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He stood on the parapet of his reclusive hideaway and stared out to sea.
It had been years since he'd been anywhere but the local town for groceries.
Not that this bothered him much.
He didn't like 'mingling' with people too often, they were too nosy and too clever for their own good.
And too often pried into his private dealings.
A plague upon insurance saleswomen, and men, everywhere!
Just because he took her out to dinner she figured she had a right to look into his business.

*harrumph*

At least his maid didn't pry.
And if she did, she didn't immediately tell all her friends, family, and remotest contacts about anything she saw.
"Tea, sir?" speaking of the maid..
"Yes, please. Thank you." and as always, it was already made, waiting for him to pick it up.
For a brief second, he could almost see a hint of a smile on her face.
He shook his head and went back to his deep brooding.
After awhile, he turned around and went back inside from his balcony.
Retreating into his many layers of defenses from the outside.

Not that he needed anyone out there.
At least, not yet.

A few hours later, he strolled along the beach, having slipped out a hidden passage onto the sand from his wine cellar.
He was wrapped up in thought and never noticed the woman who walked up behnd him.
She seemed enshrouded with dignity, and walked with her head held high.
Yet she also seemed frail, tiny, easily lost or broken.
Presently, he stopped and shouted at the sea, startling her somewhat.
"Why can't anything good come into my life? Like something good unexpectedly coming from the sea as if in some fabled story?!"
"I'd say you found something." a voice drifted over his shoulder.
He finally noticed the second set of footprints and looked behind himself.
She was dressed in sea green, as if she were Poseidon's daughter.
"That.. I.. did.. Where did you come from? And how did you get onto my beach?" he asked in an amased tone speckled with wonderment.
The beach was only accessable form the sea.

"Someone told me that I was supposed to meet someone here. But I'm not sure who I'm supposed to meet."