Castle Keep

[Primus]

The first indication that I am no longer on the Emerald Coast is the lack of ocean. The ocean is a palatable thing, it adds a texture to the air, a sound, a taste. No matter where I am on the coast, I can always hear the sea. The sound of waves hitting the sandy beach and jutting rocks is a soothing balm in the background of my life. I feel lost without the sound. There is nothing like being along the coast, which is one of the reasons I have spent so much of my adult life living there.

The second indication I have is the temperature. Wherever I am, the heat is so intense, that my body is both boiling and dry, like a chicken roasted inside a brick oven. It is a dry heat, the kind that you find high in the mountains or desert plains. This means I am inland, nowhere near a