Nénuphar - 7

Nénuphar woke first, her magic restored, and her mouth parched, and her stomach desperately hungry. She found that most of her body either felt bruised or scratched, and she felt very weak. She moved a bit to relieve some the pain, and her movements elicited a moaning bellow from the bear cub. When there was no response he bellowed again and began to move around, apparently rousing Yetta.

“Lily?” asked Yetta rubbing her eyes. “Have you been awake long?”

“No. Just a couple minutes.” she replied. “How do you feel?”

“Better. And you?” Yetta returned.

“I think my magic is refreshed, but my mouth is dry and my stomach is empty.” she said sadly. “You must be absolutely parched.”

“Yah, but I’m okay.” said Yetta unable to hide the dryness in her throat.

The cub got up and began to walk blindly toward the edge of the cliff. Yetta scrambled to catch him, but her legs prevented her from doing any more than a crawl on her elbows. Nénuphar leapt to her feet, but she didn’t dare move begin unable to see anything. She heard Yetta’s desperate scramble, and the bear cub seemed to slip. She hear claws scraping, Yetta screamed, and the cub let out a heart wrenching bellow that quickly faded until they heard a distant splash, and then silence. They both held their breath waiting. The seconds passed like hours. The sound of the splash faded, and near silence fell. The only sound they could hear was their own hearts and the distant waterfall.

Then as if from miles below they heard the bears desperate calls echoing up through the cavern. He was alive, but scared and alone.

“We’ve got to help him.” pleaded Yetta. “We’ve got to get him back to his mother.”

“Yetta.” said Nénuphar desperately. “We can’t even get ourselves back up there. What can we possibly do to help him?”

Yetta cried desperately, her mind trying to find something, anything that might help the cub. Nénuphar crawled toward Yetta’s desperate tears, Griffe in one arm, the other feeling her way forward. as she approached her found an uneven part in the rock surface and she slipped landing on her shoulder and back. She could feel her body sliding toward the edge, and called out, “Yetta!”

Yetta raised her head in time to see Nénuphar sliding toward the edge. She lunged for her, and caught her flailing arm, but the slick rock refused a grip of any kind, and she too found herself sliding. Then they were both falling and screaming. They both flailed wildly, expecting to be bounced of a ledge or gashed by the wall of the chasm, but neither happened. They tumbled for what seemed like an eternity then suddenly it ended as they hit the freezing water. The stabbing pain of the freezing water sent them into a frenzied mindless panic. They tried desperately to find the surface, but to no avail.

Then Nénuphar heard the cub, as if from a dream and far away the cub bellowed. Though here eyes could see nothing, and she had no idea which way was up, she turned and swam toward the sound of the bears bellowing. She felt her lungs burning, desperate for air, then they failed, and filled with water. She felt her entire body convulse and thrash out. One of her hand struck something, and she grabbed it and pulled. Her eyes erupted into sparkling lights that grew brighter and brighter, her lungs lurched again and again trying to find air. She grabbed with her other hand and pulled one more time as her vision went completely white. Then her head broke the surface of the water, and her lungs and stomach convulsed at the same time.

She gasped and coughed, thrashed and splashed wildly, trying to rid her lungs of water and replace it with air. Slowly the light in her eyes began to fade back to sparkling burst of light, and her thrashing turned into the measured strokes she had used swimming in the lake back home. She had reached the surface, but water was pouring down on her from above.

She soon heard the bear bellow right in her ear, and she knew it was his leg that she had grasped in her desperate attempt to reach the surface. She had to push him away to avoid being mauled by his claws, but he seemed to swimming fairly well from the steady stroke of his splashing.

Suddenly, a thought like lightning erupted in her mind, and she screamed, “Yetta!” Over and over again she screamed, but to no avail. She could see nothing, and feel nothing but the stabbing cold of the water, and she knew there was no hope for Yetta. Without the use of her legs, there was no way that she could swim. Even if he were to find the surface, she would not be able to stay on top of the water.

Suddenly Nénuphar felt something strike her in the back. She screamed and thrashed around her mind conjuring up monsters of every description. She spun, and thrashed in the direction of the creature, and struck something limp. She grabbed it preparing to rip apart whatever it was. When her other hand grasped hold of the creature she realized that it was a limb. A desperate hope filled her heart and she hauled with all he might hoping beyond hope that it might belong to Yetta.

She found a neck, a head, and the unmistakable mass of hair that could only belong to Yetta. She pulled her head to the surface, but she was not breathing and completely limp. Not knowing what else to do she focussed all her effort into a healing spell, and as the light passed into Yetta’s body, a spout of water was ejected right into her face.

She momentarily lost touch with Yetta’s body, and the blue light quickly faded, but a desperate cry of “Lily.” told her all she needed to know. She grabbed Yetta around the chin and held her face above the water. Yetta desperately struggled to swim, and alternated between thrashing at the water with her arms, and desperately holding to Nénuphar’s arm.

They both fell below the surface of the water several times, and they both knew they struggle was getting desperate when Nénuphar thought of the bear cub. She could hear him paddling away not far from her, and she began to work her way toward him as best as she could. The forward movement allowed her to keep both of them above water, but icy bite to the cold and the strenuous effort were quickly slowing them down.

Nénuphar realized that the cold was going to freeze her body very quickly, and told Yetta that she was going to cast a spell. Yetta spun around and put her hands on Nénuphar’s shoulder to free her arms for the spell. It was not a difficult spell usually, but it took three tries before the spell began to warm her body. By that time Yetta was completely under water, and Nénuphar was about to sink as well.

With her body beginning to warm, Nénuphar grabbed Yetta’s hand and tried to raise her to the surface. The effort did allow Yetta to get a deep breath before going back under, but it also thrust Nénuphar under the water. She surfaced again, and began swimming with all her might after the bear cub.

As she chased the cub she heard a familiar meow, and called out, “Griffe!” She was rewarded with another meow. The cat seemed to be somewhere near the bear cub, and Nénuphar knew he could swim well enough that she didn’t worry about him. Then to her surprise she heard Griffe hiss loudly and the bear cub bellowed in pain, and went under the water for a moment. When he surfaced he finished his gurgling bellow, and began swimming again.

Nénuphar called out a gain “Griffe”, and was rewarded with a hiss, and the bear bellowed stopping his swim, and Nénuphar caught up to him just a little. Several more times Nénuphar called out, Griffe hissed, and the bear bellowed. If Yetta heard any of the exchange she did not make a sign, but continued to do what she could to splash them forward.

Finally Nénuphar called out and the cat and bear seemed just out of range. She put in a couple desperate strokes, and lunged with both hands. She went under for a moment, and one of her arms was caught by the back stroke of a paw cutting several deep cuts across her forearm. She lunged again and caught the leg. Hand over hand she climbed the bears leg until she caught hold of the bears tail.

She spun Yetta around, and Yetta knew exactly what was happening. She climbed Nénuphar’s arm to the bear, and clung there as the bear cub again began to paddle desperately forward. Yetta was able to keep one hand on the bears back and one hand on Nénuphar’s should as they both desperately paddled forward toward some unknown destination.
After a few minutes Yetta called out that she could see the cavern wall, and Nénuphar redoubled her efforts to reach it. Yetta counted down the distance, and finally Nénuphar felt the stone against her hand. The wall was very smooth, and had nothing to grab, but it did allow her a little support and partial rest.

The bear on the other hand found no help, and began swimming along the wall in search of some kind of beach or rock. Nénuphar bobbed along behind him kicking off the wall and propelling them all forward in bursts. Finally, Yetta announced that she could see some rocks ahead.

It turned out that the rocks where at the base of the waterfall, and while they did provide a place for all of them to rest, it slick and cold. Yetta and Nénuphar clung to the rocks as Nénuphar worked to catch her breath.

“Your cat,” said Yetta with a slight laugh, “climbed right up on the bears back and rode there.”

“Is he okay then?” asked Nénuphar.

“Yes.” said Yetta, “Give me your hand.”

Yetta dragged Nénuphar over to another rock where here hands were felt the familiar tongue. She put her hand on Griffe’s body, and found him to be shaking like a leaf. She then touched Yetta’s back, and found her shivering wildly as well. The bear on the other hand seemed to be doing fine. His fur and layers of fat stored for hibernation seemed to keeping him warm.

Nénuphar quickly cast her endure cold spell on Yetta and Griffe. Their bodies relaxed, and they all rested as best they could under the deluge from above.

After a few minutes Yetta spoke up, “I see a ledge above us that looks like it might be dry.”

“How far up?” asked Nénuphar.

“About fifteen feet.” was the reply. “There are no rocks to climb so you will have to use pass through stone, but you should be get up there pretty easily.”

“We go together, or we don’t go.” said Nénuphar flatly.

With a sigh Yetta agreed, “Okay, but let me cast the spell, we may need your magic.”

Nénuphar agreed and Yetta cast the spell wide enough to catch all of them including the bear cub. They then began to work their way through the stone. Moving horizontally was not to difficult, but moving upward was surprisingly difficult. They held hands, and tried to work their way up, finding it as difficult as if they were climbing a pile of rocks. Their movement smooth, but with Yetta unable to user her legs, she had to be dragged upward by Nénuphar. When they realized how difficult it was, they stopped trying to drag the bear cub with them, and just concentrated on getting up to the ledge.

They did eventually struggle their way onto the ledge, and lay down to rest. The ledge was wide enough for them to lay side by side with a few feet extending beyond their heads and feet.

“Wow,” said Nénuphar, “That was harder than I thought.”

“Yah.” said Yetta quietly, “It was much easier when I could walk.”

Nénuphar sensing Yetta’s thought quickly spoke up. “…but we will figure this out. We are all in this together, and we will all get out of this together!”

When Yetta didn’t immediately respond she continued insistently, “Got it!?”

“Okay, okay.” said Yetta resignedly, “We are all in this together.”

Yetta rolled over to check on the bear cub before canceling the spell. He had remained lying in the waterfall, and looked like he had fallen asleep. She took a deep breath and cancelled the spell allowing them to once again feel the solid cold stone under them.

Suddenly there was a humanlike scream and a splash. Nénuphar sat up abruptly, almost knocking Yetta off the ledge.

“Shhhhh!” said Yetta placing one hand on Nénuphar’s should and staring intently into the water below them. “There is something in the water below us.” she whispered.
They both held their breath as Yetta watched. The form thrashed a little then went still. It seemed to have settled onto a ledge several feet below the surface.

After another minute Yetta suddenly sucked in a deep breath and whispered, “Its a naga.”

All that Nénuphar knew about naga were that they were at war with Yetta’s people over fish.

Yetta saw the naga slowly rising to the surface, and quickly whispered to Nénuphar, “Do you still have that knife?”

To here surprise she found it still in her belt. She drew it out and handed it to Yetta.

“Oh wait” said Yetta, “It is hurt. It is… SHE is hurt badly. She is bleeding from her gills, and… oh she hurt very badly.”

“What should do?” asked Nénuphar.

“Well we don’t want the whole naga army coming down on us.” said Yetta. “She doesn’t seem to have any weapons, but I have heard that the female naga are the most vicious.”
Yetta looked down again. “Wait, she is trying to climb up on a rock near the bear cub.”

Suddenly they both heard the bear cub growl menacingly, then a splash.

“She has gone back in the water, but is trying to stay on the surface.” said Yetta. “She can’t swim, and is trying to get air into her lungs, but I don’t think it is working.”

Suddenly Nénuphar began casting a healing spell, and grabbed the knife from Yetta. With one hand glowing blue she cast a light spell on the dagger and jumped off the ledge.
Shielding her eyes from the light, Yetta watched as the naga thrash, and try to get away, but quickly went limp and began to sink. Nénuphar surfaced just as the naga slipped beneath the surface unconscious. She dove again touching her should with her glowing blue hand. The light spread into the naga’s body and her gills turned blue and stopped bleeding.

Nénuphar grabbed the naga around the throat and dragged her to the rocks where she could keep the knife at her throat. The naga convulsed and opened her eyes, but immediately closed them again as the light of the dagger blinded her. As she came fully conscious she suddenly writhed and slipped out of Nénuphar’s grip and into the water. She quickly vanished into the depths of the water.

“Lily, quick, get back up here.” said Yetta. “And bring the cub! She will surely be getting more naga.”

Nénuphar quickly cast a spell and began dragging the bear cub into the stone so they could ascend to the ledge. As soon as the cub felt itself inside the stone, it began to thrash as if trying to swim. Its movements were powerful, and Nénuphar could barely hold on as the bear swam upward. They quickly arrived at the ledge and both received a big hug from Yetta. Griffe purred and rubbed against Nénuphar until she picked him up and laid down next to Yetta.

“Can you douce the light?” asked Yetta. “Its hard to see anything.”

Rather than canceling the spell, Nénuphar put the knife back in its sheath completely hiding its light. The four of them sat there huddled together for many hours. Waiting for the naga hordes to return.

After a while the warmth spell began to wear off, and they realized that they were not getting dry. The ledge they were on, the cliffs around them, even the air itself was saturated with water. It was as if it was constantly raining drops of water too small to detect. They all huddled close together for warmth listening and watching for the naga to return.

After a few hours sleep finally overcame Nénuphar, and she tipped over, falling onto Yetta’s shoulder. The movement startled her awake, and she apologized, but Yetta pulled her close and told her to sleep. Before long, Yetta too was asleep. Worn out from the exertions, the cold, and the fearful watching.

When they woke they were both shivering violently, and their teeth chattered when they tried to talk. Nénuphar check Griffe and the cub, and found them warm, but she and Yetta were still wet and dangerously cold. Cast the warmth spell on both of them knowing that her magic was getting dangerously low.

Yetta gave her a hug, and they went back to listening and watching when immediately they heard something. It was a strange humming sound coming from somewhere below them. Yetta strained to see where the sound was coming from, but echoes made it impossible to pinpoint, and she could see nothing in the water below them.

The humming sounded a little bit like the chanting of Nénuphar’s warmth spell, like a child trying to mimic the sounds of its parents talking. The sound grew closer and
louder and, Nénuphar placed her hand on her dagger. Not daring to draw out the light for fear of discover, but preparing in case they were attacked.

Yetta suddenly drew a breath, “There she is. It the naga you saved.” she said in an almost silent whisper. “She is looking up here, and singing.”

When the naga was right below them, she settled onto a rock and opened her hands as if to show that she was not carrying anything.

Yetta hesitated for minute then asked firmly, “Who are you?”

The naga replied in strange grunts and clicks, and then fell silent.

Yetta looked curiously at the naga as she had never had the chance to see one other than their grief encounter earlier. She seemed to be human like from the waist up, but her lower body was more like a eel, covered in small scales. She had a delicate looking fin that extended the entire length of her tail on both the top and the bottom. Near the top is was quite pronounced, and fluttered delicately in the water.

With her dark vision, Yetta could not see colors, but the naga’s skin seemed to be closer to the color of Nénuphar’s skin than her own, while her scaled lower half was much darker. Her hair seemed to be much lighter than Yetta as well. She was dressed in a simple wrap around her upper torso, and no other clothing or tool that Yetta could see.

After a few more tries to communicate, Yetta turned to Nénuphar, “I think I could talk to her if I could cast the languages spell on her and myself.”

“But how can you get down there. You will drown.” protested Nénuphar.

“I will have to move through the stone.” said Yetta, “I am pretty sure I can descend much easier than ascend, but I have to try. She is clearly trying to communicate with us.”

Yetta slipped into the stone and emerged on the rock beside the naga. After calming her down Yetta cast the spell placing her hands on the naga’s throat then on her ears.

“Hello.” began Yetta.

“Hello.” said the naga in a nervous but beautify voice.

“I am Yetta of the Sansen, and this” she said pointing up to Nénuphar, “is Lily, she’s a druid from the surface.”

“I am Sawra.” She said with a bow.

Suddenly they both began pouring out questions: “How did you get here?” asked Sawra.

“We came down from up there.” answered Yetta pointing upward.

“Why did you come?” asked Sawra

“We got trapped, and then fell.” said Yetta

“How are you going to get back up there?” asked Sawra

“We don’t know.” said Yetta

“Are you hungry?” asked Sawra.

“Yes, very.” answered Yetta.

Suddenly Sawra dove into the water. Her head popped back above the water long enough to say, I’ll be right back, and then she was gone. When she returned she was carrying a basket woven of stiff fibers from some unknown plant. Inside the basket two raw fish, several strands of seaweed looking plant, and some strange round bulbs of some kind.
Yetta accepted the basket gratefully, and called up to Nénuphar, “Lily, come down, she brought some food.”

Nénuphar cast light on her knife, jumped into the water, and climbed up on to the rocks beside Yetta. Both Yetta and Sawra had to shield their eyes from the light, but once she was settled on the rock, Nénuphar covered most of the light with her hand.

“Nénuphar this is Sawra.” said Yetta, “Sawra this is Nénuphar.”

They greeted each other and Yetta and Nénuphar both reached into the basket. Yetta pulled out one of the small bulbous plants.
“That is rockweed fruit.” said Sawra.

Nénuphar drew out one of the strands of seaweed which Sawra called rockweed.

“How do we eat these?” asked Yetta.

“Oh, I’ll show you.” said Sawra.

She proceeded to tear the small flower off one end and then peel the skin like a banana. The meat of the fruit was very light colored and firm, like a soft apple or a firm peach in texture. Sawra handed the peeled fruit to Nénuphar, and Yetta peeled another for herself. It was only semi-sweet, but they devoured them all quickly.

When they had finished Sawra giggle a little and pointed at their mouths. As Nénuphar and Yetta examined each others mouths they found that the fruit polished their teeth to a bright white and made them glow slightly. The all laughed a little, and Sawra pulled out one of the strands.

There were no bulb on it like the seaweed Nénuphar had seen at the ocean, but the texture had the same slimy feel. It had no leaves, but strands broke off at regular intervals. The offshoots were thin and broad. Sawra, took off one of the offshoots, and placed it on her lap. Then she took part of the stem and broke it open to reveal a clear water looking liquid that she spread across the shoot on her lap. Then she folded the shoot over like a sandwich and bit into it. It made slight popping sound and she bit of a chunk. The rest she handed to Yetta who tried the same thing.

As first she wrinkled up her nose, and had to force herself to chew it, but as soon as her teeth broke through her eyes opened wide with interest.

“Lily, you have got to try this.” she said enthusiastically.

Nénuphar got another shoot, and took a bite without smearing the juice for the stem on it. It tasted about like it looked, like slimy grass and wood all at the same time. She struggled to chew it desperately hoping the taste or texture would change.

Sawra quickly moved over close to Nénuphar. “No, no, no.” she said with a disgusted look on her face. “Spit that out…. ew. You have to put the stem juice on it or it just tastes like you are eating rocks. Here…”

She broke a part of the stem, and Nénuphar could see that the stem was segmented, like bamboo. She dumped the clear liquid on the leaf, and this time rolled it up and handed it back to Nénuphar. “That is how I like it best.” she said.

Nénuphar again took a bite, this time a bit more hesitantly, and began to chew. She caught some of the ‘rock’ taste, as Sawra had called it then a burst of salt, like the ocean, then the two flavors mixed, and made her whole mouth tingle, as if she was drinking the sparkling fairy wine from home, just not as flavorful.
“Wow.” she said in amazement.

Sawra smiled a big smile, and sat back to let them eat.

Yetta broke open the stem, and dripped some of the stem juice onto her tongue before Sawra could stop her.

“ahhh” she called out stomach lurching, nearly ejecting the lunch already eaten. “That is horrible. How does it do that?”

Sawra laughed a long cute little giggly laugh and then explained. The two eaten separately are too salty and to biter to eat, but together they mixed into a strange reaction that sparkled on the tongue.

Yetta warned Nénuphar against tasting the stem juice alone. “It tastes like the ocean only a hundred times worse.”

Nénuphar was content not tasting the juice for herself. They continued to eat the strands, and through the mishaps as they learned how to mix the shoots and the juice, they both got plenty of both before they got good at spreading the juice just right. Finally they had eaten the last shoot, and Sawra threw the united stems into the water.
Yetta reached in and pulled out one of the white eyeless fish. It was fresh, but already dead.

“I saved the insides, just incase you like those.” offered Sawra enthusiastically.

Nénuphar and Yetta looked at each other hesitantly, but didn’t know what to say.

Sawra shot them both a frightened look and spoke apologetically. “I’m sorry, do you not eat fish?”

“We do…” began Yetta, “…but… we usually cook them before we eat them.”

“Cook them?” asked Sawra.

“Umm yes. Over a … “ Yetta realized the emptiness of the word and she said it, “…fire.”

“Fire?” asked Sawra.

“It is a way to make it hot.” offered Nénuphar.

“Oh.” said Sawra with a strange look on her face. “Maybe we can find some fire around here. What does it look like?”

Now it was Nénuphar and Yetta’s turn to giggle a bit.

“It cannot exist in the water.” said Yetta.

“Why?” returned Sawra.

“Well…” said Yetta as she thought. “Maybe we will show you some time. But for now lets see if can’t find a way to eat this fish without cooking it.”

She looked to Nénuphar who was probably turning a bit green at the thought. “May I borrow your knife?” she asked Nénuphar.

Nénuphar brought out her knife and both the other girls covered their eyes.

“Could you stop the light please?” asked Yetta.

“Okay.” said Nénuphar hesitantly. She waved her hand over the knife and was plunged back into darkness.

“Thank you.” said Yetta. “Just a minute now and you can light it back up.”

She gutted the fish laying its entrails out neatly on a rock placing the basket on them to shield them from the falling water. She then began to scrape the fish to remove the skin when Sawra jumped in to stop her.

“Like this.” she said taking the fish from yetta.

She began to rub the fish against the scales on her lower body, and the skin peeled off as smoothly as the skin of the fruit. When she had peeled off all but the tail, she took the fish in both hands, and bit the tail off spitting it into the water. She then handed the fish back to Yetta.

Just at that moment there was a bellow above them, then a splash, as the bear cub hit the water swimming. It swam up to Yetta, and with one quick slurp swallowed the fish, and nearly both of Yetta’s hands as well.

Sawra screamed, and dove into the water. She reappeared a several feet away, and asked, “What is that?”

“This,” said Yetta pausing to think, “…is Sleepy. He’s a bear cub.”

“But what kind of monster is it?” came the horrified reply.

Before Yetta could respond there was another smaller splash as Griffe paddled toward the rocks.

Another scream, and Sawra pushed further away. “And what is that?”

Both Nénuphar and Yetta laughed. “It’s okay,” said Yetta. “They are friends.”

Just at that moment the cub, standing right next to Yetta did a vigorous shake knocking her into the water where she floundered unable to grasp the slippery rocks. She quickly disappeared beneath the water and Nénuphar called out. “Sawra. Grab her, she can’t swim.”

Sawra dove in and hauled Yetta back up onto the rocks. She then jumped back away from the bear where she swished softly in the water.

“It is so spiky.” said Sawra. “It is worse than a needlefish.”

“Actually he's furry.” said Yetta stroking the bears back, and trying to keep him away from the basket and other fish.

“Furry? What does that mean?” asked Sawra.

“Come and see.” encouraged Yetta.

By the time Sawra got the courage to touch the leg of the cub, Yetta was in a full wrestling match with him. The cub did not even notice and Sawra stroked his leg in amazement. Then the cub won the match and pushed Yetta into the water once again, this time Sawra caught her and held her up. Sleepy tore the basket in pieces and swallowed the second fish whole. Meanwhile, Griffe swallowed the entrails before the water could wash them into the water.

“I guess your—bears did you say?” asked Sawra

“The big one is a bear, and the small one is a cat.” said Yetta.

“I guess your bear and cat like fish.” said Sawra flatly.

“I can get some more, but I’ll have to go all the way home to get them.” she continued. “I didn’t think to bring a net, or we might have just caught some here. It is a great fishing spot.”

Sawra lifted Yetta onto the rocks again, and asked, “Why can’t you swim?”

“I was hurt the first time we fell.” said Yetta pointing upward. “Way up there. Now my legs don’t work any more.”

“Oh, that too bad.” said Sawra sadly. “Can’t Lily heal you like she did me?”

Nénuphar spoke sadly, “I cannot. That healing is beyond my magic.”

“Maybe my dad can help you.” Sawra offered. “He’s a really powerful healer. Come on, and we can get your friends some more fish.”

Nénuphar and Yetta hesitated not knowing what to say.

“What is it?” asked Sawra. “Oh you can’t breath under water can you?”

“Well, no,” said Yetta, “but…”

“Its okay.” said Sawra, “My dad can come to the surface. Come on. I know a great place where you can wait while I go get him.”

“Wait.” said Yetta sadly, “Sawra, my people and yours don’t like each other. I’m afraid you father will probably try to kill us.”

“You’re not some of the fish thieves are you?” she asked.

“Well…” began Yetta. “Lily is not, but my people are probably the once you call fish stealers.”

“Oh.” said Sawra.

She began to look around hesitantly. “So are you here to steal fish?”

“No, no” said Yetta. “We are here by accident. We fell. We just want to get back up there?”

They were all silent for a several seconds. Griffe was trying desperately to find a place out of the deluge, and Sleepy kept shaking, and making it difficult for Yetta to hang on.

Suddenly an idea struck Yetta. “Wait! Sawra! we are actually here to take the fish stealers away where they will never bother you again. Maybe you father would be willing to listen to us if you told him that?”

“But how are you going to do that?” asked Sawra. “They are trapped in that little dry cave at the other end of the lake.”

“Well you saw us move through the rocks, right?” asked Yetta.

“Yes.” said Sawra putting her hands to her gills reflexively.

“Well we are going to take all the fish stealers up to where Lily lives, on the surface.”

“The surface?” Sawra replied.

Nénuphar then spoke up. “It is a large dry cave, way up above us.”

Yetta continued, “If you father can help us reach the fish stealers, we could take them away, and never return.”

Sawra’s eyes widened and she smiled again. “Okay. I’ll ask him. But come with me, and I’ll show you place where you can dry your skin and fur while you wait.”

Yetta finally gave the knife back to Nénuphar who lit it up stashed in mostly covered in her belt. Then the five of them slowly moved off into the water to a large self that dipped into the water at one end, and rose in several broken step to a cave that was dry, and a bit dusty. Sawra helped lift yetta to the top of the steps, and then slid off to talk to her father.