Breathe Deep

“Are you sure it’s this way?” Hael panted as he tried to keep up with Amaryllis. They’d both had a growth spurt, but Amaryllis still managed to be larger than him. Even though she was heavier as well, she had more speed in her step than the young parasaur, and longer strides.

“I’m supposed to help keep watch this evening, I have to be back before sundown,” he protested. Not that he was really told that he needed to be back to keep watch, it was just something he really wanted to do. It made him feel helpful, and kept him from feeling too crowded when he was closer to the edge of the herd than in the thick of things.

Amaryllis’s voice was teasing as she glanced back over her shoulder. “You’re always so serious. Yes I’m sure, and you’ll be back before sundown. Cheer up! We’re gonna find something really tasty here, I promise.”

She could smell the briny scent of sea spray in the air, and the added height that her long neck gave her meant that she could already see the flat stretches of dark, pitted volcanic rock that lay scattered about this part of the island’s shoreline. The breeze blowing in from the ocean carried the gentle sound of crashing waves. They were almost there.

Her eyes squinted with delight as she looked back towards Hael again. She was glad that he’d agreed to come along with her. She was happy to go alone, or to drag her brother along with her, but she thought it would be nice for Hael to get away from his herd for a little while. He always looked so serious or contemplative whenever she saw him - which was often, since their herds frequently tended to wander the same areas. It was nice, she thought, to get to play and talk to someone that wasn’t her brother. A friend. She hoped that Hael thought the same of spending time with her.

Which he did, of course, or he wouldn’t have agreed to come with her. She didn’t seem to mind him being quiet, she just filled in the moments of silence with whatever was on her mind. At the moment, she was going on about the sorts of food that this new place supposedly held. Tangy grass that grew under the surface of the sea, supposedly, but there were also apparently all sorts of weird animals that lived around the shore as well. He didn’t know, he had only ever seen the ocean from far away.

She liked to keep things interesting by going on these “adventures” away from the herd, which had taken him some time to get used to. He didn’t quite understand how her mother didn’t worry more about her. They could be gone for sometimes half the day and he always made sure to let his parents or herdmates know when he was heading off and where he was going, just in case. She seemed to come and go from her herd with little care other than to see if her brother would be joining them, and he wasn’t sure that he’d ever seen her mother get upset that she was gone for the entire time that he had known her. Sometimes… he wondered if she wandered like this because her mother didn’t seem to pay her much attention, but she never seemed bothered by her mother's apparent lack of care, so it was hard to say.

“Told you we were almost there,” Amaryllis said triumphantly as she slowed her pace to a steady walk. Hael was thankful for the change of pace, panting lightly as he slowed down to walk beside her.

He looked around, seeing not much but the aqua hues of the shallow water and the rugged surface of craterous rock where the waves had washed the sand away. “I… don’t see anything.” His stomach growled. She’d promised there’d be something really good to eat here. It was a little disappointing to see nothing that looked remotely edible, other than tough grass that grew out of the sand. That looked pretty unappetising though.

Amaryllis made a quiet rumbling sound that Hael could feel in his bones. She was laughing at him, and Hael shifted his feet. “It’s under the water. Promise you’ll see, we just might have to swim to get it. That dark patch that’s a bit further beyond the shore, see?”

Hael tilted his head back, trying to see what she was looking at, but he ended up having to stand on his hind legs to get the right angle to properly see what she meant. Sure enough, there was a long stretch of water that was a significantly darker colour than the water around it. It didn’t… look very edible.

“There’s probably some that’s washed up along the shore as well, but... “ Amaryllis blew out forcefully from her nostrils. “It’s usually rotten from the sun, or so full of sand it’s hard to eat and would give you a stomach ache. Oh! Sometimes though, there’s kelp as well and that’s really fun. Sometimes it has little balls on the stem that pop when you chew them or step on them.”

“Are they… any good?” Hael asked, curious.

Amaryllis huffed again as she strode across the sand and rock to the shoreline. “Not really. It’s just fun to pop them.”

Oh. Well. That was a bit disappointing, but he was still at least a little curious about them. “What is kelp?” he asked. His gaze traveled up and down the shoreline, wary of any suchomimus that might be patrolling the waters or walking across the sands. They seemed to be safe, for now.

“It’s kinda like grass, but also like a tree. It’s really long and the leaves are super big. It can get nice and crispy in the sun if it doesn’t rot but… “ Amaryllis paused at the water’s edge. The sea grass looked a bit further out, now that she was thinking about how far they’d have to swim. “It’s not very filling when it gets like that. You ready?” she asked, turning her gaze down to Hael.

Hael looked a little more uncertain, now that they were here, but he made a sound of agreement. This would be just like swimming in a lake or across a river, the waves were just bigger here and the water tasted bad.

Fortunately, they didn’t have to start swimming until they had already gone some distance from the shore. Hidden under the water was a sandbar that kept the water extremely shallow for some time. If they had come at low tide, the sandbar might have been entirely exposed, and they would have been able to walk out to the seagrass bed even longer.

When the water did start to deepen, Hael had to swim before Amaryllis did. Though he was tall for his age, her legs were longer than his by far. The waves buffeted him and threatened to knock him over before the water supported his weight entirely, and the choppy surface made it difficult to see if they were actually still going in the right direction.

“Amaryllis I’m not - “ Hael coughed as a wave washed seawater over his beak. “I’m not sure about this!”

“It’s okay, we’re almost there!” she called over the roar of the waves and wind. Both were stronger out here, and almost covered the nervous notes in Amaryllis’s voice. She wasn’t entirely sure about her plan anymore, either. The last seagrass bed she had found had been much easier to get to than this. Out here, the wind, waves, and current were all fighting with them, pushing and pulling them around. She, at least, had the benefit of a longer neck keeping her head higher above the waves. She could still see that they were swimming in roughly the right direction.

“Okay, we can dive here!”

Hael didn’t look optimistic. He didn’t like the idea of diving here at all. This was far different from swimming in a lake. The salt water stung his eyes and nose and tried to choke him when the waves got high enough. He was getting tired, as well.

“It’s not that deep,” Amaryllis assured him when she noticed his hesitation. “C’mon, I’m right here with you!”

She swam closer to him, bumping her shoulder just slightly against his before pulling away again so their legs didn’t tangle up with each other and make swimming even harder. She held her breath and squeezed her eyes shut before she disappeared underneath the waves. Hael treaded water, concerned still. He felt an even more intense jolt of alarm when something brushed against his foot and he almost retreated back to the shore when he realised - it was just her tail, which curved and breached the surface before following her down and disappearing as well.

Hael sputtered as another wave hit him in the face. At least underwater, he wouldn’t have to deal with that. And it felt a little useless to go back now after coming all this way. He sucked in a breath and dove.

Amaryllis floundered slightly beneath the water. With her eyes closed, she had to just feel her way around under the water, and this seagrass bed was deeper under the water than she’d anticipated. She turned her muzzle this way and that, swimming down all the while, until she finally felt the tips of the seagrass brush against her snout. She bit - and missed, then aimlessly bit a couple more times before she finally felt as though she had a satisfying amount of seagrass clamped in her teeth. With a mighty pull, she ripped her gathered mouthful free from the sandy seabed and made her way back to the surface.

Saltwater mist sprayed from her nostrils when she surfaced and exhaled, forcefully clearing the seawater from her nose. She looked around for Hael, treading water. To her dismay, she didn’t see him; maybe he was just taking a while longer than she did.

She was starting to get nervous for him when Hael finally resurfaced a few feet away from her, gasping for breath and kicking at the water to keep himself above the waves. She made a sound that was almost like a moo, calling to him. He trumpeted in return when he caught his breath, and together they made their way back towards the sandbar so they could at least enjoy their mouthful of salty seagrass without fear of being swept away.

They were both exhausted by the time they made it to somewhat solid ground, having fought against the current the entire way back. Hael sat down heavily on the sandbar, flanks heaving as he panted even more heavily now. He glanced towards her as she sat down nearby, and waited for her to start eating the seagrass she’d collected before he started to chew on his own bite.

It had a definite strong, pungent, salty flavour that he wasn’t entirely a fan of, and it was pretty clear on his face what he thought of it. Hael sighed after he swallowed it down, tired. And he was still hungry. That one mouthful hadn’t been much of a meal.

Amaryllis was uncharacteristically quiet for a moment. She felt bad for having dragged him all the way out here just to have to fight for something that he hadn’t ended up enjoying. She liked the flavour, but… there was no way that either of them were going to try to face the waves again for another clump.

“... I know a place where we can get something nice, on the way back,” she offered. When Hael looked a little wary, she continued. “It really is nice! I promise. There’s a whole bunch of flowers blooming in the field right now, and the grass is extra sweet.”

Hael managed a small laugh. “Then why didn’t we go there?”

“Because I wanted to show you the sea!” Amaryllis laughed, immediately light-hearted again. “C’mon.” She nudged his flank with her muzzle when they’d both caught their breath. “It’s not far and we can still get there and be back to your herd before sundown.”

Hael sighed again, more good-natured this time, and heaved himself to his feet. His whole body was so sore and tired, but that was the sort of thing he was going to have to deal with if he was going to be a guard for the herd. He’d probably feel better after a real meal.

“Is there a pond or stream near that field?” he asked, wading through the gentler waves. “That seagrass made me really thirsty… “