it started back at the beginning

Panic surged through the small girl as the water started to swallow her up. Was it going to eat her alive? Perhaps it wasn’t that deep, but she wasn’t that tall, either. It seemed as though the more she tried to get back to the bank, the further out she slid. A howl of terror was pulled from the tiny girl involuntarily and her lavender eyes were wide with fright.

She could barely make out Indy calling her name before the form of her mother entered her vision. The woman picked her up quickly by the scruff and put her back on dry land. From that day forth, Aslatiel would always have an underlying fear of water. She didn’t even hear her mother saying that she was grounded. Fear driven adrenaline was still clouding her senses, but, with the reassuring presence of her mother, she was slowly calming.

As Zee pulled the girl close and informed them that she was going to tell their father, Asla’s grey ears tucked back against her skull. “Sorry, momma.” She cast her giant eyes downward in shame. She’d gotten Indy in trouble too. This had all been her idea. Looking back into her mother’s blue eyes, the child spoke again. “Are you mad at us?”

Despite having almost died… the fact that they were outside was overshadowing her watery experience. Gradually, Aslatiel’s little body began to wiggle with excitement and she hopped backwards out of her mother’s embrace, bumping into Indy in the process. “Momma, did you know how big outside is? It’s like the biggest thing ever!” She proceeded to run in a few circles again before diving into some of the longer grass and wrestling it like some make believe enemy.