Tirra walked swiftly through the night, moving with ease through the silvery bushland. Her spirits were high, for three nights now she had found what she was looking for. The large eucalypts waved their open branches in the wind and clouds danced across the face of the gibbous moon.

Fine and alert, she moved intently, the earth turning beneath her feet as her spirit danced in the moonlight. She was aware of every movement and noise around her, yet she wasn't listening closely. She became more alert and moved still more finely as she became aware of a presence on the path behind her.

She continued for some minutes without slowing, still taking in the movement of clouds across the sky, the sound of crickets nearby and the soft rustling of leaves in the wind. The presence came closer behind her and she became aware of the steady pace of another night traveller. She slowed a little to allow them to overtake her.

She drew to the side of the path and, still moving forward, turned to look at the swift traveller. He came into view, moving with entire concentration. Her fine attention absorbed him at a glance and felt the core of him, recognising something in him. His clear look took her in and his pace adjusted to hers. They continued together along the path, their long strides eating up the night.

The track led across a sandstone plateau, open to the full light of the moon. Tirra saw her companion more clearly and noted his antique dress and the sword at his side. There was the same precision and economy about his dress as there was in his movement, there was nothing superfluous here. He slowed a little and returned her look. She saw a small smile flicker across his face as he noted her wayward hair and loose clothing. She miled at the moon and they continued walking.

The track wound down a little and twisted into a clump of casuarinas. Their pace slowed in the shadows and they moved more carefully.

"Where are you going?" she asked curiously.

"To the sea," he replied.

They moved along again and Tirra's curiousity danced around her.

"The sea," she said.

He made no reply.

"Can I come?" she asked on impulse after a few moments.

He stopped and looked at her -- held her in a look that cut beneath the surface. Caught in the moment, her breath came lightly and she turned quietly towards him.

"What do you know about the sea?" he asked.

*It kisses the sand and devours the cliffs," she replied.

"You can come," he answered.

They moved off quietly together beneath the casuarinas. The wind sighed in the branches of hanging fringes.

Tirra stepped through the darkness with the warrior fluid at her side. At a fork in the path, they took the route that led down and followed it towards the smell of the sea. Beneath the casuarinas, the path turned sandy, then the trees thinned out and they found themselves walking across dunes of silky, squeaking sand.

They separated a little in the vast open space of the moonlit beach, and walked towards the water. On the hard sand close to the water, the warrior stopped. He looked intently at the sea. Then he knelt and sat with his feet under him.

Tirra walked a little way along the beach, listening to the waves and watching the ripples play across the moonpath. All this movement seemed to match precisely the rhythm inside her. She settled cross-legged to allow the cadences to play.

Time passed, the moon moved across the sky and the waves washed a little higher on the sand. Tirra was the first to move. She stretched her legs out and wriggled her toes. Then she stood and walked back to the stillness of the man. In a single, fluid movement, he stood up and they returned across the dunes to the shadows of the trees.

For some time, they travelled the night together, seeing the same sights and knowing the same things.