He wasn't precisely sure what had brought him to the gardens in the first place. It was beautiful, that was for certain, but gradually Voss was coming to realize there was little in this city of waterfall's that wasn't stunning. It was all foreign too, flowers were soft instead of slimy, buildings couldn't be made of coral like the Charoda fashioned, and as far as he could tell 'trees' were the equivalent of coral beneath the sea, for they were everywhere (except apparently in this 'Sea of Grass' which he had to investigate as well) and housed many types of wildlife, just like coral. Unlike coral, however, the land dwellers had no ability to harness the tree power and make it grow for them, as the Charoda did. It was of course only one of the many many differences between the land and sea, but one that had struck his wandering mind as the most odd.
At present Voss had gratefully shifted into his Dhani form when he had found the still and serene lake in the middle of the gardens. This as well was foreign to him, for though the water felt good and right, it was softer than the rough saltwater, and so placid it at first took the Iyvess aback. He dipped himself beneath the surface, breathing gratefully through the gills in his neck and startling several large, brightly colored fish that darted away. He remembered stories of bodies of water within the land, the Iyvess calling them, ocean puddles. He could understand the term now as he dove as deep as he could and began pushing through the water beneath the bridges and around the sections of land with Gazebos on them. This was far easier than using the strange human legs, and though his aquatic quarters were welcome, this was even more so. Perhaps not as refreshing as a dip in the Sea, but it was a good spot to keep in mind when he was the furtherest from the ocean and simply needed the feel of water surrounding him.
After a few laps around the lake the Iyvess floated to the surface of the water, remaining motionless as he watched the fish, frogs, and turtles go on their merry way below him. The Voss before coming to Riverfall was rarely patient enough to use this technique to hunt, but the new, more placid Voss highly enjoyed simply basking with the sun on his back. He could have stayed their forever, given the chance and inclination.
It only took a few bells, however, for the fish to grow less weary of the large scaled thing's presence. He breathed calmly, waiting, watching. One of the large fish from before came by him, catching a bug on the surface of the water, and once it had it darted beneath him.
Voss's hands flashed out snatching the fish's body. All he needed to do was puncture its scales, sinking his claws into its flesh and it would be his. Voss, however, was no skilled fisher. His prey balked and began swimming ferociously, with more force than the Dhani expected, darting by. Voss whipped his body around, snapping with elongated head at the tail of what he had hoped would be lunch...only for it to disappear into the darkness of the lake.
A soft sigh escaped the Dhani's throat and he poked his head above the water, glancing around to see an Akalak and Konti couple staring down at him in a mixture of confusion, and...perhaps disgust? Voss waved good naturedly at them then dove back down and began to make his way back to shore.
When he re-surfaced again he heard high pitched laughter, that of a child. Deep brown eyes, nearly black, blinked, niscillitating membrane drawing upward to allow better vision above the water. Edging closer to the shore Voss held himself in place with one hand on the bank, resting his head upon soft grasses to watch a scene taking place not far from his position, of a Konti woman and a smaller white haired Akalak child. Voss was still not sure what made a few of the Akalak's have white hair. He had seen some, but very few compared to the dark hair of the rest. The Konti, however, were easily recognizable by the faint sheen of scales, pale skin, and matching pale hair. Perhaps it was the mother Konti who had given her son her white hair? Voss blinked and watched the strange game, at first not understanding anything about it, or the point. He watched the two take turns throwing balls at...another ball? Sometimes if they were too far away from the other ball they had to be taken away, sometimes it seemed that nothing happened at all.
Voss realized there were two other, very small children when one of them began crying. The Konti woman went to tend to them, and the younger boy went to throw another ball. Sometimes he bounced it, sometimes it just rolled. Voss watched him concentrate, and he threw it quite harder than he probably should have, it bounced several times and went with a splash into the lake not far from Voss.
Without thinking the Iyvess ducked beneath the water and shifted his tail, weaving gracefully downwards and snatching the blue object before it could barely sink at all. Triumphant the Iyvess surged up to the surface coming quite rapidly out of the water, and looking around for the boy, who was standing right on the edge of the water, and got drenched by the resulting water displacement, staring up in horror at the massive serpent that had just appeared in front of him.
Voss lowered himself immediately as Tasi tumbled backwards, a startled cry escaping from his mouth. Voss, horrified by himself quickly put the blue ball next to the boy, which only seemed to frighten him more as he saw the massive clawed hand approach him.
"Sssorry, I am sssorry little one. I only wanted to get you ball." Voss said, shifting backwards in the water to draw himself away from the child.
