A warm surge of water flowed over Esther’s legs to pool under her stomach for the fifth time since she awoke. In that minute or so, the only concrete thing she could dredge up in her mind about anything that was happening was her name and the smell of salt. A beach then, she mused, still unmoving as the water ebbed back to leave her dark skin exposed to the breeze that made her shiver.

Suddenly, her whole body was wet as a slightly larger wave crashed its way up the beach, causing her to splutter and flip onto her back, her torso now covered in a wet layer of sand as she coughed up seawater.

Opening her eyes, she saw the sky above her, painted in hues of dark purples and blues that blended almost intangibly into pinks and oranges towards the horizon, where the sun was slowly sinking beneath the waves. She sat up and looked to her right to see another woman who had her legs drawn up to her chest, staring out into the sunset. It was at that moment that Esther realized that they were both naked, and she instinctively emulated the sitting position of the stranger further down the beach, an action that brought her little comfort as she still had no idea what was happening.

For a time, the two women watched the sea swallow the sun while tiny pinpricks of light winked into existence in the sky above. Soon, the moon and the stars were the only light to see by, and while not as luminous as the sun minutes before, they still brightly illuminated the beach where Esther sat. Esther turned back to where the other woman had been and found her now staring back, an expression Esther could read as bewilderment on her face, even with the distance between them.

Esther stood slowly when she realized this woman, for all her confusion, was unconcerned by her nudity. She still pulled her arms across her chest, but this was mostly to draw more warmth into herself in defense against the cooler breeze that came with the night air. By this point, the mysterious woman had composed herself and was now making her way towards Esther at an easy jog, her large thighs rippling as her feet slapped against the wet sand. Esther merely watched her approach, unsure of how to begin a conversation with a stranger in this specific predicament. Thankfully, the woman didn’t seem to have this problem.

“I don’t suppose YOU remember how you got here? Armin and I can’t seem to remember a thing. Oh wait, you wouldn’t know who Armin is. He’s one of us. Er, he’s also stranded here. And naked. And just as clueless about this place as I am. I’m talking too much, I’ll shut up now.”

Esther blinked, overwhelmed by this sudden rush of speaking after such a length of silence, but the woman’s brown eyes smiled as wide as her lips as she extended a hand to Esther, “Name’s Zaida. Pleasure to meet you!”

Slowly unwrapping her right arm from her chest, Esther shook Zaida’s hand, “I’m Esther. I…I also have no idea how I got here. Or where ‘here’ even is. All I know is, I woke up here a little over an hour ago, and you’re the first person I’ve seen.”

Zaida shrugged; apparently the situation either didn’t weigh very heavily on her, or she had had more time to process it. Either way, the woman’s freckled face revealed no evidence of being too worried about their predicament. Instead, she reached up and stretched the stiffness from her body, staring up into the night sky. Esther did the same.

High above, thousands of stars flickered in the vast expanse of space. One seemed to shine just the slightest bit brighter for half a moment, and Esther stared up at it, trying to put her finger on what was so disconcerting about it, but Zaida grabbed her hand and started pulling her further down the beach.

“C’mon, I told Armin I’d be back after the sun set. Bet he’ll be surprised when he sees there’s three of us now!” As Zaida led her down the sandy beach, Esther couldn’t help but take in her physique. Zaida was shorter than her, but what she lacked in height, she made up for in build. Esther considered herself to be rather strong for her slender form, but this woman looked like she could carry three of her on her back and still be able to maintain a brisk pace.

“How long have you and Armin been here?” Esther asked, now walking side by side with Zaida.

“I’ve been here just over a day or so. After I got over the initial confusion of not being able to remember anything, I decided to go walking down the shore, just to get an idea of what was around. I didn’t find anything but beach until I spotted Armin face down in the sand. Seems we arrived around the same time. He and I kept walking for a bit, just looking around. We didn’t really want to brave the trees just yet, so we followed the coast until we found, well, here.”

As she said this, Zaida gestured ahead of them to a large craggy bluff that hung high above the beach and the shallows of the ocean. She motioned for Esther to follow her as she stepped into the waves, being careful to avoid stepping on the jagged rocks that lay partially buried in the sand. Esther followed Zaida around a section of the rock face that jutted out into the water, and behind it was a small cave that extended twenty or so feet deeper than the tide came in.

Inside was a man hunched over a pile of leaves, spinning a stick between his palms that has been sharpened to a blunt point, presumably with the sharp rock sitting next to him, in a small notch created in a decently large piece of wood. His back to the two women, he remained completely focused on his task, until Zaida teases, “Still can’t get it to light, huh?”

Armin let out an exasperated grunt and sat back, giving up for the moment, “Zaida, it’s harder than it looks. The wood may be dry enough, but it still takes a good amount of- oh?” He turned to look at Zaida and noticed Esther standing next to her, “and now there are three of us. Perfect.”

Armin and Esther sized each other up for a few seconds. Armin looked to Esther to be in his late twenties, with light blond hair and a soft-looking physique. The moon reflected off the water in the cave to give his grey eyes an almost silver look. Esther offered her hand to him and he took it gingerly, his hand raw from the bark of the stick.

Zaida clapped her hands together once and declared, “Armin, this is Esther. I found her on the beach just like I found you the other day. Seems we’re going to be in this pickle for a bit together, but at least we have shelter for now. And if Armin can ever figure out what he’s doing, we’ll have some heat as well!”

Armin rolled his eyes frustrated but didn’t argue the point. Instead, he handed Zaida the stick and told her to have at it as he walked to where a couple piles of leaves have been set up to create some makeshift beds. He sat down on one, and gestured to a small pile of mangos. “We’ve got enough of these for tonight. They’re juicy, but if you’re still thirsty, Zaida and I found a small spring that’s a few minutes’ walk through the trees inland. We can make our way there while Zaida works on the Herculean Labour over there.”

Esther glanced over to Zaida who was now rapidly spinning the sharpened stick again and said, “Actually, if you wouldn’t mind too terribly, I’m very parched.”

Armin nodded and took Esther’s hand as she helped him to his feet. The two waded back into the water, and Zaida called out between grunts, “Don’t take too long. If you’re not back in twenty minutes, I’m coming to look for you.”

As they rounded the entrance of the cave, now knee deep in water, Esther replied, “We’ll be careful.”

Beneath the light of the moon again, Esther and Armin trudged their way up the beach towards the tree line. Armin was shorter than Esther, but not by nearly as much as Zaida was. He kept his head faced forward towards their destination, but she could see his brow furrowing with uncertainty.

Esther was going to ask if he wanted to talk about what was happening, but before she could, he turned to her with a sarcastically proud look on his face, “Ready to see the Spring of Armin?” She looked at him, not knowing what he was talking about, and it must have showed on her face, because Armin giggled and went on, “I mean, I found it, so we gotta name it after me, right? Granted, I found it by falling into it, but that’s hardly grounds to take away my right to name my discovery. Hey, why are you walking away?”

Esther shook her head and chuckled a bit as she walked past Armin into the forest. He quickly caught up, and they walked through the foliage, the leaves above blocking out most of the moon’s glow, shrouding the ground below in shadow. Armin continued to chatter as he lead the way, “In all seriousness though, it’s really kind of lucky we found food and water so close to where we ended up. I don’t want to imagine what would have happened if-“

He was silenced by Esther raising up a hand and grabbing his arm. After a few seconds of hearing nothing, he whispered, “What? Did you hear something?” She shushed him again, and this time there was a snap of a branch from a few yards to their right. Turning in that direction, Esther and Armin could see a pair of yellow eyes slowly coming closer.