Prosaic.

Saviour

He shook his head, "After all this water I'd be okay never seeing any ever again."

"That's fair. But really," she sat down in the passenger seat, holding a blanket around her, "What did you want to do?"

"I wanted to be a fisherman, right on the water, just like my grandfather. But the older I got, the more I realised that as much as I love being on the water, it was always preparing the seafood dishes we caught that was my favourite part."

"Oh, you cook?"

He grinned, "Do I? It's the best thing in the world! I want to open up a seafood restaurant, everything caught by me and Tatiana." He lifted his hands and widened the space between them slowly, as if introducing a physical sign, and breathed, "Alvarez's!"

"Alvarez's? It needs a better name than that." He thought deeply, nodding.

Then, he smiled again, and said, "Atlas and Alvarez's."

Felicity laughed, "That's so stupid... I love it. Except I'm no cook."

"You can be the... uh... Janitor."

"You named a restaraunt after the janitor?" They both began to laugh. When the laughter ceased, a calm, relaxed silence followed. Felicity eyed the water, the white foam spewing against the sides of the boat as it bounced over short waves. The water reflected the bright, white sun at the edges, deep sea green and blues making for a spectacular backdrop to the shimmer. It was beautiful, and white fluffy clouds floating slowly overhead. The only con to the whole scene was the insanely cold wind. The water sprayed up and over the front of the boat ever so gently, and small, glimmering droplets showered both Zephyr and Felicity, who laughed and shook in response. Felicity watched the distance. Houses and stores were much farther apart now as the town turned intro country side, but each building they passed was higher and higher above the water than the next. Hours of the boat's running were to pass. They all spoke as they woke up, playing word games or admiring the views, watching the fish beneath the rippling water just as they all watched and observed one another. It was simple, general socialisation during the ride, the air filled with a sense of relief and calm. Mareno spoke frequently and for long periods of time about himself and animals that he liked. He seemed to enjoy nature greatly, admiring the water and pointing out fish by their scientific names in a way none other on the boat, not even Zephyr nor Tati, could. Lillian quipped short but funny and relatable responses to the conversation, telling short and sweet stories of her grandchildren. Marina related heavily to their talk as mothers, and the two held a solid conversation about motherhood that nobody else on the boat could quite understand. Lillian was aged, though she certainly fit in well with the younger generation, reminding Felicity of the 'cool' teachers at school. She spoke in depth with Huan about gardening and herbs and vegetables, all things that Felicity herself was a bit unfamiliar with, although she found it interesting and listened intently about the soil's nutrition and best seasons to plant and how to work a greenhouse without electricity. She could tell that Mareno was also interested in this subject matter. Kiui piped in to the conversation frequently about entirely unrelated things, her children's brain unable to keep up with the subjects that the adults brought up. Felicity suddenly felt very young and immature, being the second youngest in the entire group. An insecurity about this arose, and she made an effort to appear more mature than she necessarily truly wanted to be.

The time passed quickly, it being the most enjoyable time anyone in the group had experienced since the floods had began. There was an actual sense of normal despite the lack of an actual routine. The group talked movies, animals, foods and places, hopes, goals, and dreams.

It actually took several days worth of travel still, and Felicity could only imagine how long it would have taken in their rowboat. Felicity watched in awe as the scarce scenery shifted. Houses were a story above the water, but the land changed again as they travelled farther and with speed. Houses began to grow uncommon, and deeper into the water until most were completely submerged entirely. Deep beneath the water, the terrain grew from flat and paved to rocky and unruly, the silhouette of a canyon and mountains surrounding suddenly becoming close and surrounding the boat. Steering was more difficult and important, though it was exhilarating to see dry land protruding from the water in the form of tall hills and rocky mountains. Mist overlaid the mountains in the mornings, and with each day, the air grew colder and thinner as the group travelled up in elevation. Soon, the horizon could not be seen at all, blocked entirely by towering hills. Each tower of rock and dirt was not dry; rivers ran from them in waterfalls, and suddenly, the water the boat travelled on was no longer an ocean, but a very wide, very deep, unruly river. The current grew stronger, pushing the motorboat with force, the water black and choppy and cold. Their boat's engine was running on empty, and so they decided to turn the motor off completely as the current pushed them forward. The water declined slightly and slowed a bit as the vehicle was swept into a flooded valley, tall sandstone hills on either side. And then, Felicity knew that they had made it to the collective haven in the valley. The boat drifted slowly now with the current, the river in the valley deep from the floods, and the neighboring walls of sandstone, rock, clay and dirt towering overhead. It was the canyon, worn by centuries of wind and water, but it had never seen waters as high as this before, guaranteed. Felicity could see now lining the naturally-formed walls was less natural structures. The building and mining of makeshift houses, built into the surface and sides of the walls. People walked along them, working and building, stopping and eyeing the boat. It was exciting and terrifying both. People! There were real, moving, living people here! Oh, Felicity was overjoyed and yet scared, trembling at the prospect of social interactions, of politics, of anarchy and government alike.