Author's Commentary...
I enjoyed writing Ardin's quiet solitude. It was a good chance to concentrate on developing a person without dialogue. He's alone, and he's quiet and it's perfectly fine with him.

The 'voice of the ocean' is a concept I picked up from my father. He spent his teen years living on the Oregon Coast - about a mile from shore. He could hear the ocean without trouble and could tell when there was bad weather coming by listening to the ocean. He used this knowledge to help a scout troop prepare better for an incoming storm even though the weather looked fine from shore.

As Ardin has lived 15 years on the beach, he knows the voice of the ocean extremely well - like a temperamental old family member - who may be happy or may be angry.