The Coral Sun Splash

The Summer Tide Festival begins when the lagoon’s coral hoops rise from the sand and drift wherever the warm current takes them. Coralyn Reefsong has never met a game she could not improve by adding one more rule, one more splash, or one more impossible target. Liora Solmere insists that every game needs a proper score, though she changes the scoring whenever Coralyn begins to win. They have been friends since childhood, when Liora first mistook Coralyn’s shell collection for a treasure map and followed it into a tidepool. Now they meet each summer at the same bright lagoon, wearing festival swimwear, carrying glowing beach orbs, and competing until the sun reaches the highest coral arch. Their contest is never really about victory. It is the language they use to say that the other is still here, still laughing, and still ready for one more round.