Fira collapsed onto the bank, dragging herself back up to the top so that she was completely out of the water. She didn’t care about the mud and leaves now caking her fur. She just cared that she was no longer swimming. All four of her limbs ached like hell, and her throat hurt when she inhaled from breathing so hard. She closed her eyes and let her body sink into the ground. She tried to tell Destiny thanks for helping her, and that she was probably about to pass out, but she was so tired she didn’t have the strength to talk. The water, she now realized, had been pretty cold, and now her body shivered uncontrollably as it attempted to warm up.

She opened her eyes again, but her vision swam, so she closed them once more and just allowed herself to fall asleep. She did not dream. There was only darkness in her mind as her body rested from such a harrowing experience. She continued to shiver in her sleep, and her body curled around itself. Later, when she woke up, she’d decide not to swim again for a good long time. Swimming wasn’t for her. Not yet.

[Exit Fira]

Words: 201 @Destiny

Destiny hauled herself out of the water after Fira, twitching a couple of times to shake the water from her fur. as she did, she noticed Fira lying nearby, and waddled over as fast as her tiny legs could carry her. The leopard's shudders were violent, and that scared Destiny to no end.

"Fira? Firaa? You okay, Fira?"

No response. She just kept shaking, and Destiny waddled closer, before she pressed herself into the cat's side like a wrinkled little hot water bottle. She waited for a while, patiently for her friend to wake up, until the leopard's limbs curled about her. The platypus rested her bill on the ground, frightened, but there was a steadily growing pain in the back of her skull.

She took deep breaths, and soon followed Fira into slumber.

-Exit Destiny-