The churning sounds of the ocean could not have been more rage-filled than today. The crashing of waves, pushing seafoam onto the pale sands of the beach, scattering seaweed, and tossing crabs on their back. The breeze blocked by tall columns of stone, naturally grown as the ocean rose and fell every day and night.

The sweet smell of the rainforest only twenty yards from the brushes of the ocean waves, calling back and forth as the forest called out through the birds and insects that lived there. Seagulls flew overhead, watching as smaller animals and fish moved among the water and drew close to the forest only to return to the great blue expanse of water.

This place of peace and tranquility had a certain amount of chaos to it, and perhaps that was why Marie was so drawn to it.

The ocean was a vast place, and unknowable, a sane person would have been terrified of such a thing, but she was not. It was a second home to her in the way that he own home could not be, and she much preferred the motherly clutches of the ocean. She loved the feeling of the cool water licking her bruised knees and cleaning the wounds on her hands when she fell off her bike. Marie could spend the entire day at the beach if she had been allowed to but work and school were things that kept her from the one true love of her life.

Even now, it hurt to move. Her bones ached at the thought of moving from the sitting position she currently kept herself in, knees pinned to her chest and her back arched over her legs like a snail retreating into her shell.

The waves called out to her, the low tide keeping the natural mother of the world from tempting her farther into its reaches. She didn't have the heart to be the girl who ran to the waters, kicking and laughing up at the sky as that freedom flowed through her veins, this day had been too much for her.

She could not enjoy a thing except the solace of being alone.

A bird cried, drawing her eyes across the sandy spread of the beach to something she rarely saw on this beach, so hidden away from the world that no one but her knew about it. The albatross stared at her with dark shimmering eyes that seemed to know exactly what she was feeling, the pain of her own day was written across the soul of the massive sea bird.

It cried out again, flaring its wings and moving lightly on its webbed feet.

Marie couldn't help but let out a small snort of amusement at the creature and the bird seemed to sense this simple thing from her. It seemed to demand from her as it padded across the sand, not too close to her, it was far too wise to be trusting of a strange girl sitting on the beach.

This beach was its home as much as it was her own.

Her long brown hair whipped across her face as she turned to rest her head on her knees, keeping her gaze on the albatross. Instead of a cross, an albatross hung around my neck. The line rang in her head before Marie could stop it, the story flowed into her the same way rivers flowed into the ocean. The story of a young sea fairing man that shot an albatross and brought bad luck to his crew, the rest of the ships' men demanded that he wear the dead bird around his neck, their hardships became his burden.

This albatross was too curious, too funny to bring her any foul luck. She gave a smile to the creature, peeking around her arm and hair as its dark eyes shimmered at her, it cawed once more.

"I don't have anything for you-" She told the bird, allowing the pretzel of her body to release and relax. Her legs stretched out, aching as she winced at the pins and needles rippling down her legs to her feet. She tipped her head to the ocean and waved a stiff arm toward the blueish-green blanket just past her reach.

The albatross crowed again, flaring its wings and taking to the air for just a moment, hovering just a couple of feet above the sand.

Marie sighed and leaned back, her arms propping up the rest of her weight, " I'm sorry I don't understand you."

The albatross landed and gave her an indignant look if the muscles in a bird's face could even begin to show indignation. Perhaps Marie was deluding herself, all this time she'd spent on the beach, not bothering to bring a bottle of water or something to eat.

She could just stand up and go home, wander through the rainforest until she made her way to the small, damaged village where her own house rested. Walking barefoot down those streets because her parents couldn't afford to buy her or her brother shoes, the only way they got shoes was to dig through the dumpsters of the cities just farther inland. She would have to make sure to avoid the shards of glass from broken bottles or stray teeth from some of the larger fish in the waters around the island, it wasn't rare for a child to step on glass and be sent to the hospital, only to wait in the ER for a bill their parents couldn't pay.

The girl sighed and shook her head, she could wait until night fell to go home and scrape together what she could to eat.

The cheeky bird landed, tipping its head from side to side, perhaps trying to get a better look at her. Its wings pressed to its side, slightly ruffled grey feathers that could have used a good cleaning from its mate. Marie leaned forward again, the feeling of the pins and needles ebbing away as the blood reached her toes once again. Now the only thing pricking her sides was the sand sticking to her things and under her legs, far less painful than the previous experience.

Marie dug her fingers under the sand, reaching for the cooler sand that rested just below the surface.

"Move," A deep voice called out to her.

Her head snapped up, glancing around the curled cove of the beach for the speaker, but no one except Marie and the albatross. And the albatross couldn't speak, and Marie hadn't spoken, she just hadn't. She sat up, pulling her hands from the sand and snapping them close to her chest.

"Move."

There it was again.

Marie looked over at the albatross, its black eyes trained on her. It flared its wings, annoyed, and opened its beak. But instead of the piercing cry she had heard earlier, she heard the voice.

"Move!"

Marie cried out, the shock of what she had just heard, what she had seen, caused her to jerk back, her head hitting the sand with a muffled thud. The albatross jumped forward, flaring its wings and keeping its dark eyes gazing at her face.

"There!" It cawed at her, tipping its head from side to side ", You moved! Now keep moving!"

Marie's eyes widened, her mouth suddenly dry as she stared at the bird and it stared at her. She shifted, moving onto her knees so that she could jump and run if she needed to.

"You-" She struggled to find her words ", You're talking... To me?"

The albatross let out a sound somewhere between a huff and a whine as if it were annoyed with her of all things. It held out one wing to the ocean, stretching so to speak, before drawing back again.

"Of course, I am!" It snapped its beak at her ", And you keep ignoring me!"

Marie blinked, the sudden realization crossing her mind and a sense of relaxation flowing through her veins. It was like speaking to someone familiar after being alone, but in her case, to a massive seabird.

"Ignoring you?" Marie questioned ", I'm not ignoring you. It's not every day that an Albatross starts talking to you."

The albatross let out a laugh, cawing and laughter mixing to create a sound that would have hurt her ears if it got too close to her. Maire cringed slightly, resting her hands on her thighs and sinking into the sand.

"No! But it is not every day that we have something to say to humans!" The bird padded against the sand, turning in a half circle before roosting on the warm sand under it, "And today I say, girl, that you need to move."

The bitter confusion that roared up in Marie caught her off guard, she reached up, brushing her hair behind her ear, and scowled at the bird. Better than it could scowl at her at least, that was enough to bring a little more comfort to her mind.

"Move." She repeated ", Move where? I can't take your words if I don't understand what you mean."

The bird lifted its wings, picking at the dandruff-like feathers that hung loose there, it blinked its dark eyes at her and almost sneered at her.

"Move on."

"From what?" She asked it, leaning forward on her knees, the sharpest of the grain of sand digging into her knees.

"From the sadness-" The albatross replied matter-of-factly ", From this self-pity that you so graciously wallow in."

"Wallow?" Marie snapped indignantly at the large waterfowl ", I do not wallow."

It lowered its wig, glancing at her for a moment as if it wanted to collect its words. Marie couldn't help but wonder about this bird. Was it one of the ancient spirits that her mother had warned her about? One of the seamen who had died and returned to this life to help others through their grey waters?

But that couldn't be, those were just stories and myths that her mother held oh-so tightly.

"I've watched you on this beach," The albatross finally spoke ", To escape and to play and to fly. But your stomach is full of stones, and if you do not release them, you will drag yourself to the bottom of the sea."

Marie stopped at these words, curious. They were cryptic if nothing else, and they were far from clear, but they were spoken with such sincerity and wisdom that Marie couldn't help but hear them.

"It's not so easy," Marie said softly, her head tipping down to stare at the sand rather than the glassy eyes of the albatross "If I just let go... Won't it happen again?"

The albatross let out another one of its warbling sighs, shaking its head rapidly from side to side.

"Just because you let go doesn't mean you won't learn," It crowed to her ", The young whale does not learn by staying at his mother's side all of his life, he swims ahead and bumps into the corals and boats, he cries out and learns. The octopus does not survive the shark by keeping its limbs, it lets the shark bit and take the smallest of pieces in order to live its life. It grows back again."

Maire licked her bottom lip, trying to gain back the moisture in her dry mouth.

"But not everything is so easy," She replied, " Sometimes the octopus dies, or the calf gets hurt and his mother can't save him."

"And that is true, it is the way of life, no one said it was easy."

Marie lowered her head to the bird, sighing ", I wish it could be easier."

"If it were all so easy," The albatross responded so swiftly, its words as light as its feathers and strong as its muscles ", Then I would be the prey to a shark. The calf would never learn. The octopus would not survive."

Marie pursed her lips and the sand around her hands shifted, the greyish-blue webbed feet of the bird drew closer to her and she realized how large it was. The elegant grace of its feathers and the curving of its beak were closer than any average albatross she had seen before.

He, Marie was sure that it was a male at this point, smiled the best he could with his beak. She did not smile back at him but looked him in the eye which was focused on her.

"Human girl," He saidwith a flick of his wing ", Nature doesn't care about the hurt and the pain,and it might hurt for some time, but like nature? You need to continue moving.So, move."