The ocean was a place to be respected more than anything else. This was especially true off of the Rekes coast, as the continental shelf rose sharply from the depths to the shore, making the surf violent and unpredictable. Jagged outcrops of stone scattered the surf as well, some poking above the water, others only visible in the troughs of the waves.

Sky soared out above it, watching the never-ending fight between the waves and the shore before diving into the calmer waters past the surf. They slid under the water smoothly, breathing mask already in place, and waved to Depths, Ambergris, and Garnet who were already under the water.

"Sorry I'm late. Got held up."

Depths nodded amiably, but Ambergris shot them a curious look, wanting to know more. Sky ignored ae as Garnet awkwardly flapped over through the water, chattering excitedly about all the things they'd seen! Sky motioned Ambergris and Depths to lead on towards the mine while they listened to Garnet talk about the strangeness of the ocean.

Garnet chattered about the strange fish as they swam through the deep, clear waters of the ocean. Not many colorful fish lurked here, far out from the shore, as they began to descend through the water. Still, seaweed waved in the currents and small fish darted here and there, only visible as the sun caught their scales in a silvery flash. Sky made attentive noises as Garnet ran out of the topic, and soon enough, they were at the entrance to the mine.

'Entrance' was doing a lot of heavy lifting, as this mine was the side of a crevasse that sank into the shadowy depths beneath. It wasn't so much of a tunnel as a rock face they worked on, digging for ores and minerals. Still, even with the yawning depths below, it was still less claustrophobic than the tunnels had been. Ambergris and Depths set about setting up a net that would catch their debris before it could sink and hit something or something below, while Garnet took one look at the depths, yelped, and started flapping their wings wildly.

Sky calmed them, holding them steady until they realized they weren't, in fact, falling, and then they floated there looking embarrassed. Sky just chuckled, amused, before turning to help Ambergris and Depths with the net. Once it was securely tied to the stakes that they hammered into the wall, the three began tapping at the rocks with their tools.

Garnet occasionally watched with interest, though mainly they swam through the seaweed on the cliff face, pretending to be a fish. Sky kept an eye on them as he struck at a likely looking crack, prying off a piece and examining the rock beneath as it fell slowly through the water before coming to a stop in the net.

Ambergris, giving up on using acoustics underwater to try and determine the best spot, had pulled out a waterproof tool and had it attached to the rocks, giving aer readings of the best spots to dig. Depths was easily swinging his new pick, having tied himself on to the cliff to keep himself from losing any momentum to the water.

Sky eyed the new pick enviously, and caught Ambergris doing the same. One of these days, Sky would get one for themself… but a matter for another time. Instead, they examined a piece of ore fallen off their section of the wall, ignoring Garnet's attempts to snatch it.

Deeming it only mildly of use, they held it out to Garnet and told them very seriously that they needed to keep it safe. Garnet's eyes grew round as they held the stone, and Depths glanced over, clear amusement writ on his face. Ambergris snorted but didn't comment, and the three worked in companionable silence while Garnet stared at the sea around them like something was going to appear and steal their rock.

Soon, though, their arms got tired, and they began to pack up to make the swim to the surface. It was always worse going up than going down, Sky reflected as they, Depths, and Ambergris divvied up their haul evenly between them. Going down only weighed down by your equipment was easy. Going up, with all these stones and a tired youngster wanting to hitch a ride… well. They did say miners were tough for a reason.