Carrie dove through her reflection, closing her eyes at the last second and turning to get herself right side up. She kicked for the surface, opening her eyes briefly to find her friend on the edge of the pool. She surfaced facing Denna.
"Wow," Denna stuttered. She ducked her head and took a half-step back as Carrie reached the edge of the pool. "How do you get out? there's no ladder!"
Carrie laughed and kicked hard, pushing herself out of the water and landing with a supple twist on the edge. "Come on, you know physics better than I do. Stuff weighs less in the water, so I just lift."
Denna's feathers flattened, fluffed, and flattened again as she considered the answer, revealing the utter whiteness of her undercoat. "It looked like you jumped, but there was nothing under your feet."
"There was water under my feet." Carrie shrugged. "You believe me now?"
"Yes, indubitably."
Carrie laughed again and started wringing the water out of her hair, prompting a startled hop back from Denna.
"I couldn't do that." Denna shivered a little. "So much water soaking into your hair."
"Yeah, I know." Carrie looked at her feet, still underwater. "I found so many of your people - soaking wet, sunk like a stone." She hugged herself. "It was hard enough lifting those I found alive out - had to keep dropping weights. You folks are heavy."
Denna inched toward the pool, keeping Carrie between her and the edge. "I know. I didn't mean to remind you." She touched Carrie's shoulder lightly. "You still like this 'swimming' after that?"
Carrie nodded. "I've been a rescue diver for a long time. I've pulled my own people out of worse. That flood though - it was the first time I've had to work in such a big team, trying to find so many people." She pulled her feet out of the pool and stood up. "Let's go inside. I need to dry off in time for the meeting." Carrie looked back at the pool briefly, then turned toward the hotel.
Denna nodded, her feathers finally smoothing down into a solid blue, hiding the white down. "Do you know what your government is planning to ask for in exchange for the rescue?"
"I shouldn't say." Carrie grinned. "Can't be giving you an unfair advantage."
"Advantage!" Denna hissed and her feathers ruffled up again. "We -"
"Calm down, Denna, it was a joke. I smiled."
Denna's beak clacked a few times. "Right. Showing teeth means a joke." Her feathers started to smooth down again. "Not a funny joke."
"Sorry. I do know, but you will find out at the meeting. The high mucky-mucks don't like their plans leaking out before they get to go through all the ceremony."
Denna tipped her head as she looked at Carrie. "I am the ambassador to humans. Am I a 'high mucky-muck'?"
"Yup, but I don't hold it against you." Carrie grinned again. "You were born a ruler, so you couldn't be anything else. Human mucky-mucks usually work their way up so they think they're better than the humans who aren't rulers."
