She was a free woman, so she thought in that moment as she lifted her face to the salty breeze as she stood close enough to the edge of a cliff to catch the view of the beach below, her arms crossed in such a way that she could hold on to her upper arms. She closed her eyes and lifted her face to the breeze as it skimmed over her. She fought the urge to unbind her hair and let it loose.

It wasn't that she cared about being proper, not really, it was just that it took forever for her to pin her hair up so it stayed out of her face and off the back of her neck. The summer heat was too much for her. If she knew how to swim, she would be in the sea right about then.

Sonia then picked her way down to the beach and moved to shuck her boots and hose, she set them on a rock and then padded over wet sand to let the cold surf curl over her toes. That was one thing she would not deny herself while she had the chance to bend over still. Her belly was already starting to get in the way.

She hummed as she lifted her skirts above what was proper, though not above her knees, just enough to keep her hem from being wet, and she waded in deeper.

The water was helping her to think. How was she to get out of the problems she had caused by one stupid moment?