Hold On And Hope

He was beside himself seeing Shae so content with the trip, he carefully ventured up beside her at the end of the raft, his paw joining hers in the ocean under them. "I'm glad to hear it." He offered her a smile while he searched her face before his gaze moved down into the gentle waves they sailed over. He couldn't see any fish down under them from how far out they were, and the mysteries of the ocean were both exciting and terrifying. He didn't get ruffled too easily, but he did have that backward thought of what could be lurking deep down in the waters that they couldn't see.

He could feel the wind pick up as they were settled down at the end of the raft, and he looked up to see the darkened sky that approached them from farther out at sea. He gently stood, pulling the line of the sail from the hook and trying to catch the wind so they could turn around and head closer into the shore just so they were safer and farther away from the storm when it came in. He didn't want to cut the trip short, but he did want to be careful.

But the storm had started to come in too quick, and while he had the raft turned around and moving back diagonally towards the shore, the clouds had rushed in over top of them and the wind picked up drastically on the ocean. It started out as a rough ride, but soon enough he had lost complete control over the raft. He didn't really have enough experience to control it under the storm, but he managed as long as he could until the waters under them and the gusting breeze had fully taken over the raft. "Shae!" He hollered over the howling winds around them, "Come here and hold on!" He laid down on the raft, his front paws wrapping around the pole in the middle set for the sail, his paws going to reach up above her shoulders to hold her down to the floor while they rode out the rest of the storm until they made it to land.

"Balthier"