TEU: The Depthstriders p.2

After being guided by Cornaax to the heart of the Depthstriders home, Lea sat on the edge of the water, mesmerised by the swimming Haedians as they twirled around the underwater pillars and going in and out of camouflage because of how much they matched the foliage. The Haedians they had just encountered were hosting a race underwater! Lea thought for a second, she wasn’t sure if her swimming skills would let her keep up with the others. She hesitated; her angora long tail gets heavy once wet and it’s not easy for Empyreans to swim with the huge wings. Most of the swimming she had done previously was with Carnaax holding her claws and dragging her after him.

“You know what? Why not, it can’t be that hard…” She gulped and started to descend into the water. Some of the Haedians turned around as she splashed the water and gave her a quick smile and continued with their race. One of them waved at her, inviting her to partake. Lea tried to flap her wings underwater, no go, she’s only going upwards. She tried kicking, nope, not that either. She got frustrated, but then realized she could try to swim like an alligator by using her tail, just the way Carnaax did. It worked for a bit, but she was slow. Way too slow to keep up with the others. She looked over to The Headian that waved at her, but they had already disappeared and were once again racing with the others.

She had to resurface; she was moving around so much while trying to figure out how to swim quickly that she had lost all her stored oxygen. She broke the surface and took a deep breath. She looked around, there were other Vayrons and Empyreans that were sitting on the edge of the water paying attention to the agile swimmers. Lea realized that maybe swimming wasn’t for her.

“What are you doing?”. A voice behind her made her jump and squeal. She turned around and were facing a humongous, large, deep blue Empyrean. His azure coat was matching the deep sea, with the blanket over his back being an even darker blue. It would make him completely invisible at sea - where no land was close by - if he was under you. She stared at him. “Um… I’m not very fast underwater…” She mumbled to him. “Who are you?”

“Hav, you?” He said, shortly. Lea tilted her head at him “Hav? What an odd name” He raised his eyebrows. “It means ocean” he replied. She looked away from the male. “Oh” He noticed her looking away, he intuitively knew that she did not mean ill by what she said.  “Do you want me to learn you how to swim?” He suggested and adjusted his posture, ready to show himself off in the water. She turned to him and were about to talk but decided not to, a little embarrassed by what she had just said. He tilted his head to the right, scoffed and repeated himself; “Do you know how to swim?”.

“Not really, no…” She whispered loud enough for him to hear. “It’s my tail, it’s so heavy” Hav went underwater to look at her tail. It was indeed a full Persian tail, and it would slow her down. He came back up again, thought for a bit before concluding. “Hold onto me and feel the way I swim.” He grabbed her and placed her onto his back and dove under. Lea had just a few seconds to realize what was happening and quickly took a deep breath.

Hav, with his sleek and ribbed tail, were swimming in the water with ease, maybe a little slower due to having Lea on his back. ‘He lives up to his name’ Lea thought to herself and paid attention to how he was swimming. He’s swimming the same way that she was trying to, like an alligator. His tail was ribbed, so sweeping his tail back and forth propelled him forward, her tail could do the same but way slower. He wrapped his wings and fins around his body to create less resistance to the water. With his, now, torpedo shaped body, he swam straight towards the racers. Lea felt a clump in her chest forming, she was still embarrassed over how she flailed in the water in front of that one Haedian. She decided to let go of Hav.

Hav felt Lea’s claws leave his back, he turned around and swam back to her. He nodded at her to follow him; she shook her head. Her eyes were talking to him “I can’t do it” and his eyes said back “Yes, you can” They both paused, staring at each other. Lea looked up at the surface, then back at him. Hav gave her a disappointed look, as if he were scolding her in his mind. He gave her a nod in the direction the race was, gave her a gentle smile and started swimming away from her. She panicked a little, why would he just leave her here? She was metres away from the surface. ‘Is he forcing me to swim?’ She thought to herself as she saw him fade out of sight due to the foliage and underwater pillars. She had no other choice.

She swam. It wasn’t anything impressive, but she gave it a try and she was actually swimming to her surprise. She folded her ash grey wings around her body and started sweeping her tail back and forth. Her back legs were kicking to help her move forward. She cut into the race, ending up behind most of the Haedians as their slim bodies raced throughout the underwater caverns. Lea was keeping a decent pace, and eventually landed her eyes on the Haedian that had waved at her. The Haedian noticed her and grinned, swam over to her and started swimming next to her. He was guiding her throughout the race. She had only just realised that this Haedian was a friese, and also had a Persian tail. She was shocked, how did he manage to swim so quickly with all that fur?

They finished last, big shocker. The race ended at the surface, and multiple Reoseans would jump out of the water like a dolphin, some made it on their legs, and some slipped and fell. Lea and the Haedian crawled carefully out of the water, she was exhausted. Lea turned to him “Thank you” and Ellis turned to her. “No worries” and went over to his friends that had come from an earlier clan.

“You did it” an excitedly voice approached her. She turned towards the voice; it was Hav. He had finished the race and ended up on 2nd place. She was happy to see him, and happy to see him proud of her even if it was a stranger. She nodded at him and tried to catch her breath. “I hate my tail” she mumbled under heavy breaths. The large male chuckled “I think it’s rather pretty” Lea blushed and looked away. “Come now, let’s get you dried up, little seal” He said “Little seal?” She replied and continued “Seals are good swimmers though” He thought for a second “Still fits you” and started to walk over to the nearest bonfire that multiple Reoseans were sitting around. Lea sighed and followed him. ‘This guy…’