A siren song drifts through the air, beckoning him and only him with soft dulcet notes and promises of something to soothe his frazzled nerves. But he is still filled with sticky, suffocating clouds of anxiety. The music calls him to the place he had never been, the home that would have been had he been born with pure Baltian blood. He knows that they cannot be there, for the girls are ill-suited to life underwater, so why does the water beckon him so relentlessly?
He walks beside the river even though using his aquatic form to swim is far more expeditious. His leg feathers wave in the breezes stirred by his robotic plodding gait, their Stratosian origins seeming to cry for him to stop, to sway him from his course. But he presses on, the landscapes blurring together as he continues southward until he reaches the barren Ruins.
A flooded area lays in his path and he pauses at the edge, the briny scent so prominent that it makes his gills flutter (though whether with excitement or dread is to be determined). He stares into the murk, wondering how deep the water goes. He lingers, toying with the idea of entering the water here, but the anxiety creeps over him again and he skirts the pool slowly.
The cry reaches him just as the ocean comes into view, but it does not fully register in the whirling vortex of his mind. As he places the first hoof into the salted water, the gasps of desperation finally catch his attention and turns to see the oil-slick mare several paces away, stumbling toward the same destination. Surprise washes over him as embarrassed heat flames at his cheeks. How could he have missed her?
The wheels finally begin turning more quickly and it moves him into action. He rushes to her as fast as his gangly legs allow and as he pulls up alongside her, his mouth opens to ask what ails her. His slitted blue eyes notice the waving gills along her neck, and he realizes she needs to be in the water now. They are so close, but she seems on the verge of collapsing. He swiftly moves so that his chest presses against her hind quarters and he heaves with all of his might, hoping that it will get her far enough that when she does inevitably fall, her front end will be submerged and she can start breathing properly.
Just one breath, that’s all he wants for this stranger.
