She knew she would get scolded if anyone spotted her so close to the surface, where the light made everything appear turquoise. It was surprisingly cooler up here , nearer to the windy surface. The sunrays appeared more golden as she came to a stop right underneath the ceiling of water, the air just above it.

Once the air hit her mud-coloured skin, she rolled around and pushed up using her tail, sommersaulting into the warm air and plunging right back into the water.

As the water settled around her, her head still out of the water, her beady black eyes trailed over the river bank. The greyish trail in the air was strange.

She waddled closer and spotted something strange. It smelled strong and foul. Acrid like an octopus' ink.

The orange glowing from within made her freeze, heart going in a frenzy. That was what she imagined 'fire' to be like. Her mother said it was like the sun when it set, orange and blazing.

But.... fire was a myth. Something that humans made and humans were stories made to scare children. Don't go near the soil edge or a human will snatch you away and make you their next meal.

However, nothing as such existed. She propped her upper body onto the edge and pushed until she laid on the scratchy green surface, These felt nothing like algae despite looking like them.

She pushed closer to the strange grey soil. Some of it even lifted away with the wind! Wanting a closer look, she brought her face close to it, her breath fanning the black corals and heat blew back on the tip of her nose.

Strange.

Just as she was about to go to the other side to get another look, the tall algae before her swished and out came a wiggly branch.

Her body immediately tensed. What was that? The scratchy surface underneath her was slippery and she couldn't well. The branch advanced and it was no branch! It was brown with a round end full of what mother said is fur. It was such a strange shape. Long and flat.

The thing had eyes too. Small but menacing.

Hoarse screams escaped her throat as she tried to pull her body backward, rolling onto her back and head first into the water.

The tug at her tail made her heart feel like it was in her through and she twisted, hitting the appendage of the thing , who was trying to pull her like a seagull would a fish.

As soon as she was released, she swam and swam and swam.

When she reached the cocoon of darkness where her mother still lay, she kept quiet. Not once sharing that she had met fire and it's owner.