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Chapters (50)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. 1
  6. 2
  7. 3
  8. 4
  9. 5
  10. 6
  11. 7
  12. 8
  13. 9
  14. 10
  15. 11
  16. 12
  17. 13
  18. 14
  19. 15
  20. 16
  21. 17
  22. 18
  23. 19
  24. 20
  25. 21
  26. 22
  27. 23
  28. 24
  29. 25
  30. 26
  31. 27
  32. 28
  33. 29
  34. 30
  35. 31
  36. 32
  37. 33
  38. 34
  39. 35
  40. 36
  41. 37
  42. 38
  43. 39
  44. 40
  45. 41
  46. 42
  47. 43
  48. 44
  49. Acknowledgements ♦ Diolchiadau
  50. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

He had watched Hamza and Nefyn, too. The way they were at one, almost, and he had felt something akin to jealousy. That closeness he had observed in others that he seemed incapable of. He wondered about the relief that that would bring. The sense of belonging. He looked up at the sky. The full tide. Thought of all that he had to do tomorrow. He had been reluctant to let Emrys go with Hamza, but the old man had persuaded him that it was his duty and that Joseph, being younger and stronger, would be a better decoy. He looked across at the army base in the distance, bristling and black. He knew they had eyes everywhere. Watchtowers. What they were attempting to do felt ridiculous. It required a miracle, but everyone he had talked to seemed to want one. To believe it could be done. And slowly but surely, Joseph had almost come to believe it too.

Nefyn and Hamza lay in each other’s arms. Their words gone. There was nothing more to be said. They had held and gazed upon each other, each trying to etch the other on their memory. An act of remembrance in the present. She tried to secure the tone of his eyes in her mind, he tried to etch the angles of her body into his, and together they made a map. Of someone they had known. Somewhere they had inhabited. A point of reference that would be a fixed mark upon the world. Unmoving. Rooted. They marked on it the thoughts they had had together, the visions, the depth of their feelings. The longitude and latitude of their wonder. Then, when they had finished, they slept. Soundly and deeply, for they would need all their strength for tomorrow.

40

Tide ♦ Llanw ♦ Almadu

THE COVE HAD ALWAYS called things to it. Her father would blame the jutting headland, saying that it slowed the tide so that it brought forth its offerings. Her mother used to say that it was something much more than that. That the sea would show you what you needed it to, in its own time, and that the only thing you could do was wait.

Nefyn turned to see Joseph leading Emrys down the cove path, gently, patiently. Hamza helping Efa behind him. It was not dawn yet, the dark water moving slowly in the gloom. The strandline was high today, the objects brought in by the tide close under the cliff. Nefyn stood on the sea’s edge as Joseph brought Emrys to stand by her. Efa followed on Hamza’s arm, her knuckles white, her hands tense. Their breath billowing in the morning air.