—
Strel looked at the water as he pulled a face. It was lapping at his toes, sending shivers up his spine. He almost pulled back from the edge as a stronger wave came in, getting even his heels cold. He vaguely heard Terra speak, but he was a bit lost in thought. He did not want to go into the water; he was afraid of it, most certainly. It was big and expansive and it terrified him to no end. A woman was not enough to keep him from being carried out to sea, for all his skill as a swimmer. It was all instinct, but there was no instinct in him to get him into the ocean waves. He looked up at the woman, almost started. "Ah, no, nothing's the matter," he answered her at last, trying to give the most reassuring smile he could, even if it fell a little bit flat.
Then he glanced at his clothes. The pants came down halfway his calves. Yes of course. "Oh, yes." Strel forced himself into the water, making sure the height of the biggest wave would not skim the altered hemline. "I'd rather not get salt water on them; I'd have to get to a stream and wash out the salt. Stiff clothes, you know." Or not, because he never went into the ocean with clothing on, let alone willingly without. "Never seen the sea?"
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