It was a dark, dusky night, a night full of stars. Everywhere there was peace, deep, endless peace, and by the side of the ocean, there was a long stretch of pure white sand that glowed with the pale moonlight's reflection.
Walking on the sand was a single lonely man with a guitar in his hands. He was humming quietly to himself as he gazed sadly up at the sky, deep in thought.
His name was Aither, and he was 25 years old. He had long, disheveled black hair, and his eyes were bright and a beautiful brown. When he smiled, it looked like the moon was rising on his face, and when he let the tears fall down from his eyes, it looked like the rain was gently falling from heavenly clouds.
He had wept a great deal in his life, inward tears that nobody had ever seen. There was only one time in the past when he had been wonderfully, exceedingly happy, and that was when he was with the Dannerson family years ago.
He remembered those days so clearly, so vividly now, as they filled his mind with memories from the past. Then, he was just 21, and he was a traveling guitarist, never staying in one place for long. But he stumbled upon the Dannersons' house by accident, and they invited him to stay there for a while, on condition that he made sure to play for the big family events such as the birthdays and weddings.
Aither agreed, because it meant a great deal to him to have a place to lay his head. He disliked having to play dance tunes and standards for the events, but he bore it all with patience, telling himself that the situation was only temporary. Once he earned enough money, he would be on the road again, never looking back...
But Aither might have stayed at the Dannersons' house much longer if he hadn't lost his heart and soul to the daughter of the family, Evalie. Evalie was quite young at the time he came to the house, a shy, impressionable 19 year old with long black hair and brown eyes, and she always wore a blue dress and bright ribbons in her hair. From the start, she stared at him in utter amazement and curiosity, because he was new to her, a stranger with wild black hair and an old, worn out guitar. But Aither himself felt as if he had known her all his life; she must have appeared in his dreams, when he longed so much to know someone like her, someone sweet and gentle to love and hold dear.
He took to playing some of his songs for her, when the two of them were alone and no one could disturb them, and they were all the gentle, beautiful tunes that he really liked to play, the ones he was not allowed to perform at the family events. Evalie would gaze at him, wide-eyed and enraptured, and she would sway gently back and forth with the music.
But it was only his music she loved, not him, himself. Aither was in love with her, and he betrayed his feelings in every note he played and every word he sang, but although Evalie liked him and thought he was a nice person, she wasn't in love with him in return. Why mismatches like that have to happen, God only knows.
All Aither knew was that he didn't want to leave the Dannerson house without bringing precious Evalie with him, so he had a talk with her parents and explained to them that his life was not worth living without her. The parents, however, were horrified to hear the guitarist speaking like that about their daughter. They didn't want a traveling tramp of a musician to marry their daughter; they were wealthy people and they felt that Aither, in spite of his talent, was still below their station in life. "He will not drag Evalie down with him," they thought to themselves.
Aloud, they replied coldly that they already had a match for Evalie planned out; she was going to marry a rich young man named Jordan who had just received an inheritance from his great uncle. They advised Aither to leave their house the following day, because he certainly couldn't entertain thoughts of Evalie or thoughts of staying here anymore.
Aither was stricken when he heard those words. Nonetheless, he said, in a tone so frozen and cold that it almost made the parents shiver, "All right, I'll go. I suppose I'm not needed anymore." But that same night, he hid his face in his hands and wept his heart out.
The next morning, Aither woke up early, shook himself, and began to pack his bags. He didn't have many belongings: only a few tattered old clothes, a guitar strap, and his one and only guitar. Then he walked slowly and steadily down the stairs.
He nodded to the parents, who nodded aloofly in return, but when he saw Evalie, with her long black braids tumbling around her shy little face, he felt warmth rush into his heart. He walked up to her and smiled at her, looking into her eyes.
"Where are you going, Aither?" asked Evalie curiously, knitting her eyebrows.
"I've - got to leave. You won't be seeing me again. I'll be back on the road. Goodbye, dear," replied Aither.
"Are you leaving forever?" asked Evalie, astonished.
"Well, it sure looks that way," answered Aither, feeling an ache in his heart. "So long," he added softly, and then he quietly out the door and down the steps. Evalie ran to the window and peered through the glass,. She saw him slowly walking along the streets, with his head lowered, and even from a distance, she could tell that he was unhappy, a depressed and defeated man.
She turned around and looked at her parents. "Mama, dad, why was he so unhappy about leaving? Did he like it here?" she asked.
"He liked it here a little too much, I'm afraid," was her mother's vague reply.
"But don't worry about him," the father added hastily. "It's a good thing that he's gone. He's only a traveling tramp."
"Hmmm... " was all Evalie said. She felt rather sad, as if something was missing in her life, something she had never realized was meant for her until now. She turned away from the window, deep in thought....
That was four years ago. Aither was still on the road, still traveling, with only his guitar to keep him company, but Evalie always haunted him. She appeared in all his dreams, and at night, when he couldn't sleep and he was tormented with memories and longing, he would send a prayer up to God that he could find peace of mind, and that he and Evalie would be together again. "If not," he'd whisper, "I'd rather die."
Now, as he was walking alone along the silent beach, Aither felt his strength failing, for the first time in four years. His eyesight was dimming, and he felt as tired and enervated as if he had been living on the earth for a hundred years. The wind whipped his face and bowed his battleworn body to the ground, and he fell on the sand under a tall, lonely tree that bent its branches protectively down to him. He felt the cooling shade, but he had no strength to get up again. "I haven't eaten a square meal in days," he thought.
So the end was near; Aither felt that his long-awaited peace was finally coming. Either he would die or be reunited with Evalie again. He had not found Evalie, so now he was about to die....
But then, as the stars gazed down upon him, glittering their light on the shiny, sandy beach, Aither heard a sweet, familiar voice call, "Aither, Aither, my love!"
Aither slowly looked up. Then he saw a woman, her hair in long and beautiful braids, her eyes full of love and care. She ran up to him and knelt down beside him, and she patted his shoulder and whispered, "It's me, Aither, do you remember?"
Aither smiled a dazed, grateful smile. "Evalie," he said, and then he closed his eyes and blacked out.
When Aither came to again, he found himself in the soft, warm arms of Evalie. He shook himself, and then he laughed and said, "Is this really real?"
"It is, it is," whispered Evalie. She looked at him with the same expression of amazement and awe that she had in her eyes years ago, when she was only a young woman.
Now they were standing close together on the beach, and no one else was there except them. Aither said softly, "You found me, Evalie. If you had come one minute later, I... I don't think I'd be alive right now. But why did you return? What happened?"
"I couldn't stay at home any longer," Evalie burst out. "Nothing was the same without you there. And I didn't want to marry Jordan, either, because I didn't love him. I missed you, Aither, and I felt something inside for you that I never felt before. I left home and journeyed across the oceans and the land, searching for you. I knew you had to be somewhere on the road. And now, now at last, I've found you. I don't want to ever leave you again!"
She hugged him, burying herself in his arms and laying her head on his shoulder, and Aither ran his hand through her hair and caressed her face. He could scarcely believe that after four long, hard, lonely years, Evalie was by his side again, and she was finally in love with him; but it was true. And now, at last, he felt happy and at peace.
Later he was sitting down on a large rock on the beach, with his brown guitar in his hands, and he was playing soft and beautiful tunes for Evalie, who was smiling up at him as she gently swayed with the sweet music....