Ratha and Thistle-Chaser (The Third Book of the Named) by Clare Bell Read Free Book Online Page A

the breakers. She turned her back on the sea and went foraging.
    After satisfying her hunger on seabird eggs, she did not return to her usual sleeping place for a nap but wandered south. Her way led onto the large crescent beach that lay between the seamare’s natural jetty and another point to the south. She paced through the crusty sand of the backshore, guided by a dim recollection of the territory she had crossed to come here. Though she did not know what she was looking for, she kept on until she stood atop a low bluff, looking down onto a wide, shallow lagoon.
    Unlike the green foamy surf of the jetty, the water here was so clear that she could see tiny wave ripples in the sand at the bottom. It lapped gently against the shore, sheltered from the wind that lashed the open ocean. She came to the water’s edge and let it wash the toes of her good forefoot while the intricate lacing of sunlight on the wavelets dazzled her. She waded in, feeling the water seep through her fur. Here in the shallows, it was warmed by the sun and felt tepid instead of cold.
    Enjoying the silken stroking of the water against her skin as she moved, Newt waded deeper, letting herself be floated off her feet. She started to paddle, but the splashing was awkward and she stopped. It felt so easy and relaxing to just hang in the water with legs extended, letting herself be teased along by vagrant currents. She wasn’t afraid. It was so shallow that she could put her feet down and stop drifting any time she wanted. The noon sun above cast her shadow along the bottom, surrounding it with bright, shimmering rings.
    So fascinated was she by this that she ducked her head under to get a better look and got a noseful of brine. A spark of alarm and the memory of her near drowning almost made her panic, but she remembered how a blast of exhaled breath had blown the water out and kept her from choking.
    She’d done enough, at least for one day. She hauled herself out, dripping, shook off, and went about her business. She had found what she wanted: a place where she could immerse herself in this strange new element and teach herself to master it.
    She began to look forward to her daily jaunts to the lagoon for a swim. This way of moving in water allowed her to use her crippled foreleg much more than when walking. As she stroked with the good forepaw, the backwash swirled around the other, gently tugging and stretching stiffened joints and muscles. Often the leg ached when she limped ashore, but she sensed it was a good hurt and one that might lead to healing.
    Her fascination with the patterns of light and shadow cast by the sun on the lagoon bottom led her to try ducking her head under again and opening her eyes. Finding that she could keep water out of her nose and mouth by holding air in her lungs, she could soon submerge her head without feeling suffocated. Her sight underwater was blurry but good enough to let her make out objects on the sandy bottom.
    Before long, she abandoned her instinctive but ineffective paddling with her head held above water. Now she stretched out her entire body and immersed her head. She discovered that she could pull herself through the water with sweeping strokes of her good forepaw. Though this worked, she had a tendency to veer off to one side, which she countered by using her bad leg as much as she could.
    Though she worked hard to gain skill, she often let herself relax by gliding around in the lagoon, feeling the water caress her belly fur and watching sandy shoals pass beneath. It brought a soothing escape from the demands of her life and the painful memories that still lay like a cloud over her mind. Drifting in liquid silence, she was not reminded of her limitations, either of mind or body. Here the water gave only its gentlest challenge, rewarding her with something rare in her life: pleasure.
     
    Though Newt remained wary of the tailed sea lions that had attacked the seamare’s young, she had no idea that a bird