Welcome to Gaia! ::

His lungs throbbed and felt torn but he thought it felt normal after coughing so much. Still reflecting on that, Dash froze in confusion until he realized what Kanja meant to do by pressing his ear to his chest. "I'm glad it sounds normal." He didn't want to worry Kanja any more than he already had. He took the offered hand and got up to his feet.

He followed Kanja's gesture with his eyes and nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. We should go slow too so I don't worry you."

"Never go deeper than my waist. About where you stand now. Got it." Kanja's serious demeanor really did impact his sense of danger, as if drowning wouldn't. It was not far out at all, in fact he wondered how well he could swim in such shallow water, but he was not the expert and would soon find out. He was content with that (though excited to get started).

Floating! That was a good start. He squatted down in the water then raised himself with his arms. He felt his feet begin to bob at the surface. But he was not sure what to do next.

Dash lay back as instructed and let Kanja make sure he did not sink. The sensation of just floating was strange, but also very nice. Once or twice the water covered his ears and he began to worry that he would sink again. But he didn't. He looked up at the other boy and said, "I like floating. It's almost like my body is falling asleep."

"Flying?" Since he had never done either on his own, Padparadscha could only guess as well. "Yes, that does sound nice."

He was not so sure he liked the sound of floating face down but he trusted Kanja. Actually, it was not so much a question of trusting him as not trusting himself. What if he choked again? If he choked, then he choked. Or snorted up water. But with an effort, he pushed what-ifs aside. They would serve no practical purpose.

He nodded and put his legs down and stood up. "That seemed, hm, pretty easy. Did I do all right?"

Padparadscha did not like floating face down as much as face up. He felt some measure of fear not being able to breathe. But Kanja's hands were on him as before and when he focused on that his fear began to disappear. Actually both forms of floating were quite similar. His body bobbed on the surface of the water, the sensation of drifting or sleeping taking hold.

When lunch time came, Dash started the fire and at the same time tried to watch Kanja's technique at capturing fish with his bare hands. (He found he could only do one at a time.) He knew he could do it like Kanja eventually, but maybe he was doing something wrong. He tried to memorize the sea-dragon child's movements so that he could mimic them later.

After lunch, Dash considered Kanja's question. There were elements that still bothered him. His fear kept gripping him. "There are some times when I'm afraid of it. But I think with practice I won't fear. I like it though. So I know I will like it more with practice."

Padparadscha laughed. "As good as you! No way!" He rolled a bit in mirth feeling his full belly bulge a little. "Thank you. I will see if I can make my fear into motivation." He had never thought of trying to use his fear as a boon. But it was a great idea. "I want to learn more about the water, too."

Dash nodded. There probably were books about it on the ship. But Kanja was a first-hand source of information and much better at conversation. He thought about where Kanja wanted to explore. "It sounds like a great quest to undertake. Could one person learn everything there is to learn about water in their lifetime?" Dash found that there wasn't any one thing he was fascinated by, not enough to go on such a journey. "I wonder if I could do something like that, too, someday."