It's not the same

It the near total silence of the cave he would hear the footsteps of another. He didn't so much as lift his head, expecting the familiar presence of Vail to sit beside him a few moments after he heard the first footfall. Instead, he would be caught unawares by a single word falling from the lips of the girl was not Vail at all. His head shot up so quickly it smacked into a small outcropping on the wall in front of him. As he swore, the lights of the fireflies flickered out on by one, plunging the siblings into darkness.

In the still cave air the sudden splash was crisp and loud and unexpected. He scrambled about in the darkness as he tried to find the water. At least he didn't have to worry about Faun drowning, she had been raised on the beach beside him all their lives. All the same, he couldn't help the surprise, affection, exasperation and confusion rocketing through his brain. Perhaps he had gotten so use to Vail, who was plunging head first into every kind of danger imaginable nearly every time he saw her. Perhaps that was why, when he found the waters edge he leaped, and came down into the pool with a splash. He followed the sounds of the water, that lead him to her. When he found her, he swam lazily towards her, and leaned his head over her shoulder, needing to know she was real and not imagined. At least the water was warm.