Zuzu's first cave: Her First Adventure

An injured sea skimmer sits along the ocean floor, a mile from the nearest shoreline, breathing ragged and heavy as she prepares to birth her pups. Her run in with a corrupted Aqrion, left her body with deep gashes along her belly. Before long out pops a rather tiny sea skimmer, no bigger than 6 inches from mouth to tail. Blinking into the world, before her eyes can adjust to the hues of the lagoon, she hears a faint trilling before hearing “Welcome, my darling Azurae.” The voice is soft and welcoming in her head, giving her the name Azurae, before the trilling fades leaving Azurae in the silence. She instinctively nuzzles her mother, the warmth of her body fading into the cool waters around them.

 

A brief sadness travels down her spine, but at that moment a shadow eclipses the beams of sunlight from above, turning her sadness into curious wonderment. One last nuzzle before she begins to swim toward the shadowy figure. Awkwardly flipping through the water as she learns the strength of her body. After swimming for what seemed like hours, she manages to catch up to the shadowy figure. Swiftly she propels herself into its path as she comes face to face with a wisp. The turtle-shaped wisp stared at the tiny sea skimmer, curious as to how such a tiny creature could have found him with relative ease.

 

He dances around Azurae before she hears another deeper voice resonating from the wisp, “My my, are you lost little one?”

 

“Lost?” Her thoughts, her sadness swirling around the two of them, palpable and unlike that of the two creatures she’s encountered after her birth. “Not lost.”

 

“Oh my dear. I did not think that the old skimmer had survived. Did she give you a name?” He slows his dance to float inches from her snout, his head tilting down as if offering a greeting.

 

Mimicking the wisp she closes the small gap, touching her snout to his head before bowing in a similar greeting. “Azurae. My name is Azurae.”

 

Chuckling softly as he begins his dance again, “A pretty name indeed. Come now, Azurae. We should not stay here.” 

 

As he knew the ocean’s waters would be too dangerous for the itty bitty creature, even if they were near enough to shore. He knew the lagoon would provide an easier time to protect the tiny creature until she grew a bit bigger. Even though she had caught him by chance, he felt she was a special Aqrion and the moment she bumped her snout atop his head, he knew he would never leave her side. 

 

The years flew by in a flash and if you didn’t know Azurae’s beginning, you’d think she’d been born into the perfect life. Take today for example, swimming around her corner of the lagoon overjoyed. 

 

“Oh Cleo! I can’t wait! When are we going to that cave? That one you told me we were gonna visit! Oh come on Cleo, please! I’m old enough now! I am!” Azurae begs as she darts through the water, doing a terrible job at containing her excitement.

 

The same deep chuckling she’s heard her whole life rings through her mind, “Ever patient, my dear Zuzu. Yes, today is the day we agreed on. Your 17th year.” Humming as he swims to catch up with her, “It seems like just yesterday you had nearly followed me out to the open ocean.” 

 

Slowing down to swim next to Cleo, her excitement dies slightly as she remembers their fateful encounter, one of her favorite memories of their adventures together. “Mhmm, you love that story just as much as I do, but today is the first real step for me. I finally get to see something different, something new! And Cleo, I can not wait to explore this cave and everything beyond.”

 

The two swam side by side toward the cave, joking about what things they might find inside. How dark would the cave be? Would they even make it far before being completely at the mercy of the darkness. What kind of critters might they see in there? Would they be friendly? Would they find forgotten treasure? Or would they find an old foe?