The stream wasn't all that far away from the cavern's entrance and I had reached it rather quickly.

Well, as quick as one can go without tripping over every slight bump and hole in the ground.

The creek was apparently a little overfull because the ground I was walking on became rather muddy. This just made me more cautious as I didn't want to find the flooded embankment and fall into the deeper parts of the water. I did not like my chance of learning how to swim in this new body

Heavens, I have yet to understand how to control these darn wings! Easier said than done, which was the reason for them dragging on the ground a little. Nothing for it right now. I'll have to try and train this later. I do seem to have some kind of muscle memory slash instinct, otherwise, they wouldn't even keep as steady as they are.

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At last, I found the creek's edge — A lot of those going around, apparently. — and leaned down to sniff. It didn't smell bad and the sound did not betray any rapidness. So I dunked my beak-like snoot into the water and drew it in. It tasted a little...salty and metallic, I guess one could say? Maybe it had a lot of minerals or something.

Whatever, not the most important thing right now. I had drunk and now I —

Wait. When things hatched, weren't they usually kinda slimy? I hadn't felt like it, but...

I quickly scooped up some water with my front paws and threw it in my face while rubbing. I repeated the process and soon something seemed to peel off piece by piece. After I couldn't feel any more of that happening, I rinsed a couple of times and slowly, oh so slowly, opened my eyes.

~Woah.~