Submission (#5391) Approved

Louku and Atal'rin find an underground lake in a cavern!

Word count: 1059
AP: Zevija
Elnin AP is for: Louku (https://worldofeyre.com/character/MYO-ELN383)
Other elnin: Atal'rin (https://worldofeyre.com/character/ELN499)

     Louku hung from the end of the rope as she swung into an expanse of nothingness. She was exploring with her brother, Atal’rin, enjoying the new sights and experiences of the rocky region of Zevija. They had already been to the hot springs, staying away from the water itself but poking around the interesting deposits that formed around the edges, they had also passed through the mountain range to visit the elder tree and gaze upon its pale bark and red leaves. The elder tree reminded Louku of Bellmoril’s own birch tree however, where she was used to golden leaves, the crimson foliage of Zevija’s tree stood out brightly against the blue sky of the region. But that was neither here nor there as currently Louku was hanging from a rope into almost palpable blackness. She glanced up to where her brother was holding onto the rope, the end of it firmly secured around a large boulder at the entrance of the hole.  "Hey, ya got a light for me up there?" She wasn't about to go down any further without some kind of visual of what she was getting into. The kittom knew she had made sure to pack all the essentials, and one such important item had been extra lights. 

     Atal'rin nodded down and pulled out another rope, this one tied to a hooded lantern. As he dropped it down, the light started to reach across the craggy walls of the cavern, illuminating the stones and suddenly flashing as what seemed like a hundred or more crystals were set to sparkle and glint like stars in a dark sky. 

     She almost forgot to breathe as the twinkle of quartz and shimmer of jewel tones surrounded her. Louku tightened her grip on the rope as she realized her hands had slackened in her surprise and awe. Blinking a few times she took a deep breath before looking down in the direction she was headed. The inky blackness reached up, the lantern not quite reaching the bottom of the open space but she knew that was only temporary. Pausing for a moment has her brother slowly lowered the lantern towards her she kept her vision down, partially to not become blinded and partially to keep an eye out for the bottom of the great cavern.

     It took a few long moments but soon she could see the dark shadows of below slip away from the lantern light. The cavern floor looked flat, almost impossibly so considering the jagged, sharp nature of the crystal-covered walls. It took a few moments to puzzle through what she was looking at before Louku was struck by inspiration. "Hey Atal'rin! Can ya toss down a pebble or something? I need to check out what is below." She had suspicions about what she had just found but wanted to be sure before she got to the end of the rope. 

     "I have a few here of different sizes, ya want small or big?" He peeked over the side and waited for her response to float up out of the shadows. 

     "Small works"

     Hearing the voice float up to him, Atal'rin obliged, tossing a handful of sandy pebbles off the side, hoping he wouldn't pelt his sister. A few long moments later he heard a few plopping sounds accompanied by a low exclamation from below. He peered down where the lantern hung over the darkness, illuminating Louku, and a vast, rippling surface shimmering below her. "What is that?" he called down curiously.

     Louku could barely hide the excitement in her voice. "A lake! A huge underground lake!" She watched the water's surface for a while as the ripples made from the small rocks and pebbles died away, and the listened a while longer to make sure nothing had potentially woken up down there. The local villagers had told them about the existence of the lake but she hadn't expected to find it on their first try. With a grin she let go of the rope, dropping down into the water with a reverberating splash. Nearby crystals within the rocky wall glittered in the lantern light as they were doused in water. As the scaled kittom surfaced she called up, "Come on in, the water's fine!" before swimming around to discover exactly how big the lake was in perimeter.

     Her larger, dark blue brother wasted no time and dropped like a stone from the ceiling entrance of the cavern. The resulting splash reached even farther and Atal'rin whooped with joy when he saw the results. He swam around a couple of laps, kicking up the water a few more times before spreading out his arms so he could float on the surface of the now-disturbed water and looked up at the cavern walls that held sparkling crystals which twinkled in the lantern-light like stars. "This is better than I expected.  Totally worth the effort, don't ya think Sis?"

     Floating over to her brother, Louku nodded in agreement. She watched as the wet droplets fell from the shimmering crystals that surrounded them and sprinkle into the water with little plip sounds. "Definitely worth the treck. Think ya wanna come back out here tomorrow?" She knew they had other activities planned but the call of this cold, crisp water was much more appealing to her than staying above ground in the hot sun. 

     "Possibly, but we were supposed to learn how to make cactus juice tomorrow which I think sounds delicious." Atal'rin twisted around in the water a few times as he thought, "What if we learned how to make the juice first and then came here in the afternoon? Then we can find a way to bring it down with us!" He wasn't going to miss a chance to learn something new that was food related. 

     Louku giggled and poked her brother in the arm as she went by. "Ya got yourself a deal!" She kicked a few times to tag the side wall of the cavern before adding, "We could even invite the other two with us next time. This place is easily big enough for all of us." She was sure their new friends would be excited to learn of a new route to this underground lake and couldn't wait to tell them after they had climbed out. When they were ready to leave, that is...