Flynn patted his shoulder surprisingly sympathetic for once, "Well, they really stuck you with a tough nut to crack this time old son."
Ortega rubbed at his temples with both hands, "I don't even know where to start Senor!"
Flynn looked around before commenting, "Well this thing is supposed to run on steam power right?"
Ortega nodded.
"Well let's make a fire and boil some water and see where that gets us." Flynn said objectively.
Ortega gave him a wry look, "I am thinking it is a little more complex than that old son, but I suppose it's a place to start."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matt, Jim, and Serena seemed to have things well under control. I walked to the edge and dove off into the water in search of my pretty mermaid.
I found her with her whale, of course. She was rubbing his nose and jabbering away underwater.
She noticed me and stopped talking. I drew closer and gestured upward to where her catamaran floated on the surface. She seemed to sigh before nodding obediently.
She patted Dimbo once more, while I was given the stern one eyed stare all over again. I did not want this whale as my enemy that was for sure, but he was going to have to learn to share his mistress's affections with me.
I beat Keturah to the surface and hauled myself out of the water and onto the low-lying netting quickly. I got ready to help Keturah as I had been told what she would be having to do. She'd breathed the water in and now she would have to expel it.
Her head crested the water and I caught her hands and hauled her up onto the netting. She lay on her belly and began to hack out lagoon water even as she choked on it.
I rubbed my hands rhythmically up her back trying to help her expel the water from her lungs. It was painful to just be a bystander.
I could only imagine what she was experiencing right now. It had to be like drowning all over again.
She was starting to breathe better and I relaxed at the sound of it. The girl mattered to me. She mattered an awful lot!
I didn't want to ever lose her. In my heart she'd become mine, but there was yet a battle to face.
I was momentarily distracted by the realization of how far up the raggedy edge of her dress had slipped up. The desire to push it higher was overpowering for a moment, but that wasn't the plan right now.
Reluctantly I tugged the worn edge of her dress down to mid-thigh and rolled off of her to lay on my back beside her. Not wanting to, but feeling a need to I glanced over to her to see if she had noticed my silent war against going too far.