Noodle was accompanying some colonists from a neighboring colony into the ocean waters nearby Rekes' shore. They were hoping to do some fishing in the scattered islands between their home and Issiq where the water was shallow. They were bringing a few youngsters along to gain swimming experience, and Sapient had agreed to guide them so they wouldn't get lost. Being a denizen of the ocean, they knew its currents and landscape far better than those on the surface did.

They were waiting in a protected cove, waves barely lapping at the sandy shore. It was the best place to enter the water, what with Splash, Maalika, and Gru along. They were smaller than the adults, and wouldn't deal as well with the rougher surf elsewhere. Noodle was waiting for Sapient to show, and waved at two approaching figures.

"Are you Bacuda and Wren?" ze called, from where ze was sitting by the bag of breathing masks while the whelps built sandcastles.

The red aquatic nodded and waved. "I'm Bacuda."

The blue belemoid dipped his head. "Wren."

Noodle motioned at zemself, "Noodle. And that is Splash, Maalika, and Gru. Sapient's not here yet, though."

Wren nodded and settled down, staring off at the sea. Bacuda set down her bag and looked at the whelps curiously. Splash ran up and waved at her, and she waved back, before turning towards the sea as Wren stiffened.

Noodle glanced over to see Sapient emerging from the water, coat gleaming in the light of the sun, and waved. "Ah! This is Sapient."

A second round of introductions proceeded, and then the group started preparing to go into the water. Wren slid his breathing mask on with little trouble, but Noodle had to convince Maaluka and Gru that it was necessary. Splash, being an aquatic, was already happily blowing bubbles in the ocean water, and Bacuda was standing in it, talking quietly with Sapient.

After convincing the too whelps, Noodle put zir own mask on with a relieved sigh and began to wade into the water. Sapient motioned for them all to duck beneath the waves, then turned to speak to them when they were out of the surf zone.

"There's some things I want to go over," they said, floating calmly and comfortably while Maaluka hung onto Noodle and Splash floated upside down. "Stay close to me, okay? The currents can be unpredictable sometimes. And don't touch before you ask me," they batted Gru's hand away from a brightly colored coral. "Some things are poisonous and others are delicate. And lastly: a lot of the animals down here can be dangerous."

Wren frowned at the oversimplification, but Bacuda nudged him and he let it go.

With that, the group began to swim off into the crystal-clear water. Coral reefs in all sizes and colors shone in the water around them, and then fish too brightly colored to seem natural flitted by, scales flashing. The sun ripped in the water around them, beams almost seeming to be solid from the particulates in the water.

Things were going fairly normal, but as Noodle noticed a shadow in the distance, Sapient stiffened.

"What?"

"Coraeto," Sapitnet replied, tail swishing slightly to keep themself in pace, gaze fixed on the massive shadow. "They don't usually come this shallow…"

Noodle frowned, having heard of the unpredictable beasts. Ze called Gru, Maalika, and Splash over, and hushed them as Wren and Bacuda drew close.

"If we stay still and calm, it should pass us by," Sapient said, but their frown said otherwise.

"Aren't they unpredictable?" Bacuda asked, floating closer, hands tense on a fishing spear.

Sapient nodded reluctantly. "Yes. But if we run, we will surely draw its attention as prey. Right now… we are curiosities."

Noodle deliberately folded their hands in an non threatening way, while Maaluka clung onto zir side, watching the beast approach with wide eyes. Splash started to float closer to it, but Sapient called them back and floated next to them, while Wren pulled Gru away, the whelp making interested noises at the massive green beast.

The group floated in a tense silence as the coraeto swam past, hide rippling as the muscles underneath jumped and moved to propel the massive flippers through the water. One glinting eye rolled to consider the group, and the beast's forward motion slowed, hide almost blending into the azure depths. The fish that had so freely swam and played around them before had fled, fleeing the shadow and terror of this predator.

It eyed them for a moment, then the movement of it's flippers resumed, and it vanished behind a reef with a unhurried flip of its tail.

There was a long silence, the Sapient spoke.

"We should probably head to the surface."

They got little resistance from the rest of the colonists, and the group soon headed home, shaken and awed by their close encounter.