"Nope! Just, uh, you don't actually have to hold still but - metaphorically hold still -"

Eadmund focuses his Wyrd and breathes out the air that's habitually in his lungs. Thinks about the emptiness within, the vacuum that nature so abhors. That which sustains him - that which will not let him die - the core of his un-being -

Looks at Su-Yeong. (The stars in his eyes are brighter, falling faster.) Commits his lie to reality. She is like me, nor is she of you. She wants not. Her breath is of the void.

(He was exaggerating, before, when he said it would be easy. It's easier for him than it would be for many others, even other Strategists. He's very good at this.

He is not so good that the world does not take note. He is not so good that it does not fight back, does not writhe in his grasp as he twists it into shape, burning the very heart of him and making him suffer -

but he is good enough at it that he can. The struggle is weighed in his favor, and the agony, like all things, ends eventually.)

It clicks. "Cool! Okay, the waylet's this way."

He sets off towards the shore.

At first she draws her attention inward, trying to notice if it Feels Like Something, but then she notices that he's quite visibly suffering. She - doesn't say anything, nervous that an interruption might be bad somehow, but as they're going to the beach:

"So, uh, does your magic normally. Bite back."

"Oh. Yes. It didn't bite you too, did it?"

"No, I was fine, it just looked like it wasn't exactly fun for you."

"Oh," he says again.

They walk in silence for a moment.

"...it's no danger to me," he says eventually. "There isn't much that is."

"That's - good."

She isn't sure if she can say much more without coming across like a busybody, but -

"Well, hopefully you won't have to do it again, then. I'm kinda looking forward to seeing what it's like down there, even if it isn't the main event?"

There, something that she at least hopes will convey the appropriate amount of concern-but-also-she's-not-trying-to-fuss-over-you-or-anything!

"The bottom of the sea is nice. I don't think we're going deep enough for anything really fun, but I don't think the geas I put on you would compensate for the, um, total lack of visible light, if we were deep enough for anything really fun. So it's probably for the best."

She laughs.

"Oh, right, it's dark down there. We'll still be able to navigate, right?"

"We do not perceive through light, as you do," Jadis comments. "Milord can lead you by the hand... if your glowing eyes are not themselves enough to light the path."

"I think I'll take the handholding option, 'cause the eyeglow isn't that bright."

She holds a hand in front of her face to demonstrate - cupping her hand over an eye is enough to block the shine, and once it's about a foot away there isn't any visible. She then extends that same hand so Eadmund can lead her.

"Guess you'll just have to tell me what it looks like to your bat-vision."

"Bat-vision, hah."

They reach the shore in short order. Eadmund doesn't slow down; he takes her hand and walks into the gentle surf.

His head goes under the surface significantly before hers, obviously. He's under five feet tall. But it's not long before the waters rise around her face as well.

Even though she knows, consciously, that it'll be fine, she can't help but go through the motion of holding her breath when her head finally goes under the surface. And then she just - keeps on holding it, because there's no tension to it, no pressing sense of wrongness building in her gut compelling her to take oxygen in. (She keeps her eyes shut as well, mostly, since Eadmund's got a good grip on her hand and it feels weird to have them open and not be able to see.)

...actually she can still see Jadis. Even though her eyes are closed and there's not really much light. That's weirder, right? It seems weirder.

Jadis waves sort of ironically, completely unaffected by being underwater as far as she can tell.

That's definitely weirder! She remembers the comment from earlier about not perceiving through light - maybe it goes both ways, for her at least? - and snorts, a small flurry of bubbles drifting upwards.

She gives a little wave back with her free hand. Hee hee.

And Eadmund draws them through the waylet.

The waylet doesn't feel like much of anything - one moment her eyes are shut and there's no light to even block out, and the next, the backs of her eyelids go red as she goes from undersea trench to shallow water, and the sun through the water is murky but significant by comparison. Somehow, even though the pressure's effects on her were neutralized, her ears pop.

Honestly, the ear popping is pretty friendly - it makes the transition between environments feel more real. She doesn't open her eyes, yet - she'd rather wait until she can dry off her face.

And they walk out of the water in pretty short order.

When she opens her eyes, Eadmund and Jadis are pristine bar Eadmund's hair being slightly damp, icing over even as they emerge onto the beach. It's quite warm.

She laughs, a little, at the feeling of sunshine. It was summertime back home, too, but summertime in the middle of the woods feels different than summertime on a beach.

She starts wringing her hair out while she's still ankle-deep in the water. Good god there's a lot of it.

"Nice day out."

"Honestly I prefer clouds, proper English weather. But it's nice for a change. Long as you aren't Cadwin Belitun."

"That's the haunted-by-rainbows guy whose brother died, right?"

"Yeah. Dying of the Perfect Day. ...wouldn't make fun of him to his face about it, but people do make jokes. When it's a little too lovely out."

She looks out at the water.

"I guess that makes sense. Well, it's a good thing he's not here, then?"

She tamps down the feeling that she's going to turn around and he'll be standing right behind her. This isn't a comic book.

"Yeah, he's a bit of a downer in general really."