[Backup] Water and Earth, Prologue, scene 8 -- Swimming

[JMR20190312: Backing up Water and Earth:
https://joelrees-novels.blogspot.com/2018/08/we-0-08-swimming.html

Originally written between November 2017 and January 2018.
]

Previous: Reassurances

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"Would Gwen have died?"

Somehow we are not surprised to find Water Princess and Earth Prince swimming together in the lake this morning. Their voices carry to us as we take care of some business on the shore.

"She did not." Earth Prince dives under the surface, turns a somersault and surfaces.

"But what if we hadn't been there?"

"We were there."

Water Princess does a back somersault under the water and swims underneath Earth Prince, ascending rapidly.

He dodges. "Too slow." Then he sprints toward the shore, with Water Princess in pursuit. She tags him as she overtakes him, and for about twenty more minutes they swim laps together, staying within the boundaries marked as safe by buoys in the water.

(Twenty minutes as you might experience time.)

Earth Prince pulls up in the middle of a lap and treads water. "I'm beat," he calls out, panting and shaking water from his face.

Water Princess flips a somersault and sidestrokes back to him.

"Sorry." She floats leisurely on her side, treading with small kicks.

"You're holding back."

"Swimming tandem is more fun. But I'm not holding back much."

"You take lessons?"

"Since I was ten. I'm on the high school swimming and water ballet teams."

"No wonder."

"How about you?"

"Took lessons for a couple of years, but I mostly just swim for fun."

They float for a bit.

"What if we hadn't seen her?"

"Gwen? We saw her."

"What if we hadn't gone to help?"

Earth Prince looks reproachfully at Water Princess. "Would you have just let her drown?"

She splashes him, and they trade splashes, laughing.

"Did it really happen?"

"It was in the news."

"You read it?" her face reveals some anxiety.

"Ceri read it to me so I wouldn't see your name."

"Thanks. Your sister's a brick."

"Brick?"

"Solid, Dependable."

"Good friend."

"Yeah."

"She likes you."

She gives him a hesitant smile. "But the stuff after. The messengers, I mean. Was that, ... were they real?"

"I was there, weren't you?"

Water Princess suddenly leaps up in the water, closing the gap between them and dunking Earth Prince before he can react. But he manages to pull her underwater, too, and they wrestle in the water for a few moments.

Breaking apart, they surface, laughing and sputtering. Then she strokes for shore, and he follows.

On shore, they retrieve their towels and dry off.

"This is such a fantasy!"

"It's real enough, I think."

"Are they still there? If we went down there, would they be waiting to talk?"

"I don't know. They didn't, you know, drag Gwen down or anything. She just got caught in those random currents I warned you about."

"Then why were they there?"

"They were watching out for her. But she shouldn't see them. At least, not yet. So we were called in to help."

"Then I guess I earned the name you gave me?"

"Not exactly. It was apparently yours to start with."

Water Princess's face shows doubt. "Don't tell me it was something I agreed to before I was born."

"Uhmm, then what can I say?"

"Okay." She leans back to face the sun and closes her eyes. "I know something about this. I guess. I'm not sure how."

"The old stories? Did you hear them when you were a kid?"

"Maybe. My parents did tell me some of them." She opens her eyes and looks at the sky. "Do they always marry?"

Their eyes meet, and they look at each other in silence.

"Sorry," she demurs. "I should not have brought that up."

"Well, maybe, ..."

 Now she looks puzzled. "Somehow I know it doesn't always happen that way."

"It seems like it would be much more convenient, though."

Again there is silence as Earth Prince waits for Water Princess to look at him, but she finds something on the opposite shore too interesting, or maybe she is just avoiding his eyes.

"Sorry. I guess I should not have said that."

More silence.

Earth Prince sighs. "How about a little basketball tomorrow?"

"Basketball." Finally she turns and looks at him. "I'm not allowed to do that."

"Oh?"

"Unless I wear a support corset." She smiles. "I started modern dance and swimming lessons to strengthen my back."

"Scoliosis?"

"Yeah. Things have worked out pretty well, so I only need a soft corset when I'm doing things like basketball."

"But you don't have it with you."

"It's in my luggage. Tomorrow. Roundball. It'll be fun. I'll dig it out."

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