The sky was clear, the late summer sun shone down at a comfortable intensity, the sand was clear of litter and jellies, and the beach was almost totally deserted. The only people there were a recently qualified stunt flyer and this world’s oldest surviving human (not that he looked the part). Neither of them were bothered too much by the isolation.

Alex Smith, once-ambassador to the dragon race, was reclining on a towel, trying not to get any sand into the bandages around his leg. “It’s funny,” he said, raising his voice a bit to be heard over the waves. “I never really liked going to the beach, back when that was an option.”

Adine glanced over from the pile of sand at her feet to reply. “Why not? I thought you said humans loved the water.”

“Eh, pools were always more my speed. Less sand, and there’s a fence to keep half the county from seeing you in your skivvies.” He laughed as he looked down at his improvised bathing suit. Clothing had been a problem for the past month, since he still only had the clothes he’d come through with and a bunch of Izumi’s old stuff from her hideout. The swimming trunks were hacked together from disused corporate uniforms and dragon clothes alike. “Guess that’s not as much of a problem when nobody else wants to go either.”

Adine giggled. “That might change once the media finds out where we’ve been spending our off hours.” She paused for a moment to mull something over, covering part of her face with a wing. “And it might not be a bad idea to bring some of the kids out here, too. They’d love it.”

“Yeah, that’d be fun!”

Adine’s face brightened suddenly as an idea came to her. “Ooh, you could teach swimming lessons! There aren’t any earth dragons or flyers willing to teach them at the hatchery, but it’d be way easier for you!” She glanced down at the bandage wrapped around his gunshot wound. “Once your leg heals, I guess.”

“Geez, I just saved the world and I can’t even get a moment to work on my tan?” Alex laughed, and picked up one of the books next to his towel--one of Adine’s fantasy novellas about a human cursed to walk the earth in dragon form--and began leafing through it idly. Adine returned to her own activity, continuing to mess with the pile of damp sand using a clawed foot. “What are you doing, anyway?”

Adine turned to him, pressing against the mound of sand with her foot to mold the top of it. She looked extremely pleased with herself, and a little surprised by her success so far. “I thought I’d try building a sandcastle.” The castle itself looked very different from anything a human would make, though that was partially due to them having no pail to mold the towers with. Instead of a traditional fortification, Adine’s claws had molded the sand into swooping curved shapes that formed a tiered structure. It reminded Alex of that big old famous opera house he’d seen on postcards once or twice, or maybe a wedding cake.

He smiled warmly. “What, no existential dread?”

“Well, maybe a little.” She frowned, and pushed on some of the structure’s walls to set the sand in place more firmly. “I think I figured out why people don’t mind the tide coming in, though.”

“Do tell.” Alex replied, curious.

Adine stopped molding the sand, satisfied with her creation, and took a few ungainly strides up the beach towards him. “It’s not about creating something that lasts, it’s about having fun doing the creating.” He smirked, and she looked down at him quizzically. “Right?”

“Yeah, that’s how a lot of people see it. All the fun of having built something without the backbreaking physical labor. Well, mostly.” He scratched his head, disturbing the already-unkempt hair. “There’s also the memories of the sandcastle, I guess. It seems a bit odd to me, but a building that’s made out of sand is just as permanent to you as one made out of concrete if you only see it once or twice.” Alex shrugged, getting back to his reading

Adine nodded, seemingly lost in thought. She shook her head. “You like it, though, right?”

He looked away from his book, examining the structure with a critical eye. His opinion on it was set pretty quickly, but he gave her the courtesy of a long inspection. “It’s great! Better than I’ve ever done, for sure.”

She blushed, and looked away, giving him a dismissive wave of her wing. “Oh, you’re just being nice.”

“This isn’t that fortune-telling magazine, Adine.” Alex replied, grinning. “The castle really is handsome. Not very castle-y, I guess, but the pros don’t usually build proper castles either. Well, I guess they aren’t building much of anything yet, huh?” his face fell, as it did whenever he remembered the world he’d left behind. Adine looked down at him, concerned, and then flopped down on the sand next to him, trying to think of something to say.

“I thought the human world collapsed years and years before your first loop. You still feel bad about it?” His next breath caught in his chest, and she chided herself mentally; that had probably been the worst possible thing to say, given his reaction. “I guess I still feel that way about Amelia, sometimes. But what happened in your time isn’t your fault at all.”

“Yeah, I guess not. It just seems like all the good times in my life were from before everything went to shit. We were just barely getting things back together when I came here.” A few tears welled up in his eyes. Adine reached out sheepishly and grasped his hand in her claw. They sat there for a long moment, staring silently at the sky.

Suddenly, she rolled over onto him. He yelped, and she giggled, wrapping him up in her golden wings. The embrace was not especially soft, but the caring and tenderness of it made up for any physical limitations. The human was almost guilty as he tried to wriggle free. Adine’s scales were warm from the sun’s heat, and they obliterated a few minor aches as they pressed against the human.

They were both blushing, one because she was nervous about her partner’s reaction, and the other because he was afraid that some prying reporter might be watching. “Get off me, you goof! You’re getting sand on the books!” Alex laughed, pulling an arm out. He considered using it to pry out the other one, but instead threw it over her neck, drawing her deeper into the embrace. The fin on her back poked into his arm a little before folding down politely. The blush disappeared from Adine’s face, and a low purr began to vibrate the grains of sand around them.

The two of them sat like that for a good thirty seconds, one nervously excited and the other mostly contented, until he craned his head upwards a bit, approaching Adine’s snout. His attempt at a loving kiss was parlayed into a quick smooch by the shape of her head, and he mentally filed their hypothetical make-out sessions under ‘room for improvement’.

She seemed to catch on to what he was going for, though, and promptly headbutted him. Her canines poked into his cheek a bit as she nuzzled her snout against him, purring even more loudly and closing her eyes. He tried to return the favor, though his neck wasn’t nearly so muscular and his target was moving. They lay on the towel, half-naked and rubbing their faces together, for a good minute before Adine finally slid aside a bit.

“How’s that for a good memory?” she asked, still giddy.

Alex laughed too, reminded of something from his home time period. “You really are like a big cat, aren’t you?”

Adine looked over at him, confused. “What’s a cat?”

“An animal from my time. A lot smaller and furrier than you, but just as cuddly.” He yawned, basking in the ambient heat of her body. With a bit of shuffling, Alex was pressed right up against her.

“You’re too nice.” Adine blushed, curling around him some more. For once, Alex was content to do nothing but sit there and let the sound of the waves lull him to sleep.

After a moment, he felt Adine move "Hey come on now!" she teased, nuzzling him back into wakefulness. "Don't fall asleep on me! I don’t want to carry you all the way back to the apartment!”

Alex laughed, blinking the sleepiness out of his eyes and propping himself against her. “What’s wrong with a short nap? We have all the time in the world…”