Salt of the Ocean

By Alyson Tait

Auburn hair fanned across her shoulders, sweeping past her breasts.

Sea foam flowed over us. It traced our outstretched hands, kissed our fingers, then returned to the brine.

Her smile shifted upward, dazzling like the sun that rose behind her. She shook her hair, her fur spread across her limbs. A glimpse of how easily she moved on from one state to the next.

I always knew that some souls can’t be contained within a single skin. They can’t be bothered with science or tradition. And she, my lover from the sea, couldn’t be bothered with the façade my tribe preferred.