An Ocean Discovery

Today it was warm and bright in the Cuddle meadows. Too warm and bright. Benny wanted a swim. So, with a little hop and a thump of his ears, he told the others he was off to find some water to do just that.

He walked and walked for what felt like aaaaages, his little paws not covering much ground at all. He was very hot and bothered. But after what felt like days, which was probably really a span of a few hours, he saw the ocean shimmering on the horizon. Benny squeaked in excitement! He didn't remember the last time he'd been in the water. He had missed it so much. With a skittering of claws on the path, he sprinted to the beach as fast as his little legs could carry him. Soon he was on the sand. He could feel it smush and crunch between his toes and chirped in delight. Without a further thought, he ran for the water and belly flopped in.

The sea was cool and refreshing as the gentle waves broke over Benny. He thumped his ears together in joy and took off swimming. He moved surprisingly fast with his modified doggie paddle, and suddenly found himself far from the beach. Looking around, he had a small moment of panic at noticing how far he'd swum. But that didn't last long, he'd spotted something shining below the waves! He dived below the water and swum down as fast as he could, using his tail to propel him. The sparkling object was nestled between brightly coloured corals that almost seemed to be growing in a sort of garden? Benny was intrigued.

At last, he managed to reach the corals and grab onto one to keep his balance. As he was gazing at the strange, shining object, he heard bubbles behind him. He whipped his head round to look. It was a strange... Creature? A Cuddleray, maybe? It was a similar shape to one, thought Benny. But why did it have a fish tail? What was going on with its cheeks? Why was it glowing?! Benny squeaked in worry, forgetting that he was underwater. The mysterious creature chuckled as bubbles floated away from Benny, yet no bubbles escaped their lips. They swam over gracefully to Benny and gently removed his hand from the coral he was holding. They gestured to the marks he'd left by holding it with a little shake of their head.

Benny nodded, very embarrassed to have damaged what must have been this creature's garden. Then his little lungs promptly reminded him he needed to breathe. His eyes opened wide and he scrambled to swim to the surface, only to realise the other creature was pulling him up. They both reached the surface and Benny gasped for air, smiling and laughing at the fun ride up. The other creature just watched him with interest as he breathed.

Once Benny had calmed down enough, he remembered the damage he'd caused to their coral. His ears shot up straight at the realisation, then he rummaged around in his neck fluff. The strange maybe Cuddleray tilted their head, wondering what he was looking for. Benny held out a carefully woven bracelet with a sheepish smile. A simple gesture of "I'm sorry". They beamed at his gift and immediately shot below the waves. Benny just stared at the splash they had left behind, definitely unable to swim that fast. He wondered if they were going to come back.

A few seconds later, they did! Surfacing at speed with another splash, they held out the shining object from before. Benny looked at them in confusion. They gently took his paw, placed the object into it, and closed his paw pads around it. Benny looked at them, unsure of what to do. They simply smiled and nodded. Benny smiled back, gratefully. Then with that, the mysterious sea creature waved him goodbye and vanished off into the water again.

Floating there, Benny was speechless at what had just happened. He turned his new treasure over in his hands, then carefully tucked it away into his neck fluff before beginning the journey home.