Edward snickered as she didn't know what a wing was, it made him feel so smart. "Sure! They better be the best of those animals!" he said with a grin.

He rose a brow and shrugged. "Sure I can watch your shoes. And peak at what? Just don't get too far in the water. If the waves take you, I can't find you." He said in warning, but the girl loved the water so she should know the dangers. He turned his head slightly away. "But fine. Whatever you're worried about, I won't go watching you."

"Waves!  Please, Edward."  Mable toed off her shoes and picked them up, handing them to her friend.  "I can see most of the stars, so they'll break before they reach me.  Plus, I'm a really good swimmer!  So don't worry about me."

Even though the girl's words sounded confident, when she turned to step closer into the water she got a little intimidated.  At least during the day, she could see the horizon and where water turned into sky.  In the dark, they were nearly indistinguishable to her untrained eyes.

But Mable wasn't one to back down, especially not in front of Edward who carried a knife around, so she waded into the water until it reached her ankles.  First, she scooped some into her hand to splash on her face - and immediately recoiled.

The water stung!  Worse than originally falling had!  Mable was so surprised that she stumbled back and fell in the wet sand.  A moment later, a wave came over her.  Not enough to cover her head or pull her in, but it splashed over her scraped knee, and ignited the pain there again.

"Ow!"  What was this!  Why was it hurting?  "Edward!"

Edward was immediately at her side and staring down at the girl in the darkness. He held out a hand to lift her up. "What is it? What happened?!" He asked completely confused. "You step on something?"

Mable grabbed Edward's hand as soon as it was before her and used it to help her stand, holding her wet dress away from her legs.  "The water!" she said frantically.  "It stung, it hurt so bad - why is that?  Is something wrong with the ocean?!"

Edward blinked at her for a moment. "Its.It's.. salt water, Mable. It hurts a little. But it washed you up a little. And I think it goes numb after a bit. Are you alright?" He asked in concern since she seemed very upset. Maybe it was something else?

What?  "Salt water?"  What?  "A little?  Edward, that hurt so bad..."

Salt water!  Who's idea was it to put salt in the ocean!

Even worse, now that she was up and away from it, the pain was much more bearable.

"That surprised me," she finished sadly, touching the cut in her face again.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't know it would hurt me.  I hope I didn't scare you."

Edward frowned as he patted out some sand from her hair. "I guess it can sting a lot cause it's your face. I thought you knew it'd hurt. But as long as you're OK. " He shook his head, "nothing scares me! But ... I was worried."

Mable was not very convinced by Edward's reassurances, but she was too startled to really say anything about it.  For the first time that night, her exhaustion was starting to creep up on her.

"I've never really been in salt water before," she said.  "I guess I don't know a thing about it.  Sorry I worried you, Edward."

She pat his head like he had done to her, but there was no sand to brush away.  It was purely for comfort - hers or his was unclear.

"I'm alright now.  What do you wanna do now?  I guess I can't swim, which is very sad, but I'm sure there's lots we can do other than that!"

Edward thought she liked the beach but must not have noticed. "It's alright. I'm glad you aren't hurt more or got swept away."

He looked up at the stars. "We could.. still play pirates?" He looked at her to see if she wanted to. "Or do you want to go home?" He wouldn't blame her.

"I don't wanna go back yet," she said immediately, but playing pirates sounded like... a lot.  Mable followed Edward's gaze up to the sky, but she was seeing far beyond them.

"Do you think... this might sound silly," she warned, "but do you think we could sleep here on the beach?  We could play pirates first thing in the morning when we wake up."