Sable blinked, feeling his ears warm as the two girls gasped in awe. "W-wow… really?" one whispered, her fins fluttering in excitement.
Sable rubbed his hands nervously but nodded. "Y-yeah… a little," he said softly. His voice was so quiet it was nearly drowned out by Boo's distant cheerleading in the background.
Arielle, completely unbothered by his shyness, shoved a tiny blue shovel into his hand and picked up a pearly pink bucket herself. "Here!" she said cheerfully. "You dig! I'll scoop! And then we'll make the biggest castle ever—big enough for your shadows to live in too!"
Sable's eyes widened in surprise, then softened with shy happiness. "O-okay," he said quietly, crouching beside her as she started piling sand into the bucket with dramatic flair, humming a little tune that sounded like sea waves.
"More sand, Sable!" Arielle said, bossing him around sweetly. "We need tall walls and a sparkly top! You're in charge of shadows—make them help!"
