“Guess I have to teach you how to swim like a human,” said Lushera.
“…Okay.” Kaphal’s expression changed at least three times in one blink of an eye. It went from frustrated, “I can’t believe I can’t do this,” to sorrow, “We came to spend time together, and I can’t…,” to a new mindset of, “Well, it’ll be fun to learn how to swim from Lushera anyway.”
Lushera cut smoothly through the water using a breaststroke. This fragment form of Kaphal’s was capable, meaning she could probably pick up this swimming technique with a demonstration and a few tips.
“This is the breaststroke. It’s the first swimming style the Guild teaches since it’s easy to float while doing and doesn’t require much strength,” explained Lushera.
“There more than one swimming style?”
“Yeah, there are loads.”
They looked around. There weren’t just people playing in the water, there were some doing some hardcore swimming. Either they just enjoyed swimming, or they were using it for exercise.
“What that style?” asked Kaphal, pointing to a small child in the shallows, holding a paddleboard and kicking with their feet.
“The flutter kick. It’s pretty easy to do, so most children probably learn that one first.”
“That style?” This time she pointed to a man in the deep area with impressive upper body muscles cutting through the water with beautiful form.
“A front crawl. It’s fast, but hard to swim like that when you’re wearing clothes or carrying things.”
“That style?” This time she pointed to a hand sticking out of the water as if waving goodbye with all its strength, fountains of water splashing up as it sank farther and farther, disappearing beneath the water’s surface.
“No, they’re drowning!”
“Lushera?!”
She immediately dove under and darted forward like an arrow. All the people formed a forest of legs underwater. Amongst them, in the area where an adult would even struggle to touch the ground, a boy sank down, his arm still reaching towards the sun. Of particular danger when drowning was panicking, as it shortened the time you had left. Huge bubbles floated up from the boy.
Lushera grasped his outstretched hand, then swirled to face the other direction. One hand and her legs were enough to move through the water.
The boy did nothing but let himself be dragged. The Guild taught that one of the most dangerous things when saving someone was when the victim thrashed in panic, but even if the boy had been thrashing, Lushera would have been strong enough to pull him along without issue. She actually pushed on even faster because he was so still.
She hauled him up onto the sand then checked how he was. He was unconscious and not breathing. The only silver lining here was that it just happened. They should be able to save him if they immediately administered first aid.
“Leo? Leo! Say something!” A woman, perhaps the boy’s mother, came rushing over, desperately calling his name. She wasn’t wearing a swimsuit. It seemed she’d been watching her child swim from beneath one of the umbrellas. Maybe she lost sight of him in the crowd, or maybe she only realized he was drowning when Lushera saved him.
“Call a priest!” she shouted.
“Wait, first… Mom, can you use healing magic on him?” Lushera asked.
“Can.”
“You keep him alive! I’ll get the water out of him while you do that…”
Kaphal cast a spell without an incantation or even forming a symbol. She held her hands over Leo, and warm light flowed out of them towards him. That would keep him stable for the time being.
He would have inhaled water. Water in the lungs was stopping him from breathing. Lushera did have general emergency first aid knowledge, but what she had now was an even faster and more effective solution.
First, she needed to clear the airways. She looked at the boy’s limp form and imagined the structures inside a human body. Then she pulled on the power of heat, something within the realm of her breath attack.
“Hagh!”
Steam spewed from his nose and mouth, almost like he was a steam-powered machine. Lushera had evaporated the water he inhaled, forcing him to exhale it. The steam burned his airways, but that was immediately healed by Kaphal’s healing spell. He twitched, like he’d been brought back to life.
“Agh! Gah! Ah! …Ah, huh? Mom?”
“Leo! Thank the heavens!”
Leo sat up and let out several dry coughs. His mom pulled him into an embrace, then she took Lushera and Kaphal’s hands and gave a firm handshake. “Thank you. You saved his life!”
“It was nothing.”
“Was that a spell you used just now? That’s incredible, I never knew there was a spell like that.” Leo’s mom was thoroughly impressed, but it wasn’t a spell Lushera used. She’d used the power of a dragon that let her control the fundamental energies that formed the world. Though, they were probably the same thing to a normal person.
“Leo, make sure you thank these kind people. This girl pulled you out of the water when you were drowning, and they healed you.”
“…Th-Thank you…” said Leo falteringly when his mother prodded him. He looked to be about the same age as Lushera’s new body, and the kind of boy bursting with energy, fast on his feet, and popular with the girls at the temple school. “Did you, uh…do…mouth-to-mouth…?”
“I…didn’t, no…” Lushera hesitated.
“Oh…” There was a whirlpool of complex emotions in his eyes, then he suddenly leaped to his feet and rushed away. “I-I’m gonna go swimming again!”
“Leo, wait! You just nearly drowned!”
He didn’t even give his mother time to stop him. Was Kaphal’s spell particularly effective, or was this boy always like this? He dove into the river with such vigor it was hard to believe he almost died a moment ago.
“Ah the bittersweet moments of youth,” commented Viola, seemingly enjoying herself for some reason.
Leo’s mother, left behind, let out a heavy sigh. “Boys. All they want is to be adventurers… No matter how many hearts he has, it won’t be enough if he keeps breaking them.”
“Y-You no stop him? He drowned…” said Kaphal. Leo’s mother was upset about the situation, but Kaphal was the one most bothered by it. She seemed to want to drag Leo back right that moment, but Leo’s mother thought for a moment.
“I…won’t stop him from swimming. I think he knows now to be careful. I trust him, he’ll be all right.” Her explanation was an expression in words of the common sense she had, her common sense. That was probably closer to what was average for humans than whatever Kaphal thought. “Really though…my only option is to give in and trust him, in the end. I can’t keep an eye on him forever. I do wish I could just keep him safe at home all the time, but…he’s like a wild horse. It must be nice… You don’t seem to have these troubles in your family… Sigh…”
But even so, she didn’t seem entirely unconcerned. She also sounded somewhat resigned, as if she’d been forced to do a lot.
“Oh my word! Leeeeoooo! I told you before, that area’s deep!”
“I wonder if he’ll really be okay…” murmured Lushera.
The woman’s shouts carried over the ruckus as Leo headed towards the area where there were fewer people and it would be easier to swim. There was a strength in her.