Bellisma

She was accustomed to running long distances, but attempting to push water past her delicate legs to gain any kind of momentum was proving challenging. Bellisma felt more like she was flailing about, but slowly - very slowly, she was nearly the last to the party - she reached the others near the reef. It was cold this far down, and her nostrils expanded slowly even with her exertion, as her brain rationed that any moment now this magical sea grass would stop working. For now, each breath was taken as if through the air above - it smelled salty, if it truly had a smell, and crisp. Or maybe that was just the brine of the weed in her mouth.

Suddenly her mind lit up with words that were not her own, and for a moment Bellisma looked about. What-.... wait. Her focus returned to the creature that had led them down this far, realizing the inflection of the words matched how he had addressed the crowd on shore. She gazed upon the plethora of beings below them still as he instructed, marveling in the way they all seemed to be in perfect synchrony. A school of fish dove up, then down, then curled back around on itself all without impeding the one beside it. For a moment Bellisma's mind was silent, marveling at how perfect it all seemed. Her eyes briefly caught on the sea horse who called this place home, and the chestnut mare found herself filled with envy.

Kis - that was his name, correct? - encouraged them all to think a word to describe the world above. When the little mare gazed around, she could tell the others were concentrating and choosing their descriptor very carefully. It was clear this task was important, and she needed to take it seriously - but what did she have to offer? She thought of the plains with their tall grasses, rolling hills, and mountains that seemed to pierce the sky... But surely the others had thought all these things, if they were the first image to come to mind. No, Bellisma needed to think of something better...

Finally, she opened her mind and projected, Passage. She thought of the way time - the sun, the moon, the seasons - never failed to continue on, despite whatever hardship one may be facing. She thought of the colors that came with the sunrise, and how they were always slightly different than those with sunset. And she thought of the wind - how it never really stopped moving even though at times it seemed to take a break. (Who could blame it? It had a difficult job.) It persevered in the face of all, and in truth, Bellisma looked up to it. During her darkest days, she had hated the way it continued on seemingly without her, until she finally understood that it was not passing without her - it was telling her she had survived another day. And that was the sweetest gift she could have ever been given.