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Aiko was slowly drowning. One minute she's luring a crew member to her cabin for a midnight snack and the next she's tossed into the freezing water of the sea. She told the ship captain that sailing during a storm was something she was strongly against. Not for the fear of a siren's song, but because she couldn't swim. God! I knew I should've taken those lessons from the Aqualite rouges!!! She cursed at herself silently as she struggled to stay afloat. With each new wave she felt herself grow weaker and weaker. After hours of fighting, Aiko saw that there was no hope for her and let the tide take her under

Go to sleep?!?! Did this girl.... no, Katya.... Did this Katya girl just tell her to go to sleep?!?! Aiko was starving, even more so from her near death experience!!! and she was expected to sleep?!?! She needed to feed, and soon. But with her weakness and the sun's rising, she had no choice but to either lay there miserably or try to rest. At least she was covered from the sun. "Thank you" Aiko mumbled, and relaxed against the sand.

The day passed as Aiko slept. Just before the sun set, she woke to the sound of a soft scurrying some distance away from her. She sniffed at the air and smelled a family of rabbits. Aiko smiled. Rabbits, a perfect meal. As the sun sunk further out of view, she straitened and searched for any sign of the girl. She didn't want any witnesses to her mealtime. It was often embarrassing! Seeing none, she took off to where she knew where the rabbits were. With her well heightened reflexes she caught one after another, draining them dry before any had a chance of escape. After her meal she counted: 7. She had only meant to take a couple, not the whole family!! Guilt ridden, Aiko dug each a grave and buried them quickly, saying a short prayer of thanks for each life.

Feeling satisfied, Aiko walked quickly to the shore to wash herself. She covered her face, in case anyone happened to appear. She washed, fixed her hair, and waited patiently for her rescuer to return so they may have their promised 'talk'.

Aiko poked at the fish that Katya placed in front of her. Ick, no blood left in this thing.... "Well, my name is Aiko, and you're almost right about the Dark Empire thing. I'm on my way there from my home...... elsewhere."

Aiko poked the fish again, then took a bite out of it. Wow. This isn't half bad. She took another bite and looked up at Katya. "You say 'all the way out here' as if I'm officially lost. Am I too far away from it now? Is there anyway for me to get over there that doesn't involve sailing? I mean, i hold no grudges, but the least you could've done was give a person warning before you sunk their ship. Especially for the non-swimmers."

Aiko took one last bite of her fish, then went to go bury the remains next to her rabbit meal. She said her quick prayer and walked back to go sit next to Katya. "So.... Would you be willing to lead me to the empire?"

Aiko, after swallowing water instead of air and almost dying again, decided that learning how to swim was a new form of tourture. Katya was very determined to have Aiko learn how to swim and even though she didn't understand the reason why, she was glad to have someone that chose to be by her side and help her out.

One more try, and I think I might actually die if i don't get anymore rest. Aiko swam.. ok, paddled, back to shore to plop down in the soft sand of the shore. There was no way she was going to live through this. "Hey Katya, can't I just sleep here and wait for another boat to pick me up? At least that way, I wouldn't be comitting suicide!"

Aiko sat up to see the sea and marveled at the beauty of it all. How the hell did something so beautiful somehow become so hazardous to one's health?! Her thoughts filled with water filling her mouth and her lungs catching on fire, and shivered. Instead, she decided to stare at Katya's drawings. Some of them seemed to take the shape of pretty objects while others looked as if a two year old was doodling. Getting quite bored herself, she decided to pick up a nearby stick and do some two year old doodles of her own.

She drew pictures of her home, her cat, and finally, of the sea. Rather bored with that, she began to dig in the sand for seashells. Giving up rather quickly, Aiko sat back down beside Katya. "OK, Katya. How about you tell me a little bit of yourself. You really don't have to, I just want something to stop this insane silence and boredom!"

Aiko was about to take Katya up on her offer to rest and swim some more tomorrow, but quickly thought against. What if I forget everything from today and almost die again tomorrow? I was at least able to keep my head up for like 10 seconds, right? Plus, she was too prideful to think that she may resemble a weakling for putting it off until tomorrow. "Nah, I think I can work on it a little more. Just... Wait here for a few seconds, ok? Aiko ran back to where she buried the family of rabbits and ran a little to the right where she sensed foxes. Ahh no chance of me gorging myself this time. Aiko quickly caught them, fed, then buried them and said her prayers. She then ran towards the shore and plunged into the sea, fired up and ready to go.

Aiko was proud of her slow improvements. She went from being able to delay drowning by a couple of seconds to successfully floating on her stomach. Now for the hard part, moving fowards. Cordination was not one of Aiko's strong points. If her arms decided to paddle, her legs wouldn't move properly. If she decided to kick her legs, her arms wouldn't carry her. Ahhh! How do people even manage to do this? Katya even looked graceful with it! But still Aiko pushed herself forward, determined to learn this within the shortest amount of time.

Aiko had no choice but to listen and take a break this time. If she didn't dislike storms before, she did more so than ever now. She flopped herself up on a rock, too tired to remember to keep her magic in control. Her shadow quickly wavered onto the rocks. Please, oh please Fede, do not let her see it moving. The last thing she wanted was to be treated like a freak because of something she learned. She stood up on the rock and, through her observation, rock-hopped her way back to shore. Don't know how I did it, but I made it.

Aiko quickly glanced at Katya, still praying that she didn't see her shadow move of its own accord. "Um... You keep the fish. I'm quite full on sea water, thank you." She patted her stomach to add emphysis on her statement. "So. About shelter. How do you suggest we go about finding some. I mean, you could just go underwater and wade it out. I can find myself." Without waiting for any response, Aiko quickly turned and ran towards the surrounding forest. "I promise to find you once it's all over!" she called over her shoulder.

Once under the cover of the trees, she let her shadow run rampant. It first turned into a mirror image of her, then quickly turned into a snake, a hawk, a rat, then finally settled on the figure of a cat. Aiko braced herself against the trunk of a tree and sent her shadow to go find a dry place to hide. The cak quickly ran off, then returned a few moments later, her shape bigger than before. She chased off some other poor creatures. Aiko followed her shadow to the dry place, a cave set deep into the forest. Ahh... She must've chased away bears. "Good girl." She patted her cat's head absently as she walked in the cave,her shadow following. The cave wass tall enough that neither one of them had to duck. Her cat brushed passed her and curled up on the cave floor. Aiko flopped onto its side, glad she made her solid. The storm started raging outside while Aiko slept safely inside.