Submission (#518) Approved

"Where the Tide Slows"
Word Count Goal: 500+ | Theme: Stillness meets chaos—how even the most opposite currents can find peace at the shoreline

The sun had barely crested over the low mist, casting a soft amber sheen across the shoreline, but already the heat was crawling up the dunes like something alive. Tanzan exhaled slowly through his nose, the breath steady and precise, as he stepped onto the sand with his tail raised just enough to avoid dragging. He hated sand in his tail tuft.
He was early. Purposefully.

The beach was still, save for the distant cry of seabirds and the hush of waves kissing the shore. No crowds. No music. No chaos. Just him, the tide, and a canvas of silence begging to be filled with intention.

A perfect place to work.

Settling beneath the warped shadow of a driftwood-bent palm, Tanzan unfurled his satchel with care. Inside, a collection of carefully chosen crystals and smoothed stones clicked gently against each other in their wraps. Moonstone, seaglass, a slice of dyed agate he didn’t actually like but needed for contrast. He placed them out in a neat arc on the towel, each one aligned to the plan he’d sketched last night—an elemental flow study for his Introduction to Channeling Stones class.

He sighed again, not from stress, but from the mental discipline it took to do schoolwork in summer. Especially when all he wanted was to curl up in a shadowy tidepool and sleep for a week.
Still, he wasn’t going to fail over something this easy. He flicked a grain of sand off a sunstone shard and tilted his head, eyes narrowing thoughtfully. Almost there. The final placement would—

SPLASH!

A sound like a cannonball detonated from further down the shore, followed by a half-choked “YEAAAH!” and a thud against the water that sent ripples shivering all the way to Tanzan’s calm pool.

His paw froze above the last crystal..

“…Of course.”

With stiff elegance, Tanzan turned his head just enough to see the unmistakable flash of navy and lemon darting through the surf—one unmistakably striped tail rising and falling like a celebratory flag.

Kairos.

Who else would come barreling into his secluded beach like an aquatic meteor with a death wish and no volume control?

Tanzan lowered his paw to the towel, expression unreadable, but his tail flicked once in an unmistakable twitch of irritation. He glanced at the crystals. One had been knocked off its line by the ripple.

Resetting it, he muttered flatly under his breath, “Trickster spirits should come with a tide warning.”

A moment passed. Another splash echoed. And sure enough… the sound of pawsteps—squelching, water-heavy, and annoyingly chipper—began to approach.
The peace was over.

And Tanzan hadn't even opened his notebook yet.

The pawsteps grew louder. Tanzan didn't look up. The temperature had already spiked three degrees just from Kairos’s presence alone. Not literally—but it felt that way. Like mischief had a body and it was dragging seawater across his perfectly arranged towel.

Sure enough, a voice rang out, smug and bright.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding about the secret spot! Gotta say, Tanz, I expected more coconuts, less homework.”

Tanzan inhaled deeply and closed his eyes. Counted to three and reopened them.

Kairos stood a few feet away, soaked from horns to tail tip, his dark blue fur clinging to his striped frame. He dripped on the sand like it owed him something, eyes gleaming like a kid who’d just figured out how to break the vending machine without paying. Which, knowing him, he probably had.

One paw held a small pouch. The other was already halfway through his hair, casually flicking water everywhere.

Tanzan moved his crystals just slightly out of splash radius.

Kairos squinted at them. “...Oh no. You're actually doing classwork. In the summer.”

Tanzan didn’t respond right away. He was too busy carefully brushing a film of sea mist off the moonstone. His tone, when it came, was as smooth as tide-worn marble. “It’s a basic elemental grid layout. Due by the solstice.”

Kairos blinked. “So… school. On purpose.”

He flopped dramatically onto the sand beside Tanzan like a beached dolphin with opinions. “You know, there are like—actual beach parties happening? Games? Drinks served in fruit halves? But nah, let’s all just meditate over shiny rocks while the sun tries to kill us.”

Tanzan adjusted a ring on his claw and gave him a sidelong glance. “Your last attempt at a beach party involved stealing three towels, a conch horn, and someone’s girlfriend.”

Kairos grinned. “I didn’t steal her! She was bored! I was helping.” He rolled onto his side, tail flicking against the sand lazily. “So, seriously… this project’s that important?”

Tanzan hesitated. Just for a heartbeat. “It’s not about the grade. I just… want to finish it. Alright.”

That made Kairos pause. Just long enough for Tanzan to start repositioning the stones again. “Right, right, ‘focus,’” Kairos muttered, tone mocking but not mean. “I’ll just be here. Slowly baking. Like a criminal shrimp.”

Another moment passed before he added, “You brought snacks, right?”
Tanzan didn’t look up.

The sun had climbed higher, relentless and golden, its rays glittering off the water like a dare. Tanzan, however, remained seated in calm defiance of the heat, perfectly poised above his towel like some royal figure from a mural. His tail flicked in slow, metronomic rhythm as he adjusted the final stone into place.
Grid aligned. Flow channels clear. The crystal charge is holding steady.

Perfect.

He exhaled slowly and precisely, reaching for his notebook to jot down the alignment measurements. That’s when a droplet of water hit his ear. He froze, and another followed—smaller, this time, but it landed on the notebook.

His left eye twitched.

Kairos was sprawled nearby, now upside down, using his tail like a fan and kicking seawater into the air with lazy flicks. His grin was upside down, too.
“Accident,” he said, in a tone that meant absolutely not an accident.

Tanzan wiped the notebook with the corner of his towel. “Kairos.”

Kairos arched an innocent brow. “Yes, oh diligent one?” Another flick. This time, aimed. It splattered across the agate slab.

Tanzan’s tail stopped moving. “You’re deliberately compromising the field resonance.”

Kairos blinked. “I’m what now?”

“Interfering with the calibration.” Tanzan’s voice was calm, but there was weight to it now, like a storm on still water. “I’ll have to reset the whole channel line.”

“Whoa. Relax, Tanz.” Kairos rolled upright, grinning as he leaned closer, eyes gleaming with mischief. “Maybe if you spent less time playing rock gardener and more time in the water, you wouldn’t be so cranky.”

Tanzan turned to him slowly. Then, in one fluid motion, he raised his tail, and the tide surged. It wasn’t violent. Not even dramatic. Just a controlled wave—graceful, elegant, and precisely aimed—rising behind him like a silent sentinel. Kairos barely had time to blink before it crashed over him. Sand flew. Crystals stayed perfectly dry. Kairos made a noise that could only be described as a squawk. He surfaced with his horns askew, seaweed dangling from one ear, sputtering, “You just—did you just element-bomb me?!”

Tanzan adjusted his wrist cuff. “You were warned. Besides, that was a simple spell.”

Kairos coughed. “That was not simple! That was like—a final boss finisher!”

“You’re lucky I didn’t freeze it solid,” Tanzan mutters.

“Okay, now I’m slightly turned on and a little scared.”

Tanzan gave him a sideways glance.

Kairos, dripping and grinning, held his paws up in mock surrender. “Fine, fine. I’ll stop messing with your magic pebbles. Swear on my horns...Unless I get bored.”

Tanzan didn’t reply, but the water behind him did start to shimmer ominously again.

Kairos scrambled backward. “Kidding! Kidding!”

Tanzan allowed himself the smallest hint of a smirk. Barely there. Then he turned back to his notebook, tail swaying again—not in annoyance this time, but maybe, just maybe, in amusement.

The sun was low now, casting long shadows across the sand and turning the ocean into a slow-moving mirror of molten gold. The tide had quieted, retreating in lazy waves that barely whispered against the shore. The heat had finally broken, and with it, the relentless tension Tanzan always seemed to carry in his shoulders.

He sat cross-legged on the towel, notebook closed, project finished. Crystals tucked back in their wraps. The moonstone hummed faintly against the inner lining of his satchel, its energy stored and sealed.

For once, he wasn’t in a rush to leave.

Kairos sat a few tail-lengths away, half-dried now, fur still mussed from his earlier drenching. He wasn’t trying to talk anymore—just letting the wind comb through his soaked mane, eyes fixed on the horizon like something was interesting written in the clouds.

It was… peaceful. Suspiciously so.

Tanzan side-eyed him. “You’re quiet.”

Kairos shrugged. “The sun’s doing its drama thing. Didn’t want to interrupt the moment.”

Tanzan hummed. “You’ve never let ‘the moment’ stop you before.”

A slight grin tugged at Kairos’s mouth. “You wound me, rock prince.”

Tanzan didn’t smile, but his tail flicked once, not in irritation—more like punctuation. After a pause, he reached under the towel with a claw and slid something toward Kairos. It was a small insulated container still cool to the touch from being buried deep in the sand. The scent of plum and sea salt drifted up as it opened.

Kairos blinked at it, then at him. “…You actually brought snacks?”

“I anticipated distractions,” Tanzan replied flatly.

Kairos took a bite. “You really do love me.”

“No.”

Another bite. “But you like me.”

“I tolerate you.”

“Affectionately?”

Tanzan exhaled slowly through his nose and turned to the water, letting the silence hang. The sky had shifted from gold to violet, streaked with amber and fire, reflecting in the water and catching on the soft yellow accents along his horns. The tide brushed at his ankles, warm and rhythmic.

Next to him, Kairos leaned back on his elbows and stretched, tail curling in the sand. “So…” he said, voice softer now, more casual. “Have you ever thought about not being so… rigid all the time? Like, maybe… skipping a project or two? Letting yourself just… be?”

Tanzan didn’t answer right away. He stared out at the waves, then down at his paws. “…Maybe. But not today.”

Kairos nodded. He didn’t push it.

Instead, he leaned back into the sand, arms behind his head, gaze fixed on the sky like it held answers he didn’t need right away. A breeze passed between them—cool, easy. No tricks in it.
After a long pause, he spoke again—quieter this time. “Y’know… even when you’re being a grump, it’s kinda nice. Just sitting here with you.”

Tanzan didn’t reply. Not right away. He just watched the tide pull out, slow and even. Then, without looking over, he murmured, “You’re not entirely unbearable when you’re not talking.”
Kairos snorted. “I'll take that as high praise.”

Tanzan allowed a faint curve at the corner of his mouth. And this time, when Kairos bumped their shoulders together in a gentle nudge, Tanzan nudged back. Just slightly, but friendly.

Reward	Amount
Gold	10
Summer Daze Music Festival - Design and MYO Raffles (Raffle Ticket)	1