Fipp: Started watching The Dragon Prince earlier this week, and finished off the last five episodes today, so I decided to write this up real quickly.

Rayla Crosses A River

"Okay, you can do this Rayla. You are an awesome, amazing elf assassin and nothing can stop you. Something like this is not going to stop you, because you are made of tougher stuff than anything this can take on. Yes, that's it, you are Rayla, the Unstoppable!"

"Why are you talking to yourself in the third person?"

Rayla gave an agitated groan before she turned back to Callum, Zym held securely in his arms.

"I'm just trying to get myself psyched up, you know, try and get myself ready for what we're about to do."

"Oh?" Callum said, giving a thoughtful pause. "You know, we don't actually have to do this, we can just walk along it until we find a bridge."

"No!" she suddenly snapped. "We have faced so many dangers since the night this journey started, and there were so many times I was afraid I could die. So, after all that time, I figured it was time I did something to improve myself."

"So that's why you've been standing here, psyching yourself up, just to cross the river?"

"Yes. To cross the… river."

With just a small bit of dread, Rayla looked over her shoulder to the body of water behind her.

It wasn't the worst river she had ever seen, it was rather calm in how slowly the water flowed down it, but it was a bit too wide for her taste, and slightly murky. Their destination was beyond the river, but there was no bridge, or convenient rocks to jump along, it was just bare water, separating her from the opposite shore.

"If you don't mind me asking," Callum said, stepping up to her side. "What exactly is it between you and water anyway?"

"It's nothing, it's just…" A deep sigh. Try again. "Okay, when I'm on land, I can move about freely. I can jump and climb and swish and slash all I want, and it's great! But when I'm in the water?" She gave an involuntary shiver. "It's different. It's all around me, pressing against my entire body and I can't move how I like." She makes no mention of the sea-sickness, since she wants to retain some dignity, and talking about how her stomach turns and twists on boats until she violently expels the contents of her stomach may strike most of that away.

"Is that was it is? I thought you were just afraid the the creatures that lived in the water?"

Rayla paled. "Yeah, there's those too." There was a nervous laugh as she turned back to Callum. "Did you know out in the ocean, there are giant fish with rows of sharp teeth, and all they do is eat? I heard about it from a sailor once, how it bit an elf in half!" She gripped her wrist in an attempt to stop it from shaking. "And it gets worst the deeper it gets you know."

"Rayla-"

"I heard the deepest reaches of the ocean depths there are creatures I've heard called 'the gods' mistakes', that's crazy right?"

"Rayla!" Callum said, much more firmly this time around, and the hand he placed on her shoulder did a lot to calm her nerves, ceasing the shivering in her arms. "This isn't the ocean, it's a river. It doesn't look too deep, so you'll still be able to move, and there are no giant monster fish, or eldritch horrors in there. You've got me here by your side, you'll be fine, I promise." His tone is firm, but reassuring, which is something she's more than grateful for.

"Thank you, Callum, you don't know how much that-wait, what do you mean eldritch horrors?"

"Um, well, there just um, really big fish."

"Callum."

"…Just really ancient, inter-dimensional creatures that live at the bottom of the deepest oceans that drive you insane just by being around them."

Rayla wondered if she could get any paler.

"Claudia told me about them. She sounded, um, really eager to meet one one day."

Rayla stepped away from Callum and began to walk to the river, the knowledge that something like these creatures in this world killing a part of her soul.

If she was lucky, the river would kill her so she could never risk the chance to meet such a beast.

"Okay, now we do this," she said, more to herself than anyone else.

"Right, because you're Rayla the Unstoppable!" Callum gave a small, nervous cheer, while Zym happily chirped from his arms.

"Yes, Rayla the Unstoppable," she said, a small boost of confidence flooding her systems. She could do this, she could do this!

The moment she stepped into the river, she began to regret every choice she had ever led her to this point, and cursed herself for never buying water-proof socks.

Still, she pressed on, with Callum just behind her, and waded through the river, the depth increasing the further she went in, forcing her to hold her arms into the air when it eventually started to lap on her hips, but thankfully it went no further than that when they crossed the halfway point.

"Hey, watch it!" Callum cried out, and with a deep panic, Rayla turned around fearing the worst, only to see Zym push himself out of Callum's arm and dive into the water, where he happily swam along, using his wings to push him further than he would otherwise. "Well, he seems to be having fun."

"Yeah, he does." It helped a bit, seeing the tiny baby dragon enjoy himself as he dove into the water, his lightly-colored form easy to see beneath the surface, allowing her to see him swim around her feet, taking a quick nibble of her boots. She had to resist the urge to kick him away.

"See, if an infant dragon can just jump in the water, with no fear of it, than I know you can do it too."

"Yeah, maybe I can." She felt better, no doubt about that, with most of the anxiety melting away with ever slow step she took. This wasn't so hard, and maybe with enough practice, she could possibly one day be a water-kind-of-person. "It's not so bad so far, I just wish Zym wouldn't bite at-" She looked over to Callum, and saw Zym floating right next to him.

Rayla looked down, and saw something dark covering her boot.

"Rayla? Are you-"

The resulting scream could be heard for miles.

000

"Okay, so maybe baby steps. We'll start with kiddie pools next time."

"Ugh, uh-huh."

"Not at all deep, and no fish or anything dangerous in there. It'll be safe, good practice for me."

"Uhyeah."

"I mean, I'm young! I have my whole life in front of me to get over my fear of water."

"Ungh."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. You're just, uh, kinda squeezing me a bit too tight."

"Oh, sorry." From her place on Callum's back, Rayla loosened the deathly grip of her arms and legs around his neck and waist. Or at least tried to, she really did. "I just want to say, you know, thanks for this."

"Well, you didn't give me much of a chance to say no when you just climbed on top of me like a tree."

"Right, sorry."

"It's fine, just give me warning next time."

"Will do."

000

Please be well,

Mrfipp