Amanda raised a flame encased hand. “Indi?”

Indi appeared out of the water spluttering and wet. She seemed dazed but otherwise physically unharmed.

“Are you okay?” Amanda asked.

Indi nodded as she took in several quick breaths.

“What happened?” Amanda asked.

Indi didn’t answer initially. She seemed to be having trouble getting her enough air.

“Inhaler?” Amanda asked.

Indi shook her head and pointed back up the cliff.

‘Shit!’ Amanda thought.

A moment later, Indi shook her head again, then managed to speak between breaths “It’s okay. I’m fine.” She took in a short breath then repeated, “I’m fine,” again.

Amanda watched her and tried to stay calm.

“Foot slipped,” Indi finally said then took a deep breath. She appeared to be coming right. She took another deep breath, slower this time, and then added, “I’m okay,” with a smile. She shut her eyes for a moment.

“Are you hurt?” Amanda asked.

Indi shook her head. “I managed to shield before I landed.” She held out her hands and gave a self satisfied smile. Then her smile fell away. “How’s your leg?”

Amanda grimaced, then showed her. Her ankle was already swelling.

“That looks bad,” Indi observed.

Amanda shook her head. “It could be worse.”

“How are we going to get you back to the car?” Indi wondered out loud.

Amanda shrugged. “How we get out of this cave is probably the bigger issue. We probably have to wait for Cat and Kass.”

“Maybe we can climb back out.”

Amanda glanced back up at the slippery and vertical wall. She doubted she could have done it even with a rope. That sort of climb required aid or some kind of pulley at the top, then there was the other problem. “What if you fall?”

Indi shrugged and pushed her glasses back a smidge. “I can shield.”

Amanda didn’t protest, although she had no expectations, at least with a shield there was no harm in trying. Indi wasn’t likely to wear herself out before she realised it was no use.

Indi gave climbing a good attempt while Amanda leaned against the wall, stealing glances occasionally. Indi had trouble even getting two feet on the wall and when she finally did she soon quickly stumbled backwards, landing awkwardly on the rocks before falling into the pool.

“What was that about a shield?” Amanda asked noting that Indi hadn’t raised one that time.

Indi tilted her head side to side and gave a sheepish glance back up at the wall. “It’s a bit easier when there’s more time to think about it.”

“Mm hm, maybe enough with the climbing for now then?”

It was a polite but firm request and Indi obeyed.

She sat back down on the rocks and Amanda noticed her shiver.

“Are you cold?”

Indi started to shake her head then paused and shrugged. She frowned. “It was actually warmer than I was expecting but it is a little chilly now I’m sitting still.”

Amanda touched a hand to a rock that lay between them. A moment later a larger flame burst up from it in an unnaturally straight column.

“Won’t that use up too much of your own energy? Your own heat?” Indi asked.

Amanda shook her head. “I can do this for days.”

“With food.” Indi reminded her, “conservation laws do apply.”

“I’m more efficient than you think, I’m not actually creating the heat, the energy comes from the particles in the air, I’m just moving things around a little, changing the pressure and the speed. It’s like throwing a match on a can of oil. It takes almost no energy at all compared to what’s in the oil.”

Indi frowned but she didn’t argue. She’d heard so many stories about firestarters that burnt themselves out or burnt themselves up, but Amanda did seem to be different. Still, it mesmerised her.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Are you warmer?” Amanda asked.

Indi still felt a little cold but the fire did help so she nodded. As she did she noticed something lying on the ground next to her.

“Hey, now we can play cards,” Indi said happily as she held up the pack that had been knocked down as she fell. She wished her bag had been too, but alas it was still up the top with all the food she’d grabbed.

Amanda gave a chuckle but Indi noticed that she shifted uncomfortably.

“Are you okay?” Indi asked.

Amanda nodded, then sighed “Yeah, it’s just, I need to pee.”

“I can turn around.” Indi said rotating away as she spoke.

Amanda gave a soft laugh, “Yeah, it’s just it’s gonna be an ass with this leg. I can’t put any weight on it.”

“Do you want help?” Indi asked still facing away.

Amanda laughed again, “No, it’s alright, just gimme a sec.”

Indi shuffled a little further away and put her fingers to her ears. “I’ll block my ears, poke me when you’re done.”

“You don’t need to do that,” Amanda told her with yet another laugh.

But Indi stayed turned around with her palms pressed over her ears.

Amanda struggled to get her shorts down then wondered how she was going to manage to get her weight under her and without peeing on her clothes. Instead she shuffled further along the small rocky beach until she found a a bigger and semi-smooth rock that she could rest her arse against. That seemed to work out relatively okay. Once she was done she used her good foot to lift her weight up enough that she could shake dry, then shuffled sideways again, away from the spot she had peed and pulled her clothes back on.

She washed her hands in the water then inched her way back to where Indi sat, reached over the still burning fire, and gave her a gentle poke.

Indi turned back around and said in a worried voice, “I was just wondering, what are we going to do if we need to poop?”

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want the answer to,” Amanda replied in a lighthearted tone.

“But seriously, this beach is not very big, and Cat and Kass might not be back for quite awhile.”

Amanda glanced up and down the beach then shrugged. “Well there’s nothing like pooping in near quarters with a friend to bring you closer together.”

Indi gave her a look.

Amanda sniggered. “If it’s any consolation I’ll turn my back and block my ears.”

“It’s not your ears I’m worried about,” Indi replied but as worried as she was she couldn’t help but smile.

Amanda nodded toward the cards. “What’d you want to play?”

Indi thought for a moment. “How about poker?”

Amanda raised a surprised eyebrow.

Indi shrugged. “It’s the only way I’m going to get better at it. More so if I play the master.”

Amanda smiled and reached for the cards. “What are we betting?”

“I could keep track in my head, or we could bet rocks?”

Amanda snorted and looked down at the rock covered beach.

“We could separate out the small round ones.” Indi suggested. She casually sucked on her bottom lip.

Amanda shrugged and nodded. “Having something to see does kind of help.” She looked around again. “We need a flattish surface as well.”

“I can still keep track of the number of rocks anyway. We could stack some of the bigger rocks as a table.” Indi got to her knees and started moving the rocks about until there were five bowling ball sized rocks between them and two smaller piles each side. “Let’s start with twenty pebbles each.”

As Amanda shuffled the cards Indi glanced sideways at the still burning fire.

Amanda noticed and asked “Is it enough light?”

Indi nodded and replied, “Are you sure you’re not tired?”

Amanda nodded and mouthed, “I’m fine.” Then she started dealing out cards.

It only took a few rounds before Indi was out of pebbles.

“Want to start over?” Amanda asked.

Indi had a focused look on her face and was still staring down at their makeshift board. “How do you do it?”

“I don’t bet high when my hand is shit.”

“I didn’t have a bad hand on that last one.”

“Yeah but mine was still better. You gotta pay attention to what I bet too, not just the cards.”

“Yeah but you bet on a shit hand before.”

“Because your hand was shitter.”

“How did you know?”

Amanda opened her mouth to explain but was interrupted from a sound in the water. Something out in the middle had caused small waves to spread out in ripples that broke on the shoreline.

“What was that?” Indi asked in a hushed voice as she pulled her feet quietly away from the edge of the water.

Amanda didn’t answer. She just stared out at the centre of the ripples, one hand slightly raised by her side and ready.

They were silent for a few seconds. Then something large and white rose out of the water. It looked at them with big black eyes.

Amanda stayed still so Indi did the same. Neither moved.

The creature blinked. It could have been mistaken for a giant lizard only instead of scales it’s face looked like it was covered in soft downy snow white fur, almost seal like if not for the structure. The eyes were almost forward facing with a slight angle to the side, and set back in protective grooves. The head took up almost the entire pool and the rest of the body remained hidden below the surface.

As it tilted its head sideways, as if cocking it in confusion at their presence, Indi could see it did in fact have scales, set beneath the downy fur. Strange shaped scales, like pentagons all over its body. A blue tongue poked out briefly in a lick of one nostril then the creature slipped calmly back into the water, gone as quickly as it had arrived.

They stayed silent for few moments more, wondering if it would return.

Eventually Indi asked in a whisper “What was that?”

“A water dragon,” Amanda replied. “They’re generally pretty harmless, and shy. This cave must go down quite far.”

“Have you ever seen one before?” Indi asked.

“No” Amanda replied with a hint of awe in her voice.

They sat in silence again, just watching the water and imagining what lay below.

“Do you think he minds us being here?” Indi asked, never one to stay quiet for too long.

Amanda shook her head. “I don’t know, it’s not like we have much choice.” She sighed and leaned back against the wall, looking uncomfortable. “What do you suppose the time is now?”

Indi looked around the cave as if trying to find hints somewhere. Eventually she shrugged. “I’m kind of hungry, maybe dinner time.”

Amanda gave a tired smile. Then she sat up and reached for her pack, wincing as she did so. “I’ve got some muesli bars.”

While Indi was thinking about it her stomach decided to answer for her with a gurgle causing both woman burst into laughter.

Once Indi had calmed down Amanda handed her a muesli bar.

Ind frowned at it. It wasn’t a particularly large muesli bar, hardly even a snack. She glanced around at the cave, suddenly filled with fear at the reality of their situation. “We’re not going to get to eat much for a little while are we?”

“A day at most,” Amanda replied sounding calm or at least pretending to be. “We won’t be moving much anyway.”

“Do you think it’ll get colder?”

Amanda shook her head. “Temperature’s pretty constant underground. And we do have the fire.”

“Does it work for you?”

Amanda nodded and gave her a reassuring smile.

Indi couldn’t tell if she was lying or not. “How’s your leg?”

Amanda glanced down at it. “It’ll be fine for now I think.”