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Aoi made sure to remain perfectly calm for the impling, getting as close as he needed to feel safe. He gave Shade’s hand a slight squeeze as they went deeper into the water, nice and slow…he had a feeling he might end up carrying him by the time the water actually got deep. He remained as what he needed…a calm, patient companion, on that would understand his fear. “We’ll keep going until you’re swimming, but don’t worry…you can take as long as you want to start, and I’ll be there to keep you up when you need…”

His mist began surrounding them, wrapping them both in a sort of soothing warmth, blanket-like to comfort the fear-stricken impling.

As Aoi felt the impling’s panic level rising, he himself grew a little nervous – What if this was too much for Shade? He’d never helped someone end a phobia before…this was a new area of the mind to him, he was a novice. He only hoped he could help Shade conquer this fear. He blinked, thinking it might be time to stop for a while, and slowed their descent into the water momentarily – but then heard the other’s voice.

“…Stop? Oh, sure, of course, Shade…” He spoke softly. He tried to absorb some of the fright, some of the trembling, anything to help soothe his friend. He kept him held close, that was certain. “See how well you’ve done…? You deserve a nice rest, just relax…” One arm was wrapped around Shade’s midsection warmly, supporting some of his weight should he need the aid.

As Shade made his attempts to relax, Aoi remained as still as he could, to just be a single stable point for the boy, who was literally bathing in his fears. His mist continued to fill the air, calming, soothing however it could, Aoi simply wishing to help Shade lift this weight. “You can take as long as you like, don’t worry.”

He rubbed gently at the small of Shade’s back with a palm, trying to calm him however he could. Now, how to distract the impling from the water, he could tell Shade was trying to think about other things, so… “Oh, look, some of the birds seem to be visiting.” He pointed southward, towards a tree speckled with little red spots; perched in its branches were many parrots, oddly tropical, all green save for the aforementioned spots. A half-loud squawk was heard from somewhere in their ranks.

Aoi literally had all day, so the impling needn’t worry about taking his sweet time with this. Eventually, he would help him go deeper, he’d make sure that fear was gone by the time this was over. For now, he kept wrapped close, nothing like a living comfort blanket to help you through a fear, eh?

His eyes drifted over to the parrots once more, glad that Shade was speaking. “Oh, mmhmm, they live in these trees. My Dad bought a ton of parrots so they could live here instead of in some cage, they’re basically pets.” He smiled a bit at the thought of Elst trying to explain why he just bought several dozen exotic birds.

“Hey, I have an idea…why don’t I just lean back, and you can lean back with me…we can look at the sky and the birds for a while so you can relax, I’ll support your weight.” While pointedly making sure not to mention the water directly, Aoi was generally just trying to get Shade a bit more submerged under the water…this way, at least, Shade wouldn’t have to go any deeper into the lake; he hoped this would be more comforting.

Where had that money come from, anyway?

There were many things that brought in revenue for Elst’s use; the Nursery practically dominated its competition, for example, and got a large amount of business, plus time and money were saved by Elst doing most of the work himself, and accelerating the growth of his plants. The big profit, though, was in what he did not spend. The only food he bought was for Aoi, Longway, Misha, and guests; he himself did not need to eat. For his own utilization, he never bought luxuries, at least by the definition of others. To him, a new coat would be thought as a frivolity. These factors amongst countless others resulted in Elst’s spending money having a strong tendency to pool and accumulate, keep growing with few things drawing away from it.

Another huge factor? Remember Josev? His fortune had in part come from wise investing, and he was more than happy to help Elst invest his money to help it grow.

To put it shortly, Elst wasn’t what you’d call rich, but…he rarely bought anything, and all that saved cash tended to pile up. Multiply it with investments and, well…you get the picture. Most other spending money just went straight back into the Nursery.

Aoi nodded just slightly as Shade agreed, quietly talking about all the different types of birds, where each different-colored bird had come from, for example. He kept warm, closely wrapped with Shade and he hoped Shade wouldn’t notice he’d slowly leaned them both back, beginning to just serenely float in the water. Yes, focus on the birds…

Aoi smiled softly as he continued to lean back, the duo of Essentic and Impling now beginning to float. He kept close, comforting, doing all he could to help Shade relax. "You're doing great, you know..." He let them drift along, making sure not to float over the deeper water, and the forest around them seemed perfectly quiet. Every now and then, the cry of some tropical bird could be heard, but nothing else. Gentle breezes moved through the air.