Closed Water, water everywhere.

[Daekos Volundur]

"Kelvic. No need for a drink. The apology's fine."

"The race Riverfall considers pets. Quite apt." Daekos muttered to himself, forcing himself not to grin; the human - Jack - would most probably take it as a sign that he was beginning to be friendly.

"Yes, we may as well begin the lesson. Night is coming, and I doubt you would want to be lost in the streets of Riverfall. I doubt you can see very well in the dark."

[Ans SpringBorn]

"Of course", he answered quite quickly.

Ans was so nervous to try to swim, but he was up to the challenge. He was going to have to put his trust in this human. Good thing he seemed quite friendly. As for the other one, His ears might not be like a hawk but he could still him say something In a foreign language, no doubt trying to hide what he said. He tried not to be angry but it was not easy. He shot the Isur a look for a quick moment.

"Alright, I'm ready to start", he said

[Jack Benefort]

'Well then, finally time to get to work!' Jack thought to himself. It had been years since he had been swimming but he was holding onto the hope that his basic ability hadn't departed from him in the meantime. After, humans tended to float when put in water, so long as they didn't panic and flail about. And it was all doubtlessly uphill from there, right? He hoped so, because that was about the only thing he remembered about it.

As he emerged from thought, ready to get started, a smirk started to spread across his face, borne half of excitement to teach something new, and half to try and cover his glaring lack of knowledge. "Certainly right, I am not the most apt in the dark, so let's get to it then, shall we?" He then proceeded to remove his outer clothing, leaving them bundled up around his short sword to protect it from immediate sight, in case any thieves decided to come prowling while they were in the water. After instructing them to do the same, he went on to say "Okay. So the basic thing you'll want to remember when you get in the water is this: don't panic. It will be a tad strange, maybe even a lot strange, to feel nothing solid beneath your feet. But the key is to stay calm." As he spoke, he motioned for them to follow him, and he began to wade out into the water. "When you get scared and start flailing around, you start sinking, and that is not what we want. Once you've overcome that barrier, it's pretty simple. Just have to learn to move about in the stuff. Watch me." As he finished his very abridged discourse, they were just reaching water up to Jack's knees.

He then walked out a little further to the point where the depth increased more severely than it had before. At this point the water was reaching halfway up his abs when he stood. He then tried to recall the basics of swimming from muscle memory. He pushed off of the sand and let his body be suspended in the water. 'Is this what I'm supposed to do? Yes, this feels right.' He thought to himself as he floated on top of the water, being moved only by the waves. He then turned himself over and began to swim in a small circle, doing his best to not look totally incompetent. 'Right arm, left arm, right arm, left arm.' It was not pretty, it was not graceful, and it was not efficient, but he was swimming, which was enough for him not to care about how glaringly bad he was at it, taking at least twice as long to swim in these small, 10ft diameter circles as it took him as a child.

After swimming for two or three minutes in these circles, he returned to shallower water and stood before Ans and Volundur. "See, it's pretty simple. You just get out there and let the water hold you. After that it's as easy as putting one arm over the other. So would one of you like to give it a try first?"

[Ans SpringBorn]

Ans was nervous to try this out but he knew he would have to go first. Ans removed his outer clothing and walked slowly into the water. At first he was moving his arms and legs frantically in fear. He then remembered that jack said that flailing makes you sink and he calmed down. He then started moving one arm after another and swam in a circle for a minute or so. He tried to swim back to the shore to talk to the men again but found himself slipping. Ans then put all his willpower into making it back perfectly. He was a little trouble but it was unnoticeable. When he made it back to the shore he said to Volundur...

"It's really not that bad", Ans said breathlessly

[Daekos Volundur]

That looks simple. I suppose this... Jack needn't teach me much. Still, I got that start because of him.

Being shorter than a normal human, the water was nearly at his neck when Jack started the slightly ungainly but still successful swim. Daekos began to worry.

I'm much denser than a normal human. What if I'm not buoyant enough, and I sink every time I try to float? I suppose I could try...

He took a deep breath, and lifted his feet off the sand, allowing his legs to float upwards in front of him as his upper body began to sink slowly. Daekos panicked momentarily, but he reined in his reaction as his body began to stabilise, allowing him to float on the surface of the sea - although the water reached up to his ears, moving in and out with every wave. He stayed there for a dozen seconds or so, then he moved his legs a little too much, disrupting the state of unstable equilibrium he was in, causing him to submerge for a few seconds before he broke the surface of the water, spitting some seawater out.

"Bah. That was interesting."

Not as difficult as I thought it would be, although I need much more practice. Still, I'm in my element here, so I'm more comfortable with this than a typical beginner.

And then came the swimming.

Waiting in the water in preparation for his first swim, Daekos kicked his legs and moved forward faster than he had expected. He then moved both of his arms at the same time, propelling him forwards and down into the waters.

The next minute or so was filled with much splashing and gurgling and flailing of limbs. Several half-intelligible words, both in Common and isur could be heard as Daekos struggled.

Finally giving it up, Daekos emerged from the water again, this time glaring intently at the sea, before he remembered the presence of Ans and Jack.

"That could have gone better. Petching water. Well, what next?"

[Tia'aria]

The Konti was nearly invisible as she was underneath the water, luxuriating in the gentle push and pull of the tide as it came in. She was naked beneath the waves, because what kind of daughter of Laviku allowed herself to be separated from the sea by the flimsy shield of cloth rather than be swaddled by the fingers of her father? Her scales glistened, showing the many patterns they swirled in along her back and arms and legs, and her blonde hair was nearly translucent beneath the water.

She was enjoying a day off in the cool water, exploring along the beach in water that was just over her head. She was not an adept swimmer, not in the least, but by her very nature she was attuned to the watery world in ways most people not of her kind would be. She glided along the bottom, unknowingly wandering far from the beach cave she had left her belongings, using stones and wood and digging her fingers into soaked sand to pull herself along when she found she wasn't catching the water between the webbing of her fingers and toes.

If it weren't for the humanoid form of her body, she might have been mistaken for a large fish, but even so she still looked distinctly fish-like when the light slanted off her scales and reflected back onto the eyes of those that looked down at her.

The Konti's attention was caught by the sounds of struggle in the water even as she observed a coiled shell embedded too firmly in the sand to be removed. She surfaced, breaching the water and peering around out of her clear teal eyes, noticing the trio swimming, or trying to swim, in her near vicinity. There were others up and down the beach but they didn't hold her attention so much. The water gave her freedom and lightheartedness the land so often stripped from her. She felt as light as water, as incorporeal as the breeze that brushed the smooth surface into movement, and beautiful as the gentlest of ocean dwellers. She was safe in the sea away from the interested eyes of the Akalak that could not delve deep for long periods of time, even their skilled swimmers.

She didn't speak, she just drifted there with lazy swaying of her limbs to catch the water in the webbing between her digits as she watched, and if they came closer she would drift away elusively. She was wordlessly interested in how the one human would teach the other two with him how to swim, because that's what she realised they were trying to do. Her amusement was easily perceived on her face even though she wasn't yet laughing. She wondered if they even saw her or would question her presence.

[Ans SpringBorn]

Volundur emerged from the water looking angered and frustrated. Ans tried not to grin. The sentence the Isur said in his language was angry sounding and quiet. Ans was looking around gazing at the beauty of the coast near the sea. He heard birds chirping and nature showing its real beauty. As Ans was looking around he noticed a small body shaped figure in the distance. Ans took a few steps closer and saw a beautiful woman. Ans then found himself running to the gorgeous woman.

"Hey... Um...Wow, how long have you been there?"

"Nevermind that, I'm Ans. Who are you...wow...you're...wow."

[Jack Benefort]

"Well actually, that's-"

Jack was about to explain to Volundur that he had already exhausted all of his swimming know-how and had nothing more to contribute when he noticed that Ans was doing something strange. He had already noted that he was an odd fellow from his slight social awkwardness on the beach earlier, but had started to get his hopes up about him after he took so well to swimming. All in all, things could go either way when it came to his opinion of him. He had noticed once Volundur finished swimming that Ans noticed something in the water, but hadn't paid any mind and had waited for Volundur to finish speaking to do anything else. But now he was running out of the shallows toward whatever he was looking at. Jack couldn't even tell if something was there, and was honestly more worried that Ans would go too deep and get himself killed. And Jack wasn't the person to help him if something like that happened either- he had barely managed a swimming lesson.

"Um, what is he doing?" He said with equal tones of worry and frustration present in his voice. "Ans! Come back!" He yelled, hoping to break Ans' concentration on whatever held his gaze. Jack looked at Volundur, his frustration now showing on his face more than his concern. "I was going to tell you that I had exhausted my swimming abilities and had nothing more to teach at this point." Then, motioning to Ans, "Should we just let him go if he won't come back? I'm not sure what to do about him."

[Daekos Volundur]

Typical. The moment I start wanting to learn more, something happens. Ants - Ans - is distracted by a lady in the water and Jack can't teach me more. Bah.

"I suppose that's all I needed to know for now. My... thanks," Daekos grimaced slightly, "for the lesson."

It was a tad galling for Daekos to thank Jack - his inherent Isurian sense of superiority was hard to suppress at times. The sharp edge it once had when he first arrived in Riverfall had now been blunted, although Daekos would occasionally take out a metaphorical whetstone to ensure that it was not too useless; after all, he was still an Isur.

"Perhaps we should see what he's looking at. I'm quite surprised that he can run when the water's up to his knees. Perhaps a trick of the light."

Daekos lifted his feet from the sandy seafloor, preparing himself for his second attempt at swimming. Kicking his legs, Daekos felt himself move forward, even as he moved one arm after the other. Moving slowly in the water, the Isur was pleased to note that he was making steady (although slow) progress towards Ans. It was a tad slow for Daekos though.

Note to self: Experiment with using magic to move faster in water.

[Ans SpringBorn]

Ans emotions quickly turned from disbelief to anger in a way so quickly even he was surprised.

"Guys, can you believe this? She has been watching us the whole time."

Ans then turned to the Konti quickly. Ans had a fierce look in his eyes. He couldn't believe he was being watched. Why, he wondered. Why would this woman just watch them from far away just to laugh.It was embarrassing enough for Ans to go out in public because of his social awkwardness.

"How long have you been there?!" He hollered

Ans could get very fierce and dangerous when angered. When he was angry he felt adrenaline pumping through his veins until he calmed down.

"I want answers!" Ans shouted