“I don’t like this,” he said.“It’s just water, Oko. It isn’t that much colder than the water upstream.”
“That’s not the problem!”
“Then what is?”
Okpokoro perched on the end of the log and gazed into the deep green depths where the brackish water of the delta finally gave way to the salt of the sea. He couldn’t see very far down into the water, but that wasn’t the problem, either. He couldn’t see very far in the water of the river, either; if anything, it was even more silty than the ocean water here. He couldn’t see very far into either of them, but while one was just a fact of life, the other one was an existential threat greater than fire or even hungry bears. This was worse. Way worse! And the fact that Chizoba couldn’t see it—!
He’d been living with the Usdia for a little over two years now, ever since the Wishing Star had washed him up in her delta. But in all of that time, he’d never once stepped foot into the water beyond the shore. The river, sure, and all of its streamlets, definitely. He’d been in probably half of the ponds in the marsh—it was hard to say, there were so many of them, and not all of them were particularly memorable—but never before had he dipped his toes in the ocean before. He was, as he’d repeatedly pointed out to his friend, a river otter, not a sea otter. To which she’d replied that he was also a dragon, and dragons were supposed to be comfortable in all kinds of waters, right?
Well, no, he’d replied, because he was a river dragon otter, not a sea dragon otter. It was right there in the name, Chizoba!
You’ve been in ponds, she’d said. You’re not a pond dragon otter, either.
Yes, but—
And what about lakes? Would Okpokoro refuse to go into a lake, because he’s not a lake dragon otter, either?
They’d had this argument a few times, and neither of them had ever won. Okpokoro had never been able to refute her argument, and Chizoba had never been able to convince him to brave the waves of the sea. (No, they weren’t the problem either, and frankly, Oko was starting to get frustrated with Chizoba’s failure to understand what the problem actually was.)
So what was different about today? Maybe it was the breeze. Maybe it was the way the air smelled today, fresh and enticing. Maybe it was the clear weather, with no signs of storms on the horizons. Maybe it was something different. But when his friend had announced that she was going out into the bay today, he’d finally agreed…he’d join her. In the bay. In the deep, deep, dark green water of the sea.
“It’s just…” Oko shivered. “It’s so deep,” he said at last. He felt like a coward just for saying it. His voice was verging on a pathetic whine, and that made him feel even worse.
Chizoba frowned, and Oko braced himself for her to roll her eyes at him, call him a wimp, tell him that his fears were unfounded…but instead, the Nixie swam back over to him and nuzzled him gently. “Oh,” she said. “Is…is that all…?”
“Is that all?!” He stared at her, shocked. “Do you know what lives in the ocean, Chizo?!”
“Um…Mers?” she said, one eyebrow quirked. “Seathi. Dolphins. Whales?”
“Don’t get me started on whales.” Oko shuddered. “Do you know what killer whales do to little creatures like me?!”
“All the ones I’ve met prefer to be called dolphins—” she started, but he cut her off.
“They play with us!! And not in a nice way, Chizo!! They throw us in the air and hit us with their noses and tails until they kill us!! We’re just toys to them!! And while you may be perfectly lovely, not all Soquili are anywhere near so nice! Some of them are real, real…jerks!! And that’s not to mention sharks, jellyfish, octopi…”
“Octopuses,” Chizoba said, but before he could snap a reply, she sighed. “That’s…all fair, I guess. I’ve never run into anything in the ocean I couldn’t handle. But you are a bit smaller than me, it’s true.” She nuzzled him again. “Nothing’s picked a fight with me in this bay yet. So as long as you stick with me…you’ll be safe.”
He shifted on his paws, staring at the water once again. It was true. He’d never heard any stories about Chizo getting into a fight in the ocean. Or seen any scars on her body from one. So he should be safe, right? As long as he stayed with her? But what if other creatures would pick a fight with her if they saw a little morsel like me with her? He couldn’t see her being able to defend herself against a killer whale, or a particularly nasty Mer. When she got into fights on land, she settled them with words. “Can I sit on your back…?” He knew how pathetic he sounded, but he still didn’t want to get into that water. He still didn’t dare risk it. It still terrified him too much. He wasn’t ready to go into the ocean yet. Not even into the bay, which he knew most wouldn’t consider proper ocean. This was as close as he could bring himself.
There was understanding in Chizoba’s eyes, thank the stars. She nodded, with only a hint of reluctance. This was as close as she was going to get to victory over him in this eternal argument of theirs. “Of course you can,” she said at last. She turned her back towards him. “Hop on!”
He scrambled on her back gratefully. She was damp, which shouldn’t have bothered him in the normal course of things, but it was with seawater, not good, healthy delta water. He was grateful that she was only damp, and not soggy. Her hair was oily enough that she never got soggy, but at the same time… Besides, explaining his distaste would have been impossible. He was used to salt water, it wouldn’t melt his fur or anything. But sea creatures had been in this water! And sea creatures, well…they were terrifying, as if that needed any more emphasis!
And then they were off, into the bay. Sea gulls wheeled and called overhead, screaming their usual assortment of bad language and insults. Surprisingly eloquent creatures, sea gulls, capable of expressing their genuine affection for each other with a litany of foul language. He listened to them for a while as Chizo paddled her way into the water. She tried to keep the swells off of him, bobbing with the water, but she couldn’t help it when little waves washed over his paws. He whimpered.
“You okay back there, Oko?” Chizo said over her shoulder.
“I’m okay,” Oko mumbled. “Just…wet.”
She didn’t say anything, she raised an eyebrow and went back to swimming.
But her moment of distraction cost them both.
She turned her head back to her front in time to meet a particularly heavy swell right in the face, and in an instant, cold, salty water washed over them both and they were both underwater.
Normally, in a nice, proper, shallow river, you couldn’t always see the bottom, but you did know it was there. Out of sight, but always there, and you knew where it was by the currents in the water. Here, in the bay? There was a bottom, alright, theoretically, somewhere below their feet. But Oko had no idea where it was. He was sinking in the water, Chizo was nowhere in sight, and he still couldn’t feel the midwater currents that would tell him where in the water column he was. The seafloor could be just body’s length away from him, or they could have swum out over a deep abyss full of giant squids and glowy things with too many teeth. There was no way of knowing, and the current was throwing the otter around like a leaf in a gale. He looked around frantically for a flash of metallic, orange sheen, but it was nowhere to be seen, only green murk as far as the eye could see.
Oko whimpered again, and bubbles flew out of his mouth, scurrying up to the surface. The surface, yes, he had to get to the surface!!
“OKO!!” The voice rang out in the deep, a heartwarmingly familiar voice. Oko sobbed in relief, then choked as sea water rushed down his throat. Air. He needed air.
He might not have been a sea otter, but he was an otter. He swam up to the surface, as quick as he could. He could cough and splutter there, and find Chizo. His head broke the water and he breathed several deep lungfuls of air, careful to point away from the direction of the swell so that he wouldn’t breathe in sea water again. He scanned the surface, fully expecting to see Chizo somewhere on the surface.
But there was no sign of the Nixie. She was nowhere to be seen.
Underwater. She must have been underwater. Of course! She was looking for him underwater, probably after looking around and realizing he wasn’t on the surface! He took another deep breath and…
Stared at the water. The deep sea. The cold sea—river otter fur was nowhere thick as sea otter fur was. The water was cold in the ocean. And the water was deep. Too deep. Too many things. There could have been things down there. Things looking for him. Things hunting him. You promised you would stay by my side, Chizoba! You promised me I would be safe!!
Chizoba was down there, looking for him. But he couldn’t bring himself to duck underwater again. His breathing, which had steadied for a moment, was speeding up again, coming in short, shallow bursts as he stared down his greatest terror. He had to find Chizoba. He couldn’t leave her here. What kind of friend would he be to abandon her to this depthless hell?! How could he ever look his reflection in the water in the eye again if he abandoned her to her fate?!
“Oko!!”
This time the voice was very close, and Oko snapped his head around. Chizoba was behind him, swimming for him, carried by the swell. In an instant, she was upon him, scooping him up with her head and neck to deposit him on her back. “Oko, are you okay?!”
“I’m fine,” he mumbled. “I just, I got lost…”
Chizo nodded. “Let’s get you back home.”
They were silent for the rest of the swim, not speaking again until they got to shore. Chizo climbed onto the sandy beach and laid down carefully. Oko slithered off her back and curled up next to her on the blessedly warm sand. He was still a little cold. He shivered and snuggled up next to her. “Sorry for panicking,” he said at last. “I’m really sorry, Chizo. I thought I could do this. But I get knocked into the water and suddenly I panic and forget how to swim or float…”
Chizoba nuzzled him. “It’s okay, Oko. I’m sorry you got knocked off. I should have been paying more attention.” She hesitated. “I’m sorry I forced you out there, too. You didn’t want to go, and I wanted you to, so I forced you to go…and I shouldn’t have.” She bit her lip. “I’m a terrible friend.”
Oko wheezed. He couldn’t help it. His wheezing turned into a giggle, and then into laughter.
Chizoba glared at him. “What’s so funny?!”
“It’s just!” He wiped his eye with his paw, howling with laughter. “I thought the same thing!! When I couldn’t find you! I was going to go back into the water to go looking for you, but I couldn’t, and I thought I was such a terrible friend because I was abandoning you!”
“You weren’t abandoning me, Oko,” she said. She sounded confused and more than a little annoyed. “I swim underwater in the bay all the time. I know my way back to shore.”
“I know, I know…but it’s…it’s just kind of funny? That both of us thought we were terrible friends?” Oko caught the expression on her face and shook his head. “I don’t think you’re a bad friend, Chizoba. You tried to help me, help me overcome my fear, help me face it in a safe way…and hey, so I got spilled in the water, but I didn’t get eaten? That’s good, right?”
Chizoba’s face softened, and she nodded, slowly. “That’s…good, yes. Maybe not the best first time in the ocean, though.”
Oko nodded. “Agreed. Not the worst either, though.”
Chizoba thought for a long time. “Are you really that afraid of the ocean?”
Oko made a face. “I hate deep water,” he said. “I don’t know what it is about deep water, but it gives me the willies. I know, I know,” he said quickly. “I’m a wimp. You don’t need to say it, we all know it’s true.”
Chizoba took a deep breath. “I’m afraid of heights,” she said at last. “We all have fears. Unless we’re stupid and think we’re immune to everything.”
The otter blinked. “You’re afraid of heights?!”
She nodded. “Absolutely terrified. Why do you think I live on flat ground?”
“But…that’s entirely rational! Even an Usdia can be badly hurt if you fall from a high enough height!”
Chizoba tilted her head in acknowledgement. “Kind of irrational, though. I mean, it’s not like I’m anywhere near any height that can hurt me.” She gestured to the bay with a wave of her head. “No cliffs, no tall trees, no big rocks to fall off of.”
“What about that one?” Okpokoro tilted his head at a distant boulder. “That one’s pretty tall.”
“Yeah, but I can’t get up there. Too steep. If I had wings, maybe I could. But I’d have to have pretty big ones, Usdia can’t fly.”
Oko shifted on his paws. “I feel like it would be a more irrational fear if you did have wings, though,” he said. “You’d be able to save yourself from falls if you had wings. Or could fly, anyway.”
“Yeah.” She nuzzled him gently. “And if you were bigger and, I don’t know, spikier, maybe it would be more irrational to be afraid of the deep.” She sighed. “I won’t force you to go into the bay anymore. Not if you don’t want to.”
Oko nuzzled her back. “Thanks, Chizo. I appreciate it. I…do want to try again, though. To swim in the ocean. Not today,” he added quickly, as if she’d been about to ask. “But someday, I want to try it again. I don’t want to be afraid of the deep forever.”
Chizo smiled. “Okay. I’ll be there, I promise. I’ll help you in any way I can. All you have to do is ask.”
“Okay.” Oko settled his head against her ribs and closed her eyes. “After all this excitement, I could do with a nap.”
“Same, honestly.” She laid down her head and smiled at him again. “Just a little nap in the sun. Then we head home.”
“Agreed.”
And with that, the friends fell asleep curled around each other, exhausted by an exciting day.