Prosaic.

Discovery

The town was full of excitement as Zephyr returned from a day-long expedition on the boats, bringing a newcomer with him. The girl was younger, like Felicity, and with raddy, short, dark brown hair and eyes to match. She seemed reluctant to board his boat and then even more reluctant to step off of it, scowling and glaring at everyone in her path. Immediately, she reminded Felicity of Tatiana. Zephyr stepped from the boat and onto the dock, and then hugged Felicity whom had been waiting for him to return. Felicity's emotions had begun to settle down, Zephyr's words, though honestly meaning well, had resonated with him the way an insult would, and he instead decided to hide his feelings and participate in socialising with the group every night, using his time as a fisher for Zephyr's percieved 'alone time'. He still yearned to travel and be back on the water, finding himself longing the sailor's life, and slowly beginning to grow resentment against Zephyr and the lifestyle that Felicity knew he could never have.

The girl brought back home was 15 years old and a definite trouble maker. She seemed to have the anger that Tatiana had, except, it was only aimed at perceived authority. She wasn't an angry individual, Felicity could tell, but she was rather annoyed at being told what to do. Already, the strange new girl was a sparking character and Felicity wanted to know more about her. His anxiety held him back, however, and he instead only watched rather creepily from a distance as authority figures gently attempted to usher the girl onto the familiar elevator platform. He watched from the dock as she finally reluctantly agreed to go with them, and then, as the two militia men stepped onto the platform expectantly, she immediately turned around, raced to the shore, and did the unthinkable: jumped like a dolphin into the rushing, ice cold water of the canyon. Felicity stood in stunned horror, watching as her head bobbed above the swift surface to catch an unsteady breath. He raced to the edge of the dock, unthinking still, laying on his stomach and reaching out his hands, somehow managing to grab a hold of her shirt as the water tried to sweep her away. It was clear the escapee was regretting her decision, gasping and desperately paddling with her arms towards the dock so close to her. But, instead of managing to pull her up to safety, Felicity was actually tugged by her and the water, too far out from the dock to secure himself, and slipped into the ice cold water himself. The water was painfully cold, like sharp glacier shards piercing his skin a thousand time over; it shocked his body, knocking the wind from him as his head was thrust beneath the howling surface. His hands kept a hard grasp on the girl's shirt, clenched and frozen, and the two tumbled beneath the rough water as the stream swept them away. Zephyr cried out after them, jumping in the boat and beginning the chase.

Truthfully, it was less than a minute before Zephyr managed to catch them both and pull them from the water into the safety of the boat, then slowly rumble it back to the dock and park. Felicity sat on the leather seats, soaked and heavy, shivering relentlessly. The girl leaned against him for warmth, coughing lightly and shaking just as violently.

Zephyr glared at them, "Are you out of your minds?"

"I thought I could get her," Felicity said, voice sputtering and trembling as he shook.

"You weigh nothing, Felicity. You had nobody holding you on the dock. It was stupid, and you should have waited! Especially knowing the circumstances. They can't help you if you get hypothermia, you know. Did you even think at all?" The scolding hit Felicity too hard, and he wilted, pulling his knees to his chest. Water streamed from his clothes like a soaked sponge and onto the floor, the surface squelching beneath him. Zephyr sighed, leaning down to be eye-to-eye with him, "I'm sorry, Felicity. I just... Really worry about you now."

"I want to help," he mumbled. "I can't change my life so that there is zero risk. Everybody else has been fine. I will be fine."

"The difference, Felicity, is that everyone else has self-awareness of their issues."