"Now we know why it's so warm down here," Ihrie looked out across the water, squinting to see through the clouds of steam that obscured most of the surface. "Looks like some kind of giant hot spring. What do you think?" She turned toward her companion, who was painstakingly trying to shed the outer layers of thick garments without stressing her tail any more than necessary. "Uh, Fam, what are you doing?"
"I'm all stuffy in these things." Fam wrestled for a moment with the scarves that were caught around an arm and one of her ears.
The swordswoman shrugged, figuring it was probably because the other girl was covered in a fine layer of fur. Ihrie herself was fine, once she'd loosened her heavy cloak. It wasn't that bad. That's when some of the distant clouds of steam thinned out, providing a brief glimpse of rocky ground too close to be the other shore. "Did you see that?"
"What? Was it the treasure?" Fam finally untangled herself, but missed seeing anything.
"Maybe. There's something out there, an island, or it could just be a big rock."
They waited a little longer, just in case the steam thinned again. If anything, it was harder to see acroos than before.
"How're we supposed to get over there?" Ihrie watched as Fam knelt down close to the water's edge.
"I don't feel any magic coming from the water. And it doesn't seem to be very deep. Look, it's clear once you get the steam out of the way." Fam demostrated by waving her arm out over the water.
And she was right. The glowing fuzz on the rockbed was clearly visible, and was at most only a meter deep. Not that there was any way of telling if there was a sudden drop off hidden within the rolling haze.
"Think there's anything swimming around out there Fam?"
"Like fish? Seems kind of hot for that."
"Hmm, you're probably right. I've never seen fish in a hot spring before. I'm surprised there's that fungus, or moss, whatever, growing in there." Ihrie turned toward the cat-girl, who was starting to laugh. "What's so funny now?"
"Ihrie, think we'll turn orange if we go for a swim?" Fam recalled how her fingers had retained a bit of the glow for a little while after she'd brushed the wall. She'd wanted her friend to try it too, since it appeared a harmless bit of fun, but now the image of an Ihrie glowing orange from head to foot was almost too much to bear.
Ihrie, for her part, was thinking along the same lines, now that Fam had mentioned it, and found the image much less amusing. "I hope not. That crap didn't come off your fingers right away, and I don't want to walk back into town like some kind of overgrown firebug.
That only set Fam to giggling harder.
"Okay, when you calm down, think you can do away with these clouds so we can see where to go?"
Fam nodded as her eyes sparkled with tears of laughter.
---
Once Fam's wind spell died down, the girls were able to see across the lake almost in its entirety. It was very wide, and looked about the same depth all the way across, save for one bit. Near the middle of the lake, stood an island that barely broke the surface. However, it was what stood on that island that decided their course of action.
Three stone columns flanked what appeared to be some kind of table or pedestal in the center. Neither Ihrie, nor Fam was able to see clearly enough if there was something of value there, but at this point, the possibility alone was worth it.
"All right, let's get going Fam!"
(Posted Fri, 29 Dec 2006 04:58)
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