"All work and no play makes life too dull to deal with. This is why you should take the chance to just relax and enjoy yourself from time to time. Or frequently. Definitely frequently when possible." - Saying attributed to the Silver Maiden

"Some ice?"

"Why, sure. Thanks," replied Cal as she extended her cup - three quarters full with freshly pressed sugarcane juice - towards Silmer who laid down on her stomach beside her. The woman from Jötunberg conjured a couple cubes of ice out of thin air, and plunked them into Cal's cup.

"You're welcome," replied Silmer before she took a sip of her own ice cold juice and gave a sigh in satisfaction.

Cal also took a sip of her juice after she gave the cup a couple shakes to let the ice cubes cool the drink, and smiled at the cold, sweet, refreshing flavor. She watched as her nieces played happily in the shallow waters, their tunic thoroughly drenched by now, much like a couple of young children at play.

By elven measure, they were still children, though their nature as half elves meant they matured earlier. Even so, they were still the equivalent of teenagers at most.

Cal and Silmer had both laid down on top of mats made from woven dried grass laid atop the sandy beach. Both women were naked, with only a sheet of fabric that covered their waist region for modesty. Silmer had laid on her stomach and thus hid her bountiful breasts from view, while Cal hadn't cared and just laid on her back with her arms crossed behind her head.

Not like there's much on her chest for people to stare at anyway.

Arquivaldo had given the crew - and the passengers - three days of free time to enjoy themselves. Cal and the other passengers were dropped at a smaller island with a particularly beautiful beach, where the captain bid them to enjoy their vacation, and that he would pick them up in three days.

Silmer's husband Orlaf and her daughter Hrist played in the water happily with Cal's nieces. Her older son and daughter in law had gone to a more secluded region of the beach together. Both Cal and Silmer had exchanged knowing glances and sighed about youths being youths.

Cal did feel some pity for the young lovebirds though. They likely thought that to make love on a beautiful beach like this to be a wonderful idea, but Cal knew from experience that they would likely regret it soon enough.

Sand had the bad habit of getting literally everywhere, including parts where sand should definitely not be in.

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The youthful lovebirds honestly reminded Cal of her own past, when she was still a naive girl who didn't know that much about the world. So had the sight of her nieces playing in the water with not a care in the world.

Back when she was young and recently matured - a little late in her case, around her fifty-fifth year - she too had seeked for a relationship, and companionship. For a partner to share her life with, for as long as she - or they - lived.

From her very first relationship however, she realized that what she wanted, and what others wanted, were often not one and the same.

Her first lover, Huang-Xu, was a boy from the same village she was raised in. Their relationship went intimate quickly, but also broke off just as fast, after a single year.

One main reason they broke off was how he had always craved for more physical intimacy, which was something she enjoyed, but by no means craved like he did.

She had a couple other short lived relationships in the years since, before she had a more stable relationship with Bahram. He was a nobleman's son who despite his birth, always treated others well. He was always kind and gentle to her, and she genuinely liked him as a person, yet the love he felt for her, she found herself unable to reciprocate in equal measure.

It was when they openly talked with each other in bed one night that Bahram suggested for Cal to ask her father, since one of his experiences would surely know better. A suggestion she took and did the very next day.

The three of them had a long talk together - by then her father was not far from the end of his life and had weakened quite a bit - and her father told her that what she felt was nothing abnormal. Some people simply were born with little to no drive for either sexual recreations or romantic entanglements, or even both. It was relatively uncommon amongst elves, but her father knew of at least several like her.

Her father then told her that she should just lead a life her heart wished for, and that he would be happy as long as she was. They chatted more until dinner time before Cal left with Bahram.

That night they voluntarily called a close to their relationship, yet remained friends to one another. At least until the civil war broke.

Fate dealt Bahram a cruel hand over that conflict, and Cal found herself across from him in the field of battle one fateful day. By that point the kind, gentle youth she once called her friend and lover had become an old man with nothing else to live for, having lost everything he cared for due to the war.

At that time, he had ordered his soldiers to stand down and surrender after his death, and strode towards her to embrace his end. All she could have done for him by then, was to ensure that his end was an honorable and painless one.

Cal shook her head as she ceased to reminisce about the past, and rose from her mat to a sitting position. She tied the cloth draped over her waist into a makeshift skirt, and waded into the waters.

Her nieces laughed and sprayed water her way as she passed by them, and she returned the favor as she splashed them back. She gestured to them that she was done after a while, and went for a swim in the ocean to clear her mind from the past memories.

A good, long swim in the clear waters of the ocean was indeed just what she needed, as she relaxed her mind and enjoyed the beautiful underwater landscape as she swam freely in the waters until the evening.

Cal returned to the shore, far more refreshed and relaxed, around dinner time, where her nieces beckoned for her to join in the dinner.

She gave a genuine warm smile as she walked towards the dinner gathering.