When he asked if she could feel the sensation of weightlessness, she was quick to answer. “Mmm-hmm!” It was such a strange feeling- it would certainly take some getting used to. But as he explained the concept of floating, her attention was zeroed in. Describing the act of swimming as steering yourself while floating actually made a lot of sense. However, the concept of buoyancy was generally strange to her in itself. In an effort to find reassurance, she racked her mind for an example. On one of her adventures, she did recall seeing leaves and twigs being carried by the river current … so it couldn’t be all that hard. They stayed at the surface without any effort, and she had legs. Surely that gave her an advantage over a leaf.
Hesitantly, she took what little of her own weight she was supporting into her shoulders, while simultaneously allowing her hind legs to extend behind her. Taking a deep inhale, she tucked one arm against her chest, and then her final limb… and immediately felt the sensation that she was sinking. Talyssa grit her teeth as she instinctually forced one of her front paws forward and down- the resistance in the water being enough to propel her chin above the surface. Frantically, she mirrored that sweeping motion with her opposite paw, which again, prevented her from going under.
The encouragement she received to avoid struggling was almost missed over the sound of her splashing. However, as she began to awkwardly use her hindquarters to bear some of the burden, it corrected her posture- her back rising to be parallel with the surface- and made things quite a bit easier to manage. After a few more clumsy strokes, she finally felt as if maybe she wasn’t sinking after all. A bright grin crossed her features as she made a wide arc to return to the spot where she kicked off from. “Look, Tati!” Taly beamed with excitement as she steered herself to try and swim directly to her father- seeking an embrace as she finished her first attempt at swimming in the ocean.
Professor
Fleet-footed
