Closed Beyond The Depths

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

The annoying thing about having the break over the winter meant that Rāwhiti never got to spend any real time on the water. He'd gotten used to spending huge chunks of his childhood on his father's fishing boat, but these days the holidays kept him landlocked. It was disappointing, and now that he was back at school he couldn't even take advantage of the lake for a few more months. The best he could do was fly over it and pretend he was sailing, so he had brought his broom over from the pitch and stood on the lake's edge, surveying its surface and trying to figure out where he wanted to go first.

 

[Avery Lancaster]

Six years, Avery had avoided the lake. He'd explored every quiet nook and cranny of the castle, every dark recess of the forest, flown laps around the school grounds and its skies, but he'd never ventured here. He hadn't been able to bring himself to, knowing what he knew about the lake, and what had happened there. Knowing what could happen again. But he'd spent too long avoiding it, and he'd always known it was inevitable that he'd end up here before he graduated, whether he wanted to or not. He wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten this close to the lake's edge in the first place. He'd only been out for a walk, and whether subconsciously or otherwise, this was where it had lead. It was as if he'd suddenly woken from a daze, immediately confronted with the neverending expanse of water before him, a dark rippling void that threatened to pull him in and swallow him whole. This was it. The lake. The very sight of it had always filled him with a sense of dread, even at a distance, but this close? It made his knees weak, and he had to crouch down and scrunch up his hands in the dirt below in an effort to ground himself, a reminder that he was still on dry land.​

 

[Raawhiti Te Rangi]

As he looked around, Rāwhiti was pleased to spot a familiar face. He raised a hand to greet Avery, figuring that even as rival captains they could still be friendly, but his hand stilled halfway up as he watched the older boy drop to his knees. "Avery!" He called out, plans for the day forgotten as he hurried over. He dropped his broom as he got close, crouching down next to Avery and resting a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong, are you hurt?"

 

[Avery Lancaster]

It was strange to think how popular a place the lake was, given how avoidant Avery had always been of it, so he shouldn't have been surprised to find he wasn't alone. The discomfort of being here was no lessened by somebody else invading his personal space, and the hand on his shoulder filled him with the very real fear of being pushed into the water. He instinctively gripped the foreign hand with his own, whether for support, or to prepare to throw the other person into the lake to save himself, he wasn't entirely sure, though the whites of his knuckles might have suggested one were more likely. "No, I'm alright. I'm okay." He muttered, eyes all but firmly glued to the earth below him rather than the water ahead. "I was dizzy, that's all. It's nothing." His grip on Raawhiti's hand slackened now that he'd reconciled the fact this wasn't just any student, though he kept his hand there for support on the off-chance a kelpie leapt from the waters and tried to drag him under.​