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[+] Kursha Vidari

At the seadweller's sudden announcement, Kursha could not help but grin. She appeared to be all right—dirty with mud and soot, but otherwise unharmed. Taking the satchel, he dusted it down and unhooked the latch. While it did not look familiar, perhaps the contents would shed a little light on the identity of the previous owner. Unfortunately as he rummaged through, he found nothing of the sort. He did however find a compass, some bandages, a boomerang, and...

His attention snapped back to Lorata. The young seadweller had made it to a dry patch up ahead. Something twisted in his stomach. The smoothness of the surface, the lack of natural debris... He could not be sure what alerted him, but suddenly he felt a note of panic. “Lorata, wait...!”

Just like that she was gone.

For a moment Kursha froze, staring at the spot where Lorata had disappeared. Then he sprang into action. Grabbing his rifle, he clicked on the safety, and sprinted over to the seemingly dry patch. He came to an abrupt halt at the edge. Careful not to get too close, he lowered the butt of the rifle towards the surface. It sank as easily as if he had dipped it in water. Thrusting his whole arm in, he fished around for the seadweller. Nothing. With another curse, he yanked the weapon free.

He scanned his surroundings. What could he do? What could use? His gaze settled on a nearby bush. The branches looked sturdy enough. Unclipping one side of the satchel's shoulder strap, he made a loop and cinched it to a branch. He gave it a tug. The branch gave but did not break. Good enough. Kursha returned his gaze to the sinkhole. He took a deep breath, trying not to think about the insanity of what he was about to do. Then, holding the opposite end of the satchel, he dove in.

For close to half a minute the surface of the mud was still. The branch creaked under a sudden burden. Seconds later, it relaxed again. A bubble formed at the top of the mud. Then it erupted. Literally. Kursha and Lorata were ejected forcefully from the pit, the former with a tight grip on the latter. They landed several yards away, splashing down into the bog.

[+] Kursha Vidari

Kursha sat up immediately, hacking and coughing. Despite his resolve (and common sense) not to open his mouth during his dive into the sandpit, sand somehow lined his gums and tongue. More filled his sniffnode and sponge clots. Even his hair soaked it up like a sponge. He gave his head a furious shake, whipping up a miniature, personally localised sandstorm. As he did he felt some sand slip down the inside of his jacket. It was ******** everywhere.

After a moment, he glanced over at Lorata. The seadweller lay motionless next to him. Her chest neither rose nor fell. Kursha panicked. He leaned over to clear the sand from around her gills, and then slapped her across the face. “Hey! Breathe, damn it!” he shouted, hoping to elicit some kind of reaction. Lorata gave him none. Kursha clenched his teeth. “s**t.” Flipping himself over, he prepared to force air into her lungs. He had no sooner placed his hands on the seadweller's chest when she gave a sudden lurch.

Kursha withdrew to give the girl space. As she spat up mud and sand, he felt nothing but empathetic. He had been in her position only moments before. She had been under longer than he had though, and was considerably smaller. It was one of the few times in his life he felt pure, platonic pity.

“You okay?” He asked, when she had finished. The seadweller sat up a little straighter. If she were not covered from hoof to prong in sand, she might have even looked dignified. Her eyes paused on her lusus before she addressed Kursha. He could not help but quirk a smile at her response.

“That's what heroes do, isn't it?” he teased. Dusting himself down, he stood up, then offered a sandy hand to Lorata. “Tell you what, let's see if we can a water source that isn't disgusting and get cleaned up a bit. Sound good?” He pulled the seadweller to her feet. “In fact, a ways back I saw a pond that didn't look too bad.” Releasing her, Kursha started back the way they had come.

The rebels could wait another twenty damn minutes.