Ever since the day her father had brought her down to the beach and taught her to swim, she had been coming a lot more frequently. Sometimes with her siblings or cousins, but most often alone. Beyond the beautiful landscape and the beach activities that it had to provide, it was a nice way to cool off under the heat of the Auster sun. It also gave her time to herself to think. While the general ambiance was noisy- between the roar of the tide, the unbridled wind whipping across the sand, or even the occasional cry of an overhead gull ... it was all relatively easy to put in the background.
As she waded out past the seafoam, the water soaked her to her chest and belly. It brought the sensation of chill, but was soothing nonetheless in temporary relief from the heat. The further out she went, the less each surge influenced her balance until it was relatively easy to stand still with the ocean water barely cresting her back. As the waves would roll in, there were times when she was lifted beyond what her paws could reach, but it only lasted a moment before she was gently set back down to bear her own weight once more. What she was really building up the courage for, was dipping her head below the surface, and on the following wave, she did. Clenching her eyes tight, she forced herself beneath the water- taking special care to slowly breathe out her nose to keep the salty water from getting inhaled.
After a few moments, she broke the surface once more- quickly tossing the excess water from her face in a vigorous shake as she worked her way back to the beach. She felt the water falling away, her balanced being forced forward, and then pulled back with more strength. And with one last shake, she forced her pale blue eyes open once more in a rapid procession of fluttering lashes- guiding herself the rest of the way out of the water and to the edge of the wet sand.
Professor
Fleet-footed
