The Cage [PRIVATE]

She shook her head no, but the corner of her mouth twitched; she almost smiled. Caden closed her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath and said calmly, “Do you have a home, Nezumi?” she inquired. She…she had done it, she spoke. It felt good, she was communicating with someone who was rather pleasant and had an infectious and radiant laugh. Caden knelt down to look at the girl better, trying not to scare her by getting too close.

Nezumi had no home here, and the one she had was far from where they were now. “Hmm” she said softly. “I am from the Caribbean Sea, but I have lived here for years” she said rather angrily as she thought of the humans who stole her. Her eyes glazed over momentarily as flashes of her past came to her; snapping out of it, she looked at Nezumi. “Do you want to stay here?” she asked out of the blue.

“You mean to tell me…you traveled all the way here, and you don’t know where you are?” she said as the corner of her mouth twitched again. “Ha…ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!” she began to laugh extremely loudly; her teeth barred as she held her sides. “You are in Germany, and to you left is the German Sea, my home” she gestured towards the water.

All of a sudden she took a gasping breath of air, it hurt to breathe in or out. She needed to get in the water for a moment; she had been locked in the shed and didn’t get to take her swim that she needed to take every 5-6 hours. “Stay here” she warned the girl as she took off running toward the water. Jumping a good five feet and spinning in mid air; Caden dove into the water. She swam all the way t the bottom and then jumped out of the water, completing a back flip. Once she was on the surface of the water again, she was fine. She then re-accompanied the small girl again, soaking wet.

“Sorry about that, I can’t breathe well on land too long” she said coolly as she shook the water off of herself. “I used to do tricks like that awhile ago…” she trailed off as she looked at Nezumi; it was evident she was amazed. “But I will save that story for another time.” She then did something she had never done before…she decided to be polite. “Would you like to accompany me on an adventure?”

“Well, I am not certain if you can swim or not…but would you like to go swimming?” she asked softly. Her face then got grave, “I am warning you though, you can not touch the water. It will burn you terribly unless you are adapted to it. Now, come on!” she finished happily. She pulled the small girl onto her shoulders, making sure not to hurt her. “You ready?” she asked.

Caden noticed Nezumi had put on her cloak; it was much too big and looked funny, but still cute on her. She laughed slightly as she said "Hold on tight! And watch that hatchet of yours..." she warned her with a slight smile. She then took off running, holding Nezumi’s legs as she went; so she wouldn’t fall off. Caden then jumped her usual five feet, still holding the girl tightly; and did a mid air summersault. With a loud splash, she and Nezumi were in the water, not a single drop touching the small girl.

Holding her shoulders above water, Caden swam as fast as she could. “After awhile, I will show you the cave I found a few weeks ago. The water there is fairly cold, but safe enough for people to swim in.” she told the girl as she continued swimming. “The best part, however” she paused slightly, to add dramatic effect and keep her attention; “Is the hidden treasures there.” She added with a slight laugh at how she was acting, she felt little again. “You can’t have an adventure without treasure, right Nezumi?” she asked with a wide smile on her face.

Caden swam at full speed for about ten minutes, with her head high enough above the water to keep little Nezumi out of danger. They had reached their destination; the cave. It was about the size of a Ferris wheel and the water there was deeper than the naked eye could see. She bent forward and waited for Nezumi to get off, “And here we are” she said with a small smile.

Poor Nezumi had lost her balance and stung her foot by touching the water, she seemed to be okay; she stood up slowly with no sign of being injured. All of a sudden Caden smelled blood, where was it coming from? She spun around in the water rapidly, sniffing around to find the source of the sweet aroma. Caden quickly found out it was coming from little Nezumi.

She looked at Nezumi, it was her hand; she had scraped it on the jagged rock. Caden grabbed Nezumi’s wrist and licked the blood off gently; healing the wound. It may still bleed slightly, and possibly sting; but she cold water would heal it sooner or later when they got to their destination. She waited for a moment, staying very still, nobody had heard anything…they were alone without danger; good, she thought. Caden looked up at Nezumi “You alright now?” she asked soothingly as she let her hand go.

Nezumi looked worried as she looked around, what was she looking for? Caden soon enough found out when she cried out that she had lost her small rusty hatchet. She looked where Nezumi had gazed into the water. “Okay” she said calmly and turned around and dove into the water; swimming to the very bottom. After a few minutes of looking here and there, she saw the hatchet; it was caught in some mutated kelp. Using her razor sharp teeth, Caden bit the kelp and released the hatchet from where it had fallen. Caden then swam up to the surface of the water again. “This what you’re looking for Nezumi?” she said with a quiet laugh as she handed back her small, rusty weapon.

Her eyes widened as the small girl hugged Caden. She hadn’t experienced a hug in ten years…it was almost like having a friend again. Caden stood there for a moment with a blank look on her face, still in awe. Snapping out of it, she climbed back into the water and looked at Nezumi. She was going to head into the cave, Caden swam ahead slowly; turning her head, she waited patiently for the girl to follow.

Caden watched the girl as she jumped from rock to rock and laughing happily. She seemed to be enjoying herself which made Caden rather happy. She laughed inaudibly as she swam slowly as not to go too fast for Nezumi.

Swimming underwater briefly to get her face wet again, Caden looked over at Nezumi. She saw something that caught her eye and was going for it. What the hell was she looking at? Caden looked more closely, there were a pile of small shiny objects on the ground. She wondered what it was, but didn’t think about it much; she just continued to swim at a slow pace, as she noticed the water was getting colder. Caden knew that their destination was coming up and couldn’t wait to see what all was underwater in the middle of the cave.