---

The first, true breath of water was painful. Mostly because she was too panicked from attempting to hold the air in so she ended up swallowing a bunch of sea-water, nearly dropping the seaweed in the process. Once the first, hiccuping fits of discomfort passed however, Erthë found that it was much like breathing air. Water went into her lungs, water exited the lungs, all the while providing her brain with much needed oxygen. It was a comfort to feel Alune's soothing presence nearby; she looked around to ensure she stayed close to him, and awkwardly maneuvered her way towards Kisamoa.

Swimming was not her forte, it seemed. After a lot of flailing about with her limbs the filly realized it was easier by far to just use her wings. It took her a while, but before long she 'flew' through the water with sufficient ease; not graceful or elegant by a long shot, but she got around! Which was good, because Kis was already moving deeper into the blackness of the deep, lighting their way by the glow of his... horn? appendage? She had no word for it. Overall it was much about this place that piqued her curiosity, every thought ending with a question mark as she marveled over the alien beauty of this submerged landscape.

The reef itself left her speechless, if indeed she'd have been able to produce anything intelligent to say. The sheer size of it was mind boggling, the vastness of this dark world a truly humbling thing to behold indeed. She had known that it was big, but to think it would be this deep, this full of life... Erthë felt dwarfed, and couldn't help but wonder at the futility of things. There they were, tiny mortals crawling about on a small patch of land, so concerned about the fate of their forest, their island, their hidden valleys that they referred to it as the world. When the reality was much bigger than they could even imagine, when the eyes of the gods must surely pass over them only briefly once in a while, too busy with the vastness of their creation to pay much attention to what one, single individual was thinking or doing.

Hungry eyes roved the bright colors of the coral, the oddly shaped fish and the eels and the graceful dolphins, greedily taking in everything she saw. She shuddered at the glimpse of an octopus many slithering tentacles as it disappeared behind a rock, and smiled widely at the playing otters - were they the same ones she had played with before, on a sandy beach? Oh, there was so much to see, and not enough heartbeats in the span of her life to truly appreciate it all. It was hard to tear her eyes away and pay attention when Kisamoa spoke, his voice resounding within her mind so clearly as if he had whispered in her ear.

But listen she did, and as she drifted vaguely to the side by the flow of some nameless current, the young seraph wondered why the creatures of the sea longed for the sky. Was it the same reason she felt wistful when recalling the frozen expanse of the north, and the dancing aurora on a midwinter sky? Was it the urge that drove her to leave her own home behind in order to seek the horizon, endlessly craving the sight of something new? To be stuck here, unable to leave and unable to forget...

Closing her eyes she sought through her memories of something that might serve the purpose of soothe some of that bittersweet regret. She thought of the forest where she lived, and the wide open sky, of thunder clouds and damp moss and the deep, rich scent of the earth after a summer rain.

""Petrichor" she thought as a smile slowly spread across her face. Yes, that was the word. They wouldn't get rain down here, or the nutrient rich black humus of fallen leaves and plant matter. It was something that belonged to the world above, and at least to her it was a scent she always found nostalgic and strangely invigorating, as if all the happiness of the world was contained within it.