Caelen wasn’t tired, but knew his father would only carry him as far as the grass. Then, he could walk for as long as he wanted, which would be the whole way. Pride swelled up inside as he looked back at his castle once more. Yep, perfect.
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