
“So,” his deep voice rumbled, growing louder as he walked towards where she was resting, “Now what...?”
He stood there, towering over her and she shook herself from her reverie to look up at him and squinted at both the sun and his eyes glaring down at her.
“Oh for God’s sake,” she groaned, “can’t you leave me in peace for even one day?”
“No”, the rumble became a purr as he softened both his voice and his approach, then lowering himself onto the sand beside her he nudged her gently with his shoulder, “you said you had a job to do and then suddenly you decide to retire?”
She sighed and shook her head, “I didn’t decide to retire, they did...” she raised her arm and shook it loosely at the sky, “Or rather”, she added with a giggle, “we did, collectively...” She cocked her head to the side and peeked at him through her long, silver streaked hair, “besides, it’s time. Look around you, they figured it out and now they are using what they have learned. They are doing amazing things, they don’t need us anymore...” She ran her hand along the surface of the sand and under her breath she mumbled, “Sometimes I think, they never did.”
“Have you lost your mind?” He grabbed her arm roughly, “You can’t possibly believe that? After everything you’ve done...”
“Oh,” she retorted angrily pulling her arm away, “and what is it I’ve done that somebody else could not have. No”, she took a deep breath to calm herself, “they would have figured it out on their own, given time, had we not interfered, they would have found their way.” She sighed again and shook her head then looked up into his steel blue eyes, “Why do you care? You never liked them anyways; I thought you would be happy...” She turned towards him and reached her hand up to tenderly touch his face. “Let’s not fight my heart, we managed to make it this far, let’s just move on and find some peace in this. We can get on with our lives now, with no more work to do we can just enjoy simply being. Isn’t that enough?”