#10 Searching in the Waters

Amber squinted as she peered into the lake. These shapes, that could Mercy’s Lace be, right? But it seemed so far away! Definitely not reachable by simply extending an arm. A dive was in order.

A dive into the ice cold lake. Great. Just what she had needed.

With a small grumble, Amber took of her warm accessories jacket, sweater, boots and socks (how many times had she done that today already?!), then crept closer to the edge of the pier, the cold air already giving her goosebumps.

She slowly outstretched a foot towards the water, and stopped just a few inches before it.

Alright, why not!

Knowing she would turn back if even one of her toes would touch the ice cold water, Amber pushed herself from the pier and took a plunge into the lake with a loud scream. Her whole body protested by being suddenly submerged in cold water and she quickly broke through the lake’s surface again, gasping for air.

She shook her head together with her whole body while paddling on one spot, then tried to get her attention back to the task at hand. Collecting the ingredient! Where had it been before?

After taking a deep breath, Amber submerged herself again and searched for the plant underwater. To her disappointment, the water was now rather murky, surely because of her plunge into the lake.

So, where had it been?

A quick look around displayed three pale shapes. Without thinking much about it, just wanting to gather the plants quickly, Amber swam towards them and reached for one.

Though before she could even touch the first, something stroke her hand gently – and then it was inside something. Something that roughed up her hand like the tongue of a cow. Like sandpaper.

Startled, Amber tried to pull her hand away, just at the same time as the fish let go of her. Both she and the fish fled the spot, though while the fish dived into the kelp nearby, Amber rushed back to the surface.

“Gosh, what was that?!”

She waited for a second until her heart stopped beating too fast and the water stilled again. Then she dived again, back to the pale shapes. This time, however, she slowly reached with her outstretched index finger towards the shape and poked it.

Nope, that felt like a plant!

She quickly collected it and proceeded the same way with the other shape. As soon as both were safely in her hands, she returned as fast as possible back to the surface and swam towards the dock. Amber placed her plants on top of the pier, then tried to climb up again. But splashed water had made it so slippery that she couldn’t clime up yet again. Great…

But, while she wanted to get quickly out of the water again – because of the cold and the fear of something coming to her – she still needed one more Mercy’s Lace…

With chattering teeth but without hesitation, Amber dunked her head back into the cold water, looking for another batch.