It is said that none loves the cresting ocean wave more than the shore which waits to greet it. And none loves the steadfast shore more than the tides that crash upon it.

Such was the love of Poteem and Tana-Sei.

Poteem was a daughter of the stoic Stone-Nest tribe. Ever faithful, ever reliable. Content in her daily tasks around the village, though some said she often had a faraway look in her eyes.

Perhaps she was listening to the Stone. Or perhaps she was waiting for something.

Tana-Sei was the free-spirited maid of a Tide-Born village. She spent her time tending the reefs and shoals, finding small treasures and blessings to bring back to her people. The villagers said she could never keep still, as if she was looking for something she hadn't yet found.

It was fate that brought the two of them together.

Tana-Sei was bold. It was her nature. But this also meant she was sometimes foolhardy. She found herself swimming far out to sea one day, past the reefs and shoals she was used to.

The other swimmers had already turned back, put off by the dark clouds on the horizon. But Tana-Sei didn't see them. Her eyes were trained down into the depths, searching for something she just couldn't see yet.

The wave crashed down on her like a landslide. It slammed her into the rocks below. Tana-Sei remembered nothing after that.

The next day, Poteem was gathering herbs near the shore. She'd wandered farther from her village than usual, allowing her feet to take new paths. Soon, she heard the crash of ocean waves upon the shore. She knew she should turn back soon. There was no need to come this far.

That was when she saw her. Tana-Sei.

A gorgeous Argonian, dressed in unfamiliar clothes, unconscious on the beach. Poteem dropped her basket and rushed to her. She crouched beside the fair maiden and lifted her head, stroking her scales as she did so.

Tana-Sei's eyes fluttered open. When she saw the bright eyes and beautiful spines of the woman who held her, all she could say was, "Oh, it's you."

From that moment on, the pair were always together. Poteem took Tana-Sei back to her tribe, where she was tended by the village elders and healed after her dangerous swim.

Tana-Sei followed after Poteem as she performed her daily tasks, a new light in the latter's eyes as she did so. They chattered constantly while Poteem worked, sharing the details of their lives with each other as they gathered herbs and cooked for the elders. At night, the lovers held each other close, enjoying the mere fact of the other's presence.

But after a time, Tana-Sei began to yearn for her village once more. Poteem's life was peaceful, infused with a kind of routine harmony Tana-Sei had never felt before.

But she craved change. Adventure. The spark of an unknown treasure beneath the waves. She needed to go home.

After a long discussion, Poteem decided she should go with Tana-Sei back to her village. The couple couldn't bear to be parted, and Poteem wanted to know more about Tana-Sei's strange world.

The Tide-Born village was as alien to Poteem as her own had been to Tana-Sei. It was chaotic, but lively. Children laughed and screamed in the surf. Shoal-tenders watched clutches of eggs as they were gently jostled by the waves. And every day, Tana-Sei ran for the water and dove beneath the surface to see what gifts the tide had brought her.

At first, it was entrancing for Poteem to watch her lover swim with so much agility through the currents. Tana-Sei was already beautiful, but the joy on her face as she embraced the waves each day was like a dream.

For her part, Poteem made herself useful around the village, finding small tasks to fill her time while she waited for Tana-Sei's return. She mended nets, cleaned and cooked fish, and tended to the children. But there was no routine in this village. Every day was different. Sometimes there was too much to do, other days, not enough.

Poteem found herself waiting more eagerly for each day to be over. For the moment when Tana-Sei would emerge from the waves and wrap her arms around her.

Even Tana-Sei saw the change in Poteem.

"You are not happy here, are you?" she asked.

"I am always happy with you," Poteem replied.

"But I cannot always be with you."

"No," Poteem sighed.

"So you cannot always be happy," Tana-Sei said, tears welling. "Will you still wait for me, even if it makes you unhappy?"

"I am like the Stone," Poteem said. She held her lover's scaly hands between her own. "I am good at waiting."

And so she did wait, patient Poteem. And though she was steadfast like the Stone, even Stone is changed by time. She spent her life by the water, waiting for Tana-Sei. And Tana-Sei, who used to dive so freely, found her mind stuck more and more on the surface with her lover. For the first time in her life, Tana-Sei yearned for the shore.

No one is quite sure how it happened, but something about the couple's love outlasted them. Poteem slowly eroded like stone into sand. Tana-Sei rushed more violently and passionately to the shore each time, knowing even as she returned that her watery embrace was the very thing wearing down her lover. And yet the two would not be parted. Forever at odds, forever leaving and returning, the stone and tide rejoice in their reunion.

Some say you can hear their laughter every time a wave crashes into the sand.