Apzohra followed Bartos in this new room that had a lot of water. She had never seen this much water before! Origin Cave was beautiful, it was her home after all. She looked amazed as she looked at every detail of the room. Having just been assigned a new mentor, the young gembound was eager to learn of the cave, and its ways. She was going to learn from Bartos how tigers live, and she couldn't wait for her first lesson. What young Apzohra couldn't understand is why Bartos brought her to a room full of water. "What is this place called?" She was going to learn what every room in this cave was called, and couldn't wait to see the rest of it. She was proud to call Origin Cave her home, and proud that it belonged to her. As she told Astraea, she was connected to it somehow. 'My home is so beautiful, I wonder what secrets are in this cave.' She thought in wonder as she stopped. "Bartos, what are we doing in this room? There's a lot of water in here." She followed him eagerly until they came to a stopping point. She sat down with confidence, ready to learn her first lesson in being a tiger. As far as she knew being a gembound was awesome. She was proud to be a gembound, and took pride in the rest of the gembounds who called this place home as well. She would have a lot to learn, and that only made her excitement grow. She listened in intently as she waited for her mentor to speak.

The entire walk there, Bartos felt uncomfortably jumpy. Every small sound, every tiny movement in the corner of his eye was enough to stop the cat in his tracks, his head whipping around to assess his surroundings. He found himself suspicious of every shadow moving across the floor. Even the skittering noise of lesser gembounds fleeing in their wake had him bristling, cobalt eyes searching for evidence that someone, somewhere, was watching him.

He had never been so paranoid before. But even leaving Pisces, the cat had to stop and look two, three, four times, back at his den to ensure nobody was creeping up on it as he left. He had been so wrapped up in his annoyance for Astraea's request that he'd forgotten to steal one last glance at Clover, and now was resisting every urge to turn and go back to her. He had to tell himself over and over again that she would be fine, but he couldn't help but wish he had at least thought to give her a shield of some kind. Encase her in stone, gem; hide her away from the world. Protect her.

It was a relief when they finally reached Fornax, although the heat rolling off of the room all too quickly wormed under his skin and settled under his fur with a swelter. He cracked his jaws open, panting uncharacteristically in the warmth. They crossed the rocky slope down toward the water and stopped just a few feet from the shoreline, where he turned his head to the tiger's questions. "This is Fornax," he repeated irritably, "weren't you listening?"

Maybe she was just too excited about this whole thing. Gemlings had a tendency to be excitable. Ignorant. Bartos sealed his lips and swallowed, stepping closer to the water. "Yes. I'm going to take a bath. And you... I don't know. See how you feel about the water."

Was he even doing this right? He'd never played mentor for anybody before. He didn't even know what kind of magic she possessed - but given her name, he was willing to bet it had to do with the water. So while she kicked off her journey of self discovery, the cat pulled himself to the water's edge, feeling its mild temperatures lap at his toes. His spine twinged with anxiety. Then, he moved in.

It would be nice to clean out his pelt for once.

@Apzohra

Fornax, what a nice name. This was the first room she's been in other than the room called Pisces she emerged from. She looked at Bartos for a moment as he was about to take a bath. She felt a strong pull to the water, as if it was calling her to it. Apzohra, looked at her paws, seeing that there were these things between them. She would soon come to learn that she possessed webbed paws, and that they were there to help her swim. She stared at them for a long moment, flexing her paws for a moment, observing these things between her paws. 'What are these?' She thought for a moment. She took a last look."Bartos what are these?" She walked over to him at the edge of the water as the liquid touched her paws. She showed Bartos her paws, hoping he could have an answer. She knew it was there for something, but what?

The water rushed in all around him. He could feel its weight immediately pressing into his sides, encompassing him enough to fool his whirring mind into thinking he was choking - suffocating - into feeling suddenly claustrophobic, the impact of Hasira's hoof against his leg, of Clover's darkness falling in silken drapery across him. Bartos closed his eyes and breathed, the musty smell of Fornax's humidity filling his nostrils. None of those things could be happening, but they existed still. As memories. Evocations. He paused where the water lapped against his gemstone and tried to push them away.

Apzohra's voice was an unexpectedly welcome distraction. Bartos turned his head, peering back at her as she stood at the edge of the water, asking about something. His brow furrowed slightly, but he soon traced his gaze to the massive, clumsy paws below her, watching as she showed them off to her.

"Those... those are your feet," he pointed out, bemused by the apparent idiocy of her question. They were interesting, though. Unlike his own, they seemed to be connected between the toes. Webbed, almost like the feet of some aquatic Gembounds he had seen. Perhaps they were adapted to swimming - another sign of her potential affinity for water. Though they piqued his curiosity, it was hardly reflected in the flatness of his voice as he added, "You appear to have webbed paws. They may be advantageous to treading the water."

Bartos turned away from her again, stepping further into the water. He was slowly acclimating to the sensation, desperate to find it soothing rather than jarring. It had been so long since he'd last been in water. Could he even swim?

He walked as deep as he could, hesitating where the water surged at his shoulders, and looked back at Apzohra. He would delay entering the depths in favor of watching her, for now.

@Apzohra

She had webbed paws, and they helped her to swim? This probably meant that tigers liked water. She had a strong pull to the water, and was eager to test out these webbed paws of hers. She realized that she was made for water and land. This made her feel very special. Instinctively, she jumped in the water and started to swim for the first time. Amazingly, she was an expert at swimming for her first try. She was swimming like a pro. 'I'm doing it!' She decided to go underwater for a moment. Holding her breath, she went underwater, and it looked beautiful down there. She reappeared on the surface as she floated expertly in the waters of Fornax. "Bartos, look at me! I can swim!" She was having so much fun playing in the water, it felt natural to her. Surprisingly, Apzohra looked as graceful as ever as she swam carefree in the water. She was a tiger after all, and tigers were made to swim. This was the most fun thing she had done since she got in Origin Cave. She splashed all about in the water, not fearing its depths at all. She made sure not to go too deep in the waters of Fornax. She played in the water as Bartos took his bath. She didn't know tigers could be so great in the water, but she loved it!

Almost as if she had been bred for the water, she jumped in and began to paddle around, easily splashing through the mild water like a child playing with a newly discovered toy. Bartos peered back down at the waters, feeling it lash up against his chin, speckling on his glasses. He had no desire to dunk his head beneath the surface like she did - and now that he thought about it, he should probably set his glasses down on the rock. But he was already in the water, so. Bartos retracted his legs and attempted to paddle, but the moment he felt himself sinking, panic gripped him and he planted his paws firmly upon the ground below again.

Perhaps he would try to swim another day.

Bartos retreated a few steps until the water was just up to his belly again, and then he twisted his head around, licking and gnawing at his matted fur as he watched the cub flounder out of the corner of his eye. Every now and then he would pause, regarding her silently, until another thought popped into his head. "Do you know why your name is Swiftwater?"

@Apzohra

Apzohra decided to get back on the land and shook out her coat. She now knew one of the things she was good at, swimming. She looked at Bartos as he asked her a question. She answered him politely. "Nope. I guess it has something to do with water, but I don't exactly know why." She wanted to take a short break from swimming for now but it felt so good. It was as if the water was a part of her, but she didn't know at all what it meant. She took another look at her webbed paws, admiring them. They definitely helped her to swim. She really liked her name, Swiftwater. Alas, the cub had no clue why she was called that. Did Bartos know the answer? All of a sudden she felt a weird feeling in her, it didn't bother her, but it didn't feel right either. She decided to sit down and take a break from all that swimming. Yet she still felt weird. She was thirsty and she didn't feel like walking all the way to the edge to drink. All of a sudden, she did something unbelievable. Water could be seen as it was drawn from the atmosphere and absorbed through Apzohra's body. After a moment she sighed content and hydrated. That felt good, and she didn't even have to drink physically. It took her a second to realize what she just did. "Bartos, what did I just do?" She was confused, yet amazed at the same time. Perhaps there was a reason she was named Swiftwater.

The cat flicked an ear at her answer and tried to refrain from thinking something else exasperated. He pursed his lips slightly, whiskers twitching as he dwelt on her surname for a moment, and then his attention drifted elsewhere, to the patterns of the waving water, the sensations of their tiny crests lapping against his legs. He continued to gnaw at the mats in his fur until he heard her speak again.

Bartos raised his head and glanced back at her, regarding her curiously. "What? I wasn't watching," he replied, finally turning around to face her fully. He hadn't heard her splashing around in the water or anything - in fact, she was out of the water and up on the stony slope now. Whatever trick she had performed, he had missed it.

@Apzohra

Apzohra sighed at the fact that Bartos completely missed what she just did, but that weird feeling still remained. She felt hydrated, but she felt that she could do whatever she did one more time. With a smile on her face she looked at him and spoke. "Don't worry, I'll try and do it again. But please watch this time Bartos." She pleaded to get his attention, she was desperate to get an explanation for what she just did. Making sure he was watching, she tried to do what she just did again. 'Here goes nothing' She sat down and focused to get her bearings. Finally, the young tiger did the amazing thing she did once more. Small droplets of water could be easily seen as it was drawn from the atmosphere and towards Apzohra's body, hydrating her once more. All of a sudden it stopped. "Did you see?" She looked at him with excitement, hoping he saw what she did.