"Look! My sandcastle!" The tiny girl in front of me said as she tugged at her dress with one hand and pointed at her artwork with the other.
I looked at the sandcastle she made. It could not even be called a sand dune, it's just a lump of sand.
"Do you like it?" she smiled shyly.
"This is not a sandcastle," I told her the truth.
"This is not? You don't like it?" She seemed to look lost and frightened.
Why? Why did words come out this harsh when never meant it? I did not know how to talk to little girls. No matter what I said, I'd upset them in the end. Like my cousin and the girl in front of me, my fiancee.
"The gate... is here." Her voice shook a bit and she looked at me with watery eyes. "The... moot?"
"Moat," I supplemented.
"I'm sorry." She lowered her head in defeat.
"Stupid son! What are you doing? You scare little Liana with your serious face. Smile!" Words formed on the sand in front of me, Mother's power. Mother was angry.
