Black water slapped the walls of the last air bell, a dome of trapped breath barely wider than a wagon. Eight bodies crowded beneath it, soaked and shivering, knees knocking together while cold drops fell steadily on every bare neck.
Wringing out her sleeve over Cessy's shoes, Vella said, "Everybody keep your elbows home, this bubble is smaller than my patience."
Hajin batted the tail away from his face, "Your tail is in my mouth, Mutt."
"Then stop breathing so loud, Idiot," Juna muttered, curling the tail around her own knees.
Didi sat against the curved wall with her frozen arm laid across her lap, blue-white to the elbow. Vella's gold light crept up the limb in slow pulses, coaxing the fingers to twitch one by one.
"Does it hurt?" he asked, crouching beside her.
"Only when I breathe, so I intend to stop," Didi sniffed, lifting her chin like a queen on a very wet throne.
"Highness-pout, that isn't a plan."
