Sequoia Coast walrus fat

set for jan 29 early morning <3

"come into the water." the sun had not been long awake, but the sea-ice called with its low sounds. @Raiyuk had not lived upon it, had not tasted it in every degree. but here was his chance to learn. chakliux stood with his son upon the edge.
"when you first go under, you will want to gasp. resist this. you will choke. tighten your belly, pull the shivering there, hm?"
the seal hunter grinned, then leapt into the water and disappeared beneath the ice.

Raiyuk remembered scouting a group of seals inland, with Dutch. The water there had been cold but not this cold; the seals large, and from what he had learned through these days of travel and stories, the creatures of the ocean would be even larger.

He had to trust himself. He was ready — that's what he thought as he watched his father plunge beneath the surface of the water. It was a mantra he recited to himself as he stepped in to the sea and felt the obnoxious shock of cold race up to his elbow.

The boy followed his father in to the water. He was not yet ready to dive deep, and bobbed there acclimating to the cold instead. The water slicked his fur along his body and for the time being, Raiyuk looked too young and awkward, as if he had been swept backwards in time.

With a few steadying breaths, he plunged beneath the surface.

From above, there was stillness, and then an array of frothing and bubbles rising from where he'd entered, and lastly Raiyuk resurfacing with a gasp; he had not been able to fight the urge to make that gasp despite the warning. Everything was cold! His teeth hurt. His head pounded.

chakliux watched raiyuk ascend and surfaced, blowing water from his nostrils and flicking his ears. the cold was violent; it chilled him, and reminded the man how long he had been from frigid water of this degree.
but he was better suited to helping raiyuk train in it, and when he had assured himself that the boy was all right, he gestured downward.
again.
"the third time, try to keep your eyes open," he said above the thick soundlessness of the sea ice before he went under and waited for raiyuk to join him.
a leopard seal, not so far off, glided beneath the surface, and chakliux watched it with interest.

This felt different from all of his training. It felt different from the hunt for seals with Dutch. How could the water be so cold as to numb him, but so sharp that it burned? How could that cold penetrate his fur and seep in to muscle so immediately?

He gasped and got his breath. Chakliux urged him to try again, and the boy wanted to shout something - to complain - but his tongue wouldn't let him. His teeth chattered. The only way out was through.

Raiyuk dove again. He felt the numbing. He was prepared for the sting of the cold and the salt, until he opened his eyes and it felt like shards of ice were being jammed in to his face. He wanted to surface immediately but fought the urge.

He could see where the light shafted down through the water. It was clear despite how dark it had appeared from above. It was painful, but he endured it, and before long he had been under the water for much longer than before.

As he surfaced this final time Raiyuk was eager to escape the cold, and moved to drag himself to an embankment, soggy and miserable - but grinning to his father! He had done it!

this time, it was easier for his son. chakliux too examined the sun beneath the water, the ice above; he was content to be in the frigid grasp of the water, but emerged after his son with a whoop and a laugh when he had let his breath out.
"very good! very good! we will take a break. then we will go under again and i will show you to swim fast."
it would not be long before raiyuk must do this alone. chakliux wanted him to be prepared.
for now the seal hunter crouched close to his son, allowing their mingled warmth to thaw the muscles cramped by icy seawater.

When they were together they could do anything, he knew this. He trusted in Chakliux - perhaps to an unhealthy degree, like his father was some mythological being - and so far nothing had come along to tamper with that opinion. They shared warmth and soon enough Raiyuk's chattering teeth slowed.

He had caught his breath. With a shake, water spraying from his coat, he laughed and bumped shoulders with his father.

Nothing would ever top this memory, he thought.