A Treefox and a Watersnake

Part 2: Thalas

He was dimly aware of something thick and strong wrapping around his torso, lifting him up. The next moment wet lips pressed against his own. His lungs filled with air.

Mist's eyes snapped open and he coughed out the water he had inhaled in the river. His hands fell on whatever was holding him in the air. It was smooth, wet and warm like the water. Greenish gray. And thinning out to a tip.

The little treefox started flailing around wildly, trying to get out of the hold. A snake! A gigantic snake! Surely big enough to eat him!

Someone laughed, a deep masculine voice. Mist looked to the direction of the voice in surprise.

A naked man with long hair the same greenish gray color looked at him with an amused expression, slowly paddling the water with his hands. Then he rose from the water to Mist's level.

Mist's eyes followed the serpentine body from where it held him in the air down to the water and back up to the face of this strange creature. It was probably at least four times as long as he was tall. The snake tail part joined to a humanoid torso at the belly, the skin color turning into a lighter shade of gray with a touch of beige. He stared at the man for a while. "...What are you?"

Dark yellow, slit-pupil eyes looked back at him. "I'm a watersnake. And you're a treefox."

"What is a 'watersnake'?"

"One of the four sentient races, of course."

"There are three!"

"No, four."

"Three. Treefoxes, birdfolk and burrowers."

"And watersnakes. We have lived in the river just as long as you have lived in the trees." He slowly swam towards the shore and deposited Mist on the solid ground. "This is the first time I've actually seen one of your race up close, though. You don't come near the river very often."

Mist pouted and tried to squeeze most of the water out of his plant-fiber vest. Now he was starting to feel like he had been caught in a torrential downpour. "Because we can't swim."

"I see. What's your name? I'm called Thalas."

"Thalas?" He tasted the name on his tongue for a moment. Weird one. "I'm Mist."

"If you can't swim, mind if I ask why you were in the water in the first place?"

"I was fishing. Then I fell."

"Do you like fish?"

Mist nodded. "Very much."

Thalas smiled. "Then please wait a moment." Then he disappeared underwater.

Mist knelt at the very edge of the river and stared into the depths. Here the water level was higher, not at all the one-foot drop from bank to surface like near his home, and the river was shallower near the shore. If he stood at his full height in the water, his feet might just barely reach the bottom.

Now where had that snake gone to? Obviously he was not in the shallow water, so he had to be somewhere farther away.

He quickly scampered back, his heart beating wildly, as he could make out something big approaching at high speed. A tiny moment later Thalas surfaced again, squirmed closer in the shallow water and held out a -huge- fish - almost half Mist's own height - out to him. "This is for me?" he asked, stunned.

"Yes."

His mouth watered. He was getting really hungry after his water adventure. But he had promised himself to bring fish to his family. A little regretfully he swallowed and decided not to eat this treat yet. He'd take it home and share it with mother and Cloud.

Thalas moved closer to the riverbank, twisting to the side enough to present Mist with a good expanse of his tail. "Hop on. I'll take you back upstream."

Mist very, very carefully moved from the solid ground to sit on the tail. He pressed his knees tightly to the smooth skin and crossed his ankles at the top to keep his feet out of the water.

"All ready?" Thalas asked.

Mist nodded enthusiastically. "Uh huh."

The watersnake started...gliding on the water, his partially submerged tail moving fluidly from side to side, much like a smaller snake might crawl across ground or a branch.

Mist hunched lower, keeping his arms wrapped around his fishy treasure to make sure it wouldn't fall, as the speed gradually picked up. "There!" he pointed out when he saw his forgotten bag on the bank near a spot where the ground had collapsed into the river. The fish he had caught earlier was gone, no doubt into someone else's belly. "That's where I fell!"

Thalas moved as close to the bank as he could and curved his tail to make it easy for the treefox to jump to solid ground.

"Thanks!" Mist beamed once on shore, "I'll be going now."

"Mist." Thalas sounded a little sad. "Will you be coming back? I will catch you more fish if you want."

Mist tilted his head a little to the side at the question. Then he smiled again. "Sure!"