Timestamp: 403 AV
Twist. Spiral, turn, down, straight straight straight, spiral! Twist! Turn, slow backwards. Float... glide... Corkscrew! Twist, glide. Slow up... slow down... be the wave...
The massive strands of kelp barely registered her passage. Of course, the young Charoda was 5' 4", and weighed maybe 80 pounds, while the individual strands of kelp were often over 200 feet tall and thicker at their bases then her torso. The Kelp Forest, borrowing a word from the landwalkers, was her favored place to practice. Here she was alone. Here the kelp hid her awkward movements, her changing voice. Even her skin was changing. Lightening in color, which while not rare, was unusual. Before her eyes and skin had matched the kelp almost perfectly. Now her skin was closer towards the water near the surface.
She continued her practice, twisting and cavorting through the upper regions of the forest. She wove higher and higher through the forest, going through a single particularly long routine that culminated in one of her favorite moves. As she broached the "canopy" of the kelp, her arms spread wide, and she evened out on an equal plane to the ceiling of her world.
As she slowed, she watched the surface of the water. Being this close she could observe the waves. She loved to watch the surface, to dream of what it was like up there. But then her internal count reached ten, and she resumed her routine. She twisted her body gracefully, facing down the kelp, gazing into the murky depths, her arms held tight to her sides. And then she forcefully kicked her legs, and started speeding downwards.
Faster. Faster, faster, more speed. Circle around the kelp stalk. Spiral down it. The falling rock. Faster, faster still. Ayla, you must move faster. FASTER! She yelled at herself in her internal monologue, getting caught up within the movements and trying to match the dance, the story it told. She approached the fastest speed she could ever maintain, the kelp a blur as she dove towards the ocean floor. And now she could see it. Growing quickly.
Faster... faster... hold it... a little more... almost..... STOP! And then she exerted all the strength in her torso and thighs, her body turning 90 degrees, turning horizontal with the ocean floor a scant 10 feet from hitting the rocky floor. As she performed the potentially dangerous move, her arms spiraled out, twisting her body in the water, rotating her face once more to the surface. She then serenely placed her hands on her chest, and glided along the floor.