Re: lake, by the shore
All this talk of being made, of not dying except by certain method, it struck strong chords and his disapproval for some anonymous set of parental figures grew stronger. She was a honest, kindly little thing, even in the midst of her wandering thoughts, which spoke of good character. He ranked that higher than his well-lauded manners, but he didn't say as much to children, it made them stop trying.
It was important to have manners when you were hurt by other people. Restrained the temper. He had never quite mastered forgiveness, but the restraint, oh he had that down. It didn't quite help. Sometimes he thought people wished for him to rage. Why?
If she had been looking to incite lake-numbed terror in him, she had managed it. He had actually managed to pursue her quite a distance, and had even nearly overtaken her, though he was a good six or seven yards away, a dark head bobbing on the water. When she exploded out of the water he exhaled rapidly in relief and actually went down in the water until it closed over his head, and he had to struggle back up again.
"Back to shore." He was going to say something else, but he was not as buoyant as her - in more ways than one. The water choked that off and he went down again, struggling in the water.