Tisis

The lake (N)

What am I even doing?!
Letting something stupid like that get me all flustered is so not like me.
So he had a wet dream and I'm the only female for miles to come and he might actually get funny ideas if we don't find other people and the very thought of anything happening grosses me from here to the stars, and...

I close my eyes and count to ten.
That's right Nym...take a deep breath here.
Remember, this is Sirus we're talking about. The dimwit. The doofus. The guy who can't even tell dusk from dawn...well, he can after I told him the words for it, but...

Another deep breath.
That's right...let all the fears go...it's a beautiful day to go and explore the world...with all it's terrible predators, poisonous plants and untold horrors lurking beneath the surface of a seemingly tranquil place.

Yup, that's better.
Danger I can deal with.
Lurking death I can deal with.
I've got contingency plans for that. I've undergone survival training...well, sort of...only that the survival training was about how to operate a rescue capsule and wait for rescue...way out there in space.

"Nym, you okay? You look a little...less purple?"

I snap back to reality as Sirus calls out to me.
That's right...it's a beautiful day, the sun is out, the winged critters are going on about their noisy business, Zero is barking and jumping around happily.

It's one damn fine day to go die.

I take another deep breath, compose my thoughts, check that my weapons are all in their bindings and readily accessible, check my three canteens fastened to the rope belt Sirus made from a liana and eventually nod.

Everything seems to be in perfect order and according to plan.

After telling Sirus that everything's fine, we head out...though I'm not quite sure if he believes me.

We wander through the bright and warm daylight. It's gotten considerably warmer in the past days and I wonder if this is the onset of the local summer.

A few smaller animals cross our path, but Zero is quick to scare them off as he tries to hunt them, although it doesn't seem like he's out for blood this time.

He seems to have understood that we aren't out here to hunt.
Clever little critter.

After a few hours of walking through the dense forest, guided by the slowly running course the water is taking as it winds itself through the small gorge it had created through the many years, we finally arrive at the edge of the trees and with it at the end of the mapped area.

This is the farthest we've ever went thus far and a wide plain stretches out before us, almost as far as we can see.

In the far distance, I can make out an elevation which looks like a mountain range or something, but today we set out to follow the river in hopes to find a semblance of civilization...or quite possibly even other survivors.

I mean, if there are any, they would follow the water too, right?
After all, water is life.

As we leave the shade of the trees, the brute force of the sun hits us like a hammer and I am immediately tempted to just turn around and run back to our cave, only to get out of this searing heat.

But if we turn back now, I just know that we won't find the courage to do this ever again...no, I won't find it.
Sirus is too simple to actually comprehend the danger we are putting ourselves in...at least I hope he is.
Because if he is not, he must be crazy to follow me on this suicide mission.

We follow the trail of water for a few more hours and I map out it's course and the various landmarks as we come across them, but no matter how far we walk, there are no huts, houses, guideposts or anything else that resembles any sort of higher intellect.

There is also no debris from other rescue capsules or anything to be found anywhere, though that really doesn't have to mean all that much.
After all, a planet is in perpetual motion and any other rescue capsule could well have come down hundreds of kilometers away.

While I'm still lost in my thoughts, Sirus suddenly yells, "Wow, take a look at that!"

I look up to see what he was getting so excited about and just for a moment my breath stops at the sight presenting itself to me.

A huge body of water stretches out in front of us and even though I try, I cannot make out the other side from where I am standing.

The water lies still, except for a few ripples caused by the wind and a few winged critters landing on the surface, as they make their curious sounds.

Zero barks excited as we approach, runs ahead and splashes around in the shallow water.

"Hey Nym, is this the ocean you were talking about?" Sirus suddenly asks.
I look around, at the rocky ground beneath my feet and slight ripples and shake my head and reply, "Nope. That's just a lake...but I'll say, it's the biggest one I've ever seen. Okay, it's also the first one I've ever seen. In person I mean."

A sigh escapes my lips as I mutter, "I could really do with a little cooling off now though..."

"Well, what are we even waiting for?!" Sirus yells, drops his gear, slips out of his shoes and runs into the cold fresh water, splashing around like a little kid.

Completely oblivious of the dangers that might lurk in the depth.

I swear, that kid's going to be the death of me.