The cool water felt soothing against the boys skin as he slipped beneath the surface. Since the first time, when Dahlia had panicked and called for their parents, Baltasar had been practising and grew more confident with each time he decided to try swimming. So far, he remained within the water at the centre of the Lagoon - it didn't move with the waves like the ocean did and was warmer. It was still salty like the sea, but Baltasar found it much easier to navigate through at this young stage of development.

It made him feel gloriously weightless and he enjoyed being beneath the surface - it blocked out the sound of seabirds overhead and the wind and anything else so that he felt suspended outside of time. Plus, when he learnt he could open his eyes beneath the water, it was to an incredible view. Granted, a lot of the water was murky and the salt made his eyes sting, but for several moments he might be able to spot a fish or a strand of seaweed and it felt like a little friendly nudge from Vellen himself. All too soon however, the young Sigrun needed air and he popped up above the surface, filling his lungs and treading water.

Her brood is a bit younger than the royal cubs of the Lagoon, but they have begun to wander. There's an entire world outside the mouth of her den, and Hillevi is determined to explore it. Clambering past sleeping siblings and without her mother presently here to stop her, the young Sigrún takes advantage of her freedom and clambers out of the entrance, tumbling unexpectedly down the small slope just outside and landing unceremoniously on her belly.

Like all cubs, Hillevi is malleable and quickly picks herself right back up, shaking the sand from her fur and trudging onward. Her den isn't far from the waters that @Baltasar is swimming in, and she follows the smell of salt and the light sound of splashing.

As she approaches the edge of the lagoon, her ears thrust forward, silver eyes landing on the dark boy paddling off the shoreline. Hillevi plops down on her rump, breaking the quiet with a curious and demanding, "what doing?"

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There is commotion upon the shore and Baltasar turns inky black eyes to watch it. A cub he does not recognise and therefore it not one of his many siblings. He knew each one of them and this cub did not fit the bill on any of them. His paddling legs slowed, kneading the water gently now that he watched the cub tumble onto her belly and then pick herself back up again. A blinking, owlish stare was the only response Baltasar gave @Hillevi for several long moments at her question. What was he doing? He was floating, swimming, exploring the watery depths. He was enjoying himself, which in itself was something that he could admit to himself but unlikely to do so outloud. He drifted closer, breath huffing out at the exertion of swimming. "Swimming." He responded, voice quiet and succinct in pronunciation.

Swimming, he says, teaching the ever-curious girl a new word. It answers the 'what' of her question, but it still leaves, "why?" He seems content enough, but Hillevi doesn't immediately see the benefit to his behavior. She reaches out a forepaw, slapping it against the water with intrigue before pulling her paw back towards her face, wriggling her toes and watching the droplets drip down into the sand.

When she puts her foot down, the white grains cling to her foot, causing her to wrinkle her nose. She sets her paw back in the edge of the water, preferring the warm swirling around her toes over the gritty sand sticking to them, her narrowed gaze shifting back towards @Baltasar.

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Another question and this is one that Baltasar does not readily know the answer to. There are many reasons he supposed - because the water called to him, because he liked the weightless feeling of being cradled in the water, because it soothed him, because he enjoyed it. All added together to make the water his place. But even so, if he'd had the words to say those things out loud its unlikely that such loquacious tones would ever come from the reserved boys lips. She didn't need to know his thoughts and feelings, she didn't need to know what meaning he attached to the time spent suspended in water.

So he remained quiet and watched her instead as she dipped a paw into the wet and then set it back down on the sand. The grains clung to her and it didn't seem like something she enjoyed. Baltasar pulled his body through the water until his dark dipped toes touched back down onto hard surface again and he stood up in the Lagoon. "I like it. Want to try?" Baltasar was not considered to be an especially friendly creature, but he wasn't completely anti social either. He gazed at @Hillevi, inky eyes unwavering as he considered whether she would run the gauntlet.