Kitten Catastrophe!

Summary
Nami, a Saurium, confronts his fear of water in order to save a kitten.

Author
Spark (Magical Griffin)

Story
Nami strolled contentedly through the plains. The southern shore of the Grassland truly was lovely in the summer. Seagulls flew shrieking overhead and sea breezes coming in from the border between the Ocean and the Grasslands made the tall grasses wave pleasantly. He didn’t really like the sea, but here on the plains beside the beach, away from all the people, he felt at home. The salty wind ruffled his fur gently, tugging at the floral vines he wore around his black and blue wings. He responded to the wind’s request, spread his wings, and leapt into the air.

The handsome Saurium soared on the air currents blowing in from the sea. He looked down for a moment at the sea to his right and shuddered, thinking about the way poor Flicker had drowned in the lake last month. In his mind’s eye he could still see her wings beating the water frantically as she tried and failed to swim. That had taught him to hate and fear the water. Someday he would move away from the shore and find some nice town in the hinterland where the only water there came in through the plumbing.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden gust of wind that snatched up one of the floral vines decorating his body and carried it away inland. He banked left to chase it as the wind playfully carried it off. After bearing it along gleefully for a while, the wind set it down on the bank of a river that was on its way down to the sea. Nami was just putting the vine back on when he heard a faint mewling that somehow carried above the noise of the river.

Through the waving reeds on the bank he saw a tiny calico kitten hanging onto a branch that seemed to be stuck in the river. It was clearly wet and terrified; it had its claws dug into the branch, but it looked like that grip might fail at any moment. As Nami watched, its back legs slipped and it was left hanging by its front paws. His first thought was to fly over and help it, but as he imagined flying over the rushing rapids he felt a fluttering in his stomach and his palms began to sweat. He pictured Flicker sinking in the lake and felt the same sense of helplessness that he had then. The black Saurium mustered his courage. He wasn’t going to let that happen again.

Nami carefully judged the distance between himself and the branch. He could probably reach it with a wingbeat or two if he had a running start. He backed up to a reasonable distance and began to run toward the river. When he was about a meter from the bank, he jumped into the air and soared toward the kitten. As he’d expected, two wingbeats seemed just about right. But as he was nearing the branch, the end that the kitten was holding onto broke off and fell into the water, carrying the kitten with it. Without thinking, he dived to pick up the kitten, but promptly found himself in the water. The fierce waves soaked him through; he could feel the water dragging him down. His only chance was to swim for the shore before his wings got heavy enough to sink him.

Taking the kitten in his mouth, he began to swim dogwise toward the bank he’d come from. A wave bashed him against a rock and he thought he would go under, but somehow Nami managed to keep going. Soon he was a few meters from the shore. He kept struggling against the current that wanted to sweep him away, down to the ocean. It wants to kill me, just like it did Flicker, he thought. With difficulty he brushed away the distracting thought and kept swimming. The kitten mewled fearfully, its head less than an inch above the water. At last, with a powerful effort, he managed to grab hold of a tree root that jutted out into the river and begin pulling himself up onto the bank. The river continued to suck at him, still trying to bring down his water-weighted body.

By luck or the grace of the Solarizons, his scrabbling claws found a grip on the rocky bank and he was able to climb out, still holding the kitten in his mouth. Setting it down on dry land, he lay down, feeling exhausted. He looked at the small calico kitten again. I’m going to name you Flicker, he thought. At least I was able to save you. A sense of triumph began to rise in him as he looked back at the river he had conquered. ''You can stop being so high and mighty. I’ve defeated you once and I can defeat you again.''