Deep in Deviskaryl's forest, where people rarely go, there's a lake, unremarkable but for the beach on the west side, where she's been practicing the sort of gentle sandy slope and tiered dropoff that makes for the best swimming hole. She's got her technique down just about perfectly, ready to deploy on beaches needing a touchup in a few weeks when summer is over, and is just practicing for speed and efficiency now; she pauses in her work when the sun begins to set, watching it through the augmented eyesight of dozens of cats, only a sliver of her attention still on the lake, considering how she might shave off another minute or another bit of effort.

Deep in Deviskaryl's forest, where people rarely go, there's a lake, unremarkable but for the beach on the west side, where she's been practicing the sort of gentle sandy slope and tiered dropoff that makes for the best swimming hole. She's got her technique down just about perfectly, ready to deploy on beaches needing a touchup in a few weeks when summer is over, and is just practicing for speed and efficiency now; she pauses in her work when the sun begins to set, watching it through the augmented eyesight of dozens of cats, only a sliver of her attention still on the lake, considering how she might shave off another minute or another bit of effort.