Minutes passed. Or maybe hours. And Rozy was still swimming.
Caspian groaned weakly.
Roxy slowed down, looking at his face. "Caspian?"
His eyelids fluttered. The golden iris focused, hazy and confused. He looked at her.
He saw the long, floating hair. He saw the face of his little landwalker. But then his eyes traveled down.
He saw the tail.
The magnificent pink tail that shimmered like the dawn he had never seen. It beat rhythmically against the water, strong and sure, carrying his weight as if he were nothing.
Caspian blinked. He thought he was dead. He thought he was in the Afterlife, and the Goddess of the Ocean had come to collect him.
"Beautiful," he rasped, a bubble of blood escaping his lips. "Pink..."
"Yeah, it's pink," Roxy choked out, tears of relief welling in her eyes, instantly washing away in the ocean. "It matches my robe. Do you like it?"
Caspian reached out a trembling hand. He touched the scales of her tail.
