water and fire

the alcove

Lance knew it wold be foolish to stop here. He could still hold his breath for a good hour and that alcove was known to have nesting fire birds. However, his tail was soure from how fast he had swam earlyer that day. Not to mention the gash in his side. He really needed to get to the surface and stop the bleeding before he attracted something dangerous. Tuting at himself, the merman made for the surfice.

Water offers a strange sort of silence. Anyone who has stuck their heid underwater at a swimming pool knows that. As the muffled quite of water is strange the the humen ear, the clear and loud sounds of the air is strange to the merpeople. Lance found this as be broke the surfice of the water, covering his ears as he expelled the water that had built up in his air way and breathing in deeply. It looked rather like when a wale comes to the surfice to breath and for merfolk it works in a simmaler way. The difference is that unlike the wale who can take only one deep breath with its mighty lungs before diving back into the deep, merpeople have to stay at the surfice to catch their breath. It is exactly like after a humen has held their breath underwater for as long as possable, only merpeople can go for hours and hours before they have to breath again.

As lances breathing slowed, he looked around the alcove. He REALLY shouldn't stay here and once his breathing was normal and it was safe to return to the water, all of lances instincts agreed with the statement. This didn't change the mermans decision however as he kept his head above the surfice and swam for a smooth slate rock just on the sore.
Hoisting his form onto it with less grace than is associated with his spiaces, lance looked at his gashed side. It was a long cut that started from his abdominal and curved diagnoly down to the small of his back. Being above the water should atleast help the wound stop bleeding, though he didn't know how to treat it.

Placing a hand on the wound with a small grunt he looked up at the sky. It was dusk, almost night. Could he stay here? Where else could he possablily find that was better if he jumped back into the water and kept swimming?
Settling down on the rocks surfice, he lay on his side cradling the ingury with his hands. He knew he was a sitting meal here, plate and all, but he didn't think he could move anymore if we wanted to.

So,he just let himself drift into sleep.