Tuscany Trip

Khaat smiled as she watched Steven trying to get Ronata to go down to the beach with him. "Come on," Khaat said to Brian quietly, "Its time for us to lead the way to the beach before we spoil his plans. We'll come back later."

"Khaat and I are heading to the beach so we can swim before lunch," Brian took Khaat's cue quickly. He wanted to help encourage Ronata to follow Steven's suggestion. "You two take your time and come along whenever you want." He slipped his arm around Khaat's waist and led her towards the beach. He shrank her packages and dropped them in her bag as they walked down to the beach.

When they reached the beach, they put towels down on the sand and Khaat slipped off her sarong and her sandals and waited for Brian. "You coming?" she asked.

"Right behind you," Brian smiled. "I guess I can't expect you to make laps around the sea, can I?"

"You might, but I won't do it," she laughed. She headed for the beach, and he ran after her down the sand, not about to be bested by her.

Khaat laughed, watching them having a good time. She decided to swim. Well, she figured Brian would push for it anyway. She saw Brian use a Bubble Head Charm so he could go diving and saw him take off away from her in the opposite direction after some sort of school of fish he saw. She decided not to go all that far from where they'd left their tihngs. Rather, she went straight out from shore just swimming in a straight line out from the beach and having a wonderful time testing herself. She wanted to see how much strength she had built up.

"Just wanted to see how far I could go," she replied, a bit out of breath. "I guess I hadnt thought too much about what I would do if I couldn't get back. Magic, I suppose. I think Brian is wearing off on me, with all his pushing to go farther and farther with my training. Say, you haven't seen him, have you? He seems to have just disappeared. The last I saw, he was going diving and had cast a bubblehead charm to breathe underwater. You don't suppose he's still under, do you?" She had to admit, she was now getting a bit worried. "Do you suppose we ought to look for him?"

Khaat pointed off to the west where she had last seen Brian disappear and motioned with her hand that it was a long way off. As she swam, she could see where Brian would have been alured by the schools of beautiful fish, one after another, and all sorts of beautiful underwater plants. It was very tempting. In another circumstance, it easily would have alured her too.

She took off on a slightly different path from Steven, just on instinct alone. Some of these plants and rock formations would have been irresistable for him. Some of the rocks looked like the jagged rocky waterfalls on her parent's farm. That special place that she and Brian and Remus had spent so much time together. It would have been more of a lure than candy to a baby.

She swam a long way, feeling her energy starting to fade. She was going more on adrenaline than on anything else. She was not going to lose him. Then she saw him. Tangled in deep strong seaweed, He'd evidently caught his leg under some falling rock while trying to free himself. The bubblehead charm had failed him and he was unconscious. She cast another around him and hoped it would buy her some time. Where was Steven? She could use his help to get Brian free and to shore.

Khaat started to ascend right after Steven when she caught a glimpse of something back on the sea floor. She dove back down to get it, and found it was Brian's wand, laying too far from him to be able to reach. No wonder he could not have freed himself. She picked it up and began to ascend. As she did, she felt something like pure stinging fire strike her left shoulder. She whirled around in pure surprise and the pain struck her again. Then she saw it. A huge Man O War. Oh, just nice! she thought, grabbing her shoulder in excruciating pain. She surfaced, the bubblehead charm dissolving when she hit air, and she tried very hard not to pay any attention to the pain. "Ronata! Help Steven! Brian's hurt!" she shouted to her. She wanted to at least somehow manage to swim close enough to shore that she could get to her feet and wade back onto the beach. But she was exhausted now--and hurt, herself.