Hello. I’m Khalia Love.

Hello.

I’m Khalia Love 💛

Thank you for joining me.

Welcome to KhaliaLove.com, my little corner of the world. I’m glad you found me.

Let's jump straight into it... Me.

I'm 23. I'm quiet. Observant. Curious about almost everything, particularly things I don't understand.

I like questions.

Answers are useful too, obviously, but I've learned that a good question can keep me occupied for considerably longer.

I think carefully before I act. Usually. I like understanding how things work rather than simply accepting that they do. And I'm perfectly comfortable spending long stretches of time by myself.

I care deeply about living things. Animals, plants, the creatures beneath the sea—large or tiny, familiar or strange. I've never understood the idea that something has to be important before it deserves kindness.

And apparently, I have a gentle sense of humour.

I say apparently because there aren't many people here to confirm it.

You'll understand why soon enough.

Do You Like My Outfit?

Do you like my outfit? 💛 I love how the sunny yellow and turquoise remind me of the beautiful colours of Heart Coast.

You've probably noticed what I'm wearing by now.

It's difficult not to. Yellow isn't exactly a colour that specialises in going unnoticed.

I like it that way.

Yellow has always felt warm to me—sunlight, tropical flowers, bright mornings. The turquoise detailing reminds me of the water along Heart Coast, especially when the sun catches it and the whole sea seems to change colour.

And yes, it is rather fitted.

Before you ask, it's comfortable.

It feels as though it's part of me.

More importantly, it works for the way I live. I spend much of my day walking through the forest, climbing over rocks, swimming, diving and occasionally following an injured animal somewhere it has absolutely no intention of making convenient for me.

And it is a tropical climate here.

I don't wear shoes either.

Ever.

I prefer feeling the sand, water and earth beneath my feet. Besides, putting shoes on when there's an excellent chance I'll be back in the water within ten minutes seems unnecessarily optimistic.

Then there's my little yellow heart necklace.

So, yes, my outfit is bright.

It's practical.

It's unmistakably mine.

And since you're already looking at it...

Do you like it?

The Place I Found

I didn’t know where I was or what I would find here. I only knew that, for the first time in a very long while, I didn’t feel the need to keep moving.

I was eighteen when something horrific happened to me.

I’m not going to tell you what.

I know that leaves a rather large silence in my story, but it’s a silence I need to leave there.

There are memories I can look back on carefully. Memories I can turn over in my mind, make sense of, and eventually put back where they belong.

And then there’s that one.

I’m not ready to go back there.

Perhaps one day I will be.

Afterwards, I became lost.

Completely lost.

Not I’ve taken the wrong path lost. Not even I’m fairly certain I've passed that tree before lost.

I mean truly lost—the kind where you walk for so long that eventually you realise you have no idea which direction would take you back.

And, if I’m being truthful, I wasn’t entirely certain I wanted to go back.

So I kept walking.

I don’t know how long I wandered before the forest finally began to thin. I remember sunlight appearing between the trees. I remember hearing something beyond them.

Waves.

Then I stepped out of the forest.

And there it was.

The most beautiful coastline I had ever seen.

Crystal-clear turquoise water stretched before me, bordered by pale sand and dense tropical forest. Rocky headlands reached into the sea, reefs darkened the shallows beneath the surface, and little islands were scattered across the water beyond the coast.

And right there, carved naturally into the mainland, was an enormous, almost perfect heart-shaped stretch of water.

I just stood there looking at it.

After everything that had happened, after all that walking, I had somehow found a place shaped like a heart.

I didn’t know its name.

I didn’t know where I was.

I certainly didn’t know that this coast was going to become my home.

But for the first time in a very long while, I didn’t feel the need to keep moving.

So I stayed.

And this beautiful place I eventually named, Heart Coast and Mirror Lagoon.

The Little Heart in the Water

I saw something gold beneath the shallow crystal-clear water, so I went to investigate. I had no idea that this little heart was about to change my life.

It happened while I was exploring the shallows.

The water along Heart Coast can be extraordinarily clear. Sunlight passes through the turquoise and dances across the pale sand beneath it.

One day, something caught my eye.

A tiny flash of yellow.

Naturally, I went to investigate.

Curiosity and I have a complicated relationship.

It has taught me an enormous amount.

It has also persuaded me to do some remarkably questionable things.

Resting beneath the water was a little yellow heart.

This one.

The one around my neck.

I reached for it.

And when I put it around my neck...

Something happened.

Something extraordinary.

And that's where I'm going to stop.

Yes, again.

There is much more to what happened in that shallow water.

And I do look different here. Obviously.

But that's all you need to know.. For now.

And I've worn this little heart ever since.

So, I Can Heal Things

Healing is something I still find rather magical, even though the magic is coming from me. When something is hurt, I place my hand close, concentrate, and let that warm yellow light do what it seems to know how to do.

That's a rather casual way of describing something extraordinary, isn't it?

But it's true.

I can heal.

My magic works with living things—animals, plants and the creatures beneath the water.

I've spent a great deal of time learning what that actually means.

Healing isn't simply making an injury disappear.

Life already knows how to repair itself. Wounds try to close. Plants recover from damage. Exhausted bodies rest and rebuild.

My magic helps those natural processes.

I can ease some pain. I can encourage injuries to mend. Sometimes I can give a struggling living thing the strength it needs to continue healing on its own.

But I have limits.

Understanding those limits is every bit as important as understanding what I can do.

Magic doesn't make me infallible.

It certainly doesn't make me a miracle.

I'm a healer.

There's a difference.

Somewhere Between the Forest and the Sea

Somewhere between the forest and the sea is where I feel most at home. From up here, I can see so much of Heart Coast—and somehow, I still discover something new almost every day.

This is probably where you'll find me.

Heart Coast has given me two worlds to care for.

The forest stretches behind the shoreline, dense and green and filled with life. In the other direction is the sea, with reefs, shallows and deeper water beyond.

I wander between them.

Some mornings take me deep into the forest.

Others begin underwater.

Occasionally I leave in one direction and don't return until sunset from somewhere completely different.

I don't wear shoes.

Ever.

There isn't much point.

I spend my life walking over warm sand, forest earth and smooth rocks or wading straight into the sea. Shoes would mostly give me something else to carry.

I've managed perfectly well without them.

Things Other People Might Walk Past

Sometimes it’s the smallest signs that tell me something needs help. A wilted flower might be easy to walk past, but I’d rather stop and notice.

Healing has taught me to notice little things.

Or perhaps I always noticed them and healing finally gave me something useful to do about them.

A bird holding one wing slightly lower.

An animal putting less weight on one foot.

A leaf beginning to change before the rest of the plant shows any sign of trouble.

A fish separating itself from the others.

Small changes.

Easy to miss.

But if you notice early enough, sometimes you can help before a small problem becomes a much larger one.

I've spent hours caring for creatures small enough to fit inside my hands.

I've spent just as long tending a single damaged plant.

I don't measure the value of a life by its size.

Or by how beautiful it is.

Or by whether anyone else would notice if it disappeared.

If something is alive and suffering, that's enough reason for me to care.

I Never Actually Decided to Stay

I never actually decided to stay. One day simply became another, until somewhere along the way I stopped thinking of myself as lost. Heart Coast had become home.

That's the strange part.

I never made a grand decision to remain on Heart Coast.

I simply didn't leave.

At first, I needed somewhere to stop.

Then I wanted to see what was beyond the next stretch of beach.

Then what was beyond the next headland.

I explored farther into the forest. I swam along the reefs. I discovered sheltered coves, freshwater streams, quiet pools and places along the coast where animals gathered.

One day became another.

Then another.

At some point, I stopped thinking of myself as lost.

You can't really call yourself lost once you know every curve of the shoreline better than the place you were trying to return to.

Heart Coast was home.

It gave me somewhere to stop when I desperately needed somewhere to stop.

Then I found the heart.

Then came my magic.

And eventually, something else.

Purpose.

There are living things here that I can help.

That's reason enough to stay.

Yes, I Really Do Live Here Alone

I really do live here alone, but I’m rarely lonely. There’s usually someone nearby keeping me company—although some of my neighbours seem considerably more interested in my fruit than my conversation.

You may find this particularly interesting.

Yes.

I live alone.

No, I'm not lonely.

Those aren't the same thing.

I like solitude. I like waking to the forest. I like walking along an empty beach with nowhere particular to be. I like following the coastline simply because I haven't visited one part of it for a few days.

I like thinking.

Possibly too much.

And despite being the only person here, I'm rarely truly alone.

There are birds overhead, animals among the trees and an entire world moving beneath the sea.

Some of them have become very comfortable around me.

A little too comfortable in certain cases.

If you repeatedly steal someone's food, I'm not convinced you can continue calling yourself a wild animal.

The only real disadvantage is conversation.

I've explained several of my theories to the local wildlife.

Their peer-review standards remain appalling.

I Still Have Questions About This

Every day I wonder about this little heart and what happened that day when I put it on. Though, it remains a mystery to me. Maybe one day I will find the answers... Or will the answers find me?

My heart 💛

I know where I found it.

I know what happened when I touched it.

But I don't know everything.

Why was it beneath the water?

How long had it been there?

Did somebody put it there?

Why did it give me healing magic?

Was finding it chance?

Or was there some reason I was the one who found it?

And then there's something else that bothers me.

I called this place Heart Coast before I ever found the heart.

I have theories about that too.

Of course I do.

Some are quite convincing.

Others were considerably more convincing before I thought about them properly.

I don't pretend to know something when I don't.

There are mysteries here I haven't solved yet.

That bothers me slightly.

It also fascinates me.

Some Things Can Wait

There are parts of my story I haven't told you.

Some because they deserve more time.

And one because I'm simply not ready.

What happened when I was eighteen belongs to me.

For now, that's where it stays.

Please don't mistake my silence for forgetting.

Some things are impossible to forget.

But remembering something and being ready to return to it are very different things.

My magic is different.

I will tell you what happened when I found the little heart beneath the water. I'll tell you how my healing magic came to be and what I experienced that day.

Just not here.

We've only just met.

You can't expect me to tell you everything at once.

Since You’ve Come All This Way...

Since you’ve come all this way, you might as well come with me. There’s much more of Heart Coast I’d like to show you—and I promise I know where I’m going. Mostly.

You might as well stay for a while.

There's quite a lot of Heart Coast to see.

We could walk along the beach.

We could find somewhere beneath the trees.

Or we could sit at the water's edge and put our feet in the sea.

Mine will already be there.

Remember, I don't wear shoes.

If something brushes against your toes, don't panic.

It's probably harmless.

Probably.

And if you happen to notice a mysterious piece of jewellery beneath the water, please tell me before you touch it.

One magically significant heart is quite enough for the moment.

So now you know a little about me.

You know about the coast I found when I was lost.

You know why I stayed.

You know about the little yellow heart around my neck.

You know what I spend my days doing with the gift it gave me.

And you know there are still parts of my story waiting for another day.

That's enough for a first hello.

Welcome to Heart Coast.

I'm Khalia Love 💛

And yes...

Love is really my last name.