Underwater (Lucien)

 “Vicente, it’s too hot.” I whine to the vampire as he lays on his slab, seemingly attempting to rest. “It’s probably because you’re wearing four layers and all black.” The vampire responds, though he has his eyes closed. “Wrong, I’m only wearing two layers and there’s no black.” Usually I’d wear a black robe or at least a jacket over the rest of my clothes, but I don’t have anything to do today, and it’s too hot to justify an outer layer. As a result I grabbed the first things out of the drawer, a green shirt, a pair of light brown pants which I need to fix as there’s a hole in the knee, and the first pair of shoes I saw. Vicente opens his eyes and sits up. “Well, what do you want to do? Since neither you nor I have the power to change the weather.” That is a good question, and I wonder what it would be like if one could control the weather. I’d make it like autumn all the time I think, or maybe spring without the allergy season. “Can we go to the water?” I ask the vampire, as he is the one who keeps the sanctuary running along with Ocheeva for day to day matters, and I don’t want to pull him away from work. “Who said something about water?” A seemingly dehydrated Issy asks from the doorway, having overhead the last bit of conversation. “Issy, you have a place by the water.” She nods in confirmation, she does, in fact she has two. “Are you suggesting a getaway?” She asks me after confirming. “Only if we can bring Baurus.” It’s been too long since I’ve seen the blade, the last time I saw him was in the sewers. He was in the imperial city on official blades business, I was there to meet with someone about a contract. “I’m sure Jauffre will be fine on his own with Martin for a few days.” Vicente adds as he stretches, attempting to wake up from his nap. “Or we can just bring Martin too?” Issy replies. I’m less fond of Martin than I am Baurus, but I don’t dislike him. He could probably do with an outing too. I’m sure sitting there at the temple gets awfully boring. It’s a plan then, Issy will coordinate with Jauffre and set something up. He has the opposite problem up in Bruma with the weather, he’d probably love our heatwave. “Happy now?” Vicente asks after Issy leaves to go send Jauffre a letter, and hopefully drink something. “It’s still too hot.” I tell him, and the humidity doesn’t help.

After a long discussion and a bit of persuasion Jauffre agrees, and sends Baurus and Martin to meet us outside Cheydinhal. From there we head south, to Deepscorn Hollow. A lovely, if grim, little place Issy somehow came into possession of. It’s got something for everyone. It’s isolated enough that Martin should be safe, it’s directly on the water and somewhat underwater which is a plus for Baurus and I who are both always drawn to water, it’s a dark quiet place to rest which is good for Issy who could use the rest, and even has a vampire friend for Vicente.

After getting settled Vicente goes to chat with his new undead companion, Issy climbs atop a rock in the attempt to tan and not burn for once, and that leaves Baurus, Martin, and I to our own devices. It’s at this point I learn a peculiar fact about the bastard emperor, he’s afraid of swimming underwater. Baurus is like a fish, happily diving into the warm waters at the first chance he gets, while still keeping an eye on Martin as promised. Having had time to swim about myself a bit I notice Martin just stands in the shallows, only moving every now and then to kick up some of the sand. “Please tell me you know how to swim, Martin.” At that the bastard looks at me where I stand further in the water. “I can, I’m just not particularly good at it.” He mumbles in response, only just barely loud enough that I can hear it. I look to Baurus who stands not too far away from me and back to Martin before beginning to walk back to shore. “Well, I guess we’re teaching the emperor how to swim. Never thought I’d have that on my to do list.” I tell Martin, clapping my hands together as soon as I’m able. “This can be added to your list of reasons why you’re glad I spent my early childhood by the docks of Daggerfall.” I tell Martin, nudging him slightly before diving into teaching.

Thankfully Martin can swim somewhat, he knows the basics, he just still has the fear of putting his face in that most young children have when they’re learning. He can doggy paddle at least, and tread water, it's better than nothing. “You’re taller than I am and it’s barely up to my shoulders here. You’ll be fine.” I coax him into coming further into the water, and miraculously it works. Over the course of the next few days we continue to work on things more little by little until he becomes more comfortable in the water. Enough to eventually go under, even if only for a few seconds. By the end of the week he does well enough that he can swim at least a little better. Can he do a backstroke or the butterfly? No. But he can at least swim enough that he’d be considered safe should anything ever happen. Like that shipwreck Juliette was in, though she had to swim to shore in the dead of night in full armor. That requires advanced training, even for a strong swimmer. I’ve been comfortable around water from the time I could walk and I don’t think even I could do that. Baurus could probably, I’d think it must be part of training for special or advanced blades agents, guards, and other members of the organization. “Next time I see you we’re going sailing.” I tell Martin with a pat on the shoulder as we sit roasting various kinds of snacks around a fire Issy had built, having joined us in the water for the last day after getting bored of her book. Baurus seems much more thrilled at the thought than the priest. “It’ll be fine. You’ll be on top of the water, not underwater. It’s fun!” That doesn’t seem to help much. “If we bring a fishing rod and catch anything I’ll cook it for you.” Now that has Martin more interested. Note to self: emperor does not like going underwater, can be bribed with food and the prospect of fishing. Good to know. “Now, Martin…have you ever had a s’more?”