Asleep. Then not asleep. Awake now. Aware now. Where is she? Is it a she? It feels like a she? Who is to say? Must leave now. Time to get out. Out, out, out! And out she goes. She? Yes, she. Already said that. Must’ve forgotten.

Choking. Choking! Can’t breathe! So easily from her shell! What happening now? Head bursts from the top of the water. Being washed downstream. Can’t swim! Can’t swim! Paws churning. Tiny lungs. Still choking. Light blinding…

Not moving. No more. Still now. Good now… What now? Looks up, around, dazed. What noise? Oh. River. River noise. But how does she know ‘River’? Shrug. Just knows. Tired now. Sleep…

Noise. What noise. Eyes open. Blink. Blink more. Where? … She remembers! Came from shell. Then… choking. Scary. Bad. But not choking anymore. Right? Right. Stand up. Shaky. Hard to walk. Must walk. More walking. Stop, look, sniff the air. Where to now? Cold… Why cold? Wet. Wet and cold. Yuck. Water means wet.

Must get warm. Move away from water. Water bad. Water cold and wet. Not good water. Scary water. Hate water! No more water, now. Water gone. Good. Blue thing. What blue? Crackly blue light. From far away. What? Must go. Go forward. Walk. Go towards Blue Light. The Spire.

T H O R N

Thorn was walking along Polaris's crystal river when something brown flit across his vision, and he gasped as he saw someone get swept away downstream. Immediately his heart started pounding with fear. He had to do something! Without really knowing what to do and being seized by panic, the leopard cub spurred all four of his big, fluffy paws to run downstream and chase after the drowning figure from the banks.

The cub wasn't really thinking, he was just really scared that he wouldn't be able to rescue it in time, plus he had never even swam before! Luckily, he saw the brown-colored animal get washed up on the other side of the river. Thorn stopped running, chest heaving and adrenaline pumping from the scare they gave him. He kept his anxious gaze on the other creature, making sure it was alright. He was worried at first because it didn't appear to be stirring, but then he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw movement. Oh good! Thorn watched as the brown thing began walking towards the Spire, as if driven by a motive that he couldn't see.

Although it seemed alright at the moment, it had given Thorn a huge fright and he wanted to make sure it didn't need any help. Taking a deep breath, Thorn leaped into the water and instinctively began to move his paws. Oh, swimming wasn't as hard as he expected it to be. It was quite easy really and he quickly caught up to the brown thing once he got back to dry land. "Hello there." He said gently in hopes that he wouldn't scare the other being. It's fur was all dark and wet from being in the river, but he was now dripping as well. "Are you okay? I, uh, saw you in the river."