Under the Waves of Lao'an

"I've told you, it's a terrible idea. We have no way of knowing where we're going."

"I mean, If I had known it was gonna be like this, I wouldn't have let you talk me into going to the lake in the middle of the night."

"How are you supposed to know? It's not like we can ask for directions underwater."

They stood at the edge of the lake, staring down into its dark murky surface. The moonlight shone overhead, but only served to make their task more daunting. They couldn't see anything under the waves. Ulric tugged on Ever's sleeve. "Are you sure about this?"

Ever rolled his eyes and huffed. "Yes. Are you?" He kicked off his shoes and waded out into the water, ignoring the cold that seeped up through his skin. He knelt down and submerged his hand into the blackness below, feeling around for any hint of life. A sea anemone wriggled across his fingers, but nothing else remained in its home. He sighed and pulled his hand out of the water. "The fish are gone."

"Great," Ulric said with a snort. "This is just what I needed to hear." He turned around to leave. "If you're so sure about this, then why don't you go by yourself?"

Ever grabbed Ulric by his shirt and pulled him back toward him before he had taken more than two steps away from the edge. "What? No!" His arms flailed as he tried to keep himself upright on the slippery rocks while he tugged Ulric back toward him. His feet slipped out from underneath him and he fell backwards into the water with a splash. He glanced over at Ulric who stood with one hand on his hip and another scratching his head in confusion while Ever floundered back onto land. "You have a better idea?" he asked with annoyance in his voice as he pushed wet hair out of his face and tromped back up to where Ulric stood. Ulric didn't respond immediately, instead looking down into the lake again with a frown on his face or reflection of moonlight was no longer there. Then slowly, a smirk crept across his face slowly growing until it broke free in laughter that echoed off through the trees surrounding them and bounced lightly against Ever's ears like seeds carried on wind through a field of wheat until they each knew that if this was a bad idea, it was their bad idea together.