[Espy]

If there was anything Espy hated, it was water. Water. A necessity for all life.

Why in the world was she walking, no, trudging, through the sand, then? The answer was simple. The open sea brought in lots of fresh air, and the plentiful sand lent itself well to her alchemical experiments.

She had just uncapped her first vial of a catalyst when she noticed that she wasn't the only person out on the beach who stuck out like a sore thumb. She made a few cautious steps toward the man under the pretense of finding something in the sand.