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Elnara Aldrich Vice Captain
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 Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:38 pm
It was Jair's first day of life, his first visit to the Seconds world, his first time hanging out with his uncle (whom he already adored), and his first time swimming in a real river. He was excited about all of it and wanting to do everything that he could. He was, almost literally, a bundle of limitless energy.
"Uncle Ryu! Uncle Ryu! Look at me!" he cried gleefully, shooting up out of the water and spreading his black, leathery wings as he dover back into the water. "Look at what I can do!"
He laughed and zipped through the water, arms by his sides as he moved.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:46 pm
Ryu laughed softly at that watching as Jair spent time trying out his tricks. He was most amused by the little mer, not to mention it was nice to at least have another mer around the river.
"Very good," Ryu chuckled, "Good to know swimming isn't a problem for you."
He dunked this head back into the water so he could talk to Jair.
"So what else do you want to do? Or look at?"
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Kara Winters Vice Captain
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Elnara Aldrich Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:54 pm
"I want to do everything!" Jair laughed, attempting a loop-the-loop under the water but getting a little mixed up halfway and ending up upside down instead. He giggled and twirled around so that he was right-side-up again.
"But is there somewhere really really really special that we can explore?" he asked eagerly. "I want to see something special, something that's really special that no one else can see! Is there a place like that, Uncle Ryu? Is there? Will you take me there?"
He floated next to Ryu's face, his enormous green eyes wide with excitement as he waited for his uncle's answer.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 7:58 pm
"Huh......" Ryu thought about for a while.
He looked like he was sitting, though he was more floating in the middle of the river than anything else. There was a place.. now that he thought about it.
"There is, it's easier for us to get there than other people, other people would need a boat or a raft to get in," Ryu explained, "It's a cave that your aunt and I found several months ago near the river, there's water leading into it and there's a bit of land at the end."
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Kara Winters Vice Captain
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Elnara Aldrich Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:03 pm
Jair's eyes opened even wider with excitement. "Can we go there, Uncle Ryu? Can we? Can we? Please? I bet it's real pretty! I want to see it! Which way is it, can you point me the way?"
He swam in circles around Ryu's head, looking around this way and that to see if he could spot the cave (though he didn't know what a cave even was) from where they were at the moment.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:07 pm
Wow.... Feng would love this kid was the first thought that came to Ryu's mind, then again Aliya would love this kid. Though he wasn't sure how Elnara would feel about them taking Jair along.
"Calm down," Ryu put up a hand to stop Jair before he became dizzy, "We're going to go that way," he pointed in one direction.
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Kara Winters Vice Captain
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Elnara Aldrich Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:11 pm
"That way?" Jair asked, stopping and pointing the way Ryu had pointed. A slow grin crept over his chibi face, and he giggled. "Okay!"
And like a shot he was off, zipping down the river with all the speed that he could manage, his wings unfurled and flapping along to help him as if he were flying under the water.
Of course, his speed would be nothing compared to Ryu if Ryu decided to try to go quickly, but to him it was still exhilarating. And he knew that he couldn't get lost - it was after all a river, and there were no turnoffs.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:16 pm
Ryu followed after catching up with Jair within several large strokes of his tail. It was a good thing Jair wasn't that big, otherwise he might have a trouble making sure the kid didn't get away from him.
"It's not hard to miss, there's a gap in the sides of the land in the river where the cave is," he explained, "Up on the surface the river passes a cliff."
It would have been temping to say that it was all carved into the cliff over time, but he knew that the world was not that old. It was probably put there when the world was created, just one of the gifts this place had.
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Kara Winters Vice Captain
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Elnara Aldrich Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:21 pm
Jair was obviously surprised when Ryu caught up with him, and though he didn't slow his pace he stared at his uncle as they swam side by side.
"How did you catch up?" he asked, amazed. "I'm going real fast, faster than fast I'm speedy fast!"
And he tried to put on an extra spurt of speed, but one wing caught against the current and stopped him altogether, jolting him a bit. He blinked for a moment, confused, then peered over his shoulder at his wings. One of them was a little twisted now, folded in a very uncomfortable and borderline painful position.
"Uncle Ryu," he said in a very small, frightened voice, his eyebrows in a very worried upside-down V, "can you help me?"
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:30 pm
Ryu moved himself so he was above Jair, reaching down so he could rearrange the wing back to the way it was. Gently he coaxed it back to it's original form.
"You should probably keep those tucked in when you're going against the current," Ryu suggested gently, "And I just have a more powerful stroke to my tail, that's how I caught up with you."
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Kara Winters Vice Captain
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Elnara Aldrich Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:33 pm
The moment his wing was back to the way it was supposed to be, Jair felt much better, and he smiled gratefully up at his uncle.
"You mean, because you're so much bigger than I am?" he asked in a hopeful tone, flapping his wings a few times to test them before folding them tightly against his back. He kicked his tail a bit, testing his swimming for a moment, and then floated once more next to Ryu's head. "Will I grow that big and strong?"
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:39 pm
"It is quite possible," Ryu agreed as he saw the cave entrance up ahead, "There aren't really many mers so it is hard to compare, but I find mers tend to be quite long. It's the tail," he chuckled, "It adds quite a bit of length."
He carefully steered Jair towards the cave entrance.
"It's going to become very dark for a while once we get in, so stay close."
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Kara Winters Vice Captain
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Elnara Aldrich Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:52 pm
Jair was about to reply that he wasn't afraid of the dark, he had been born in the darkness of the night after all, when he saw just how dark it was going to be, seeing the complete absence of light in the cave they were about to enter.
He clamped his mouth shut and swam over to Ryu's back, putting his stubby arms around Ryu's neck and holding on so that they wouldn't get separated.
He felt a twinge of fear as the darkness drew nearer, but he refused to show it and continued on at the same pace.
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 8:57 pm
He could feel Jair holding onto him, and he didn't mind, it made sure that he didn't lose the boy. That would be a bad thing to tell Elnara with Celebor missing and all.
"There are lights set up at the end of the tunnel, so it won't remain dark for long," he assured the boy.
While there was no proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, there was light shining through the waters at the end of the tunnel. Reflecting off of the white sand that was under the waters.
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Kara Winters Vice Captain
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Elnara Aldrich Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 9:02 pm
Jair remained silent still, but his eyes were wide and his heart was pounding as they swam forward into what was for him the unknown. Yes ... yes, he could see a glint of light far, far ahead - at least, he thought he could. He wondered what it was shining off of, for there seemed to be something there besides the light - and there seemed to be some sort of echoing light in many different colours ...
He clutched Ryu's neck a bit more tightly and folded his wings even closer to his back, making himself as small as possible as if trying to hide from the possible unseen dangers that lay ahead.
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