The Buoyant Botanist

[soti]

GASP!

Soti shook his head free of any clinging drops of water as he pulled himself out of Zora's River. The small Kokiri was down on his hands and knees, panting towards the dry but quickly moistening earth below him. If the brilliant "young" man had learned anything from his trip it was that Kokiri were not meant to swim... at least not in his opinion.

"I am never trying to dive underwater again," the redhead started absolutely. Treading water was fine but this was one botanist who could not handle being submerged at all, mostly due to the fact that he could barely hold his breath for a few seconds.

"What are you going to do about collecting underwater samples?" asked a small winged pink light that hovered above the boy in wide circles.

"Surely someone possessing a more adequate lung capacity and a reverence for the pursuit of knowledge might assist me," the Kokiri answered his partner as he finally stood up and began to air out his well-soaked cloak. The boy was fortunately wise enough to secure some water-proof cases to carry his important research and other materials in. "Besides, I can always leave the small samples to you, Mura."

Soti gave his best friend a grin while the Fairy in question simply sighed. He usually had to dive several times just to get the right things, being only able to carry so much at a time. It would be a lot easier on him if his Kokiri partner would just learn to swim properly.

"Come on, let's find some locals and ask about the flora in this area," the taller of the pair decided, spying an entrance into a high rock wall from which Zora's River was flowing. A walkway to the side of the river appeared most appealing to his wet boots and the inquisitive child quickly sloshed off into the domain of the Zora, a winged orb of light right behind him.

[Kulau]

Kulau was pacing around Zora's Domain, waiting for someone when he noticed a boy entering into the Domain. It was not normal to see other races in Zora's Domain, so he thought to inquire about the appearance. After all, it might be urgent. He thought it odd that a child would be traveling alone, but as he approached, he noticed a flying flowing ball that was clearly a fairy partner. So the boy was actually Kokiri. That upped the intrigue, as Kokiri were a rare sight out of the forest.

When he reached the boy, he give a quick bow to Soti and his fairy partner. "Greetings. Welcome to Zora's Domain. We very rarely get visitors, and very rarely a Kokiri visitor. Is there something I can help you with?" Kulau noticed a few zoras were looking over, confused at the presence of a lone child. They were not as educated as Kulau was on other races.

[soti]

Soti smiled at the Zora who presented himself with such good manners. Honestly he had been worried that everyone in Hyrule would treat him more as a child than a researcher, even when they did know he was a Kokiri. His kind stayed young in both body and mind, after all. Most who recognized him for what he was, though, had been knowledgeable enough not to treat him like an orphan or a lost little boy at least.

"Thank you for your hospitality," The redhead answered with a bow of his own. During this exchange the Fairy present caught up to his partner and promptly disappeared somewhere within the child's cloak. As he stood straight again Soti reached into his watertight backpack and pulled out a rather thick book and gave Kulau a happy expression. "I'm a travelling botanist on a mission to the various lands of Hyrule. I wish to seek permission to conduct research on the local plant life."

[Kulau]

Kulau nodded as Soti explained his mission to him. He pondered on the thought for a moment and approved of the idea.

"You certainly may research the plant life around our domain, but I will warn you, many of our plants are located deep under the surface of the water, so you will need some assistance to find them. Unless, of course, you can breathe underwater." Kulau began to walk along the side of the domain, motioning for Soti to follow him.

"I will need a moment to locate an able-bodied guide for you. In the meantime, there are multiple above water plants you may begin your work on." He then walked off in search of someone to help out.

[soti]

"Ah, that would be most helpful!" the Kokiri said with glee as he held his book close his chest. Still dripping wet for the most part he was careful not to drip on his precious sheets of paper within as he hurried after Kulau. He was very much an excited child right now, given access to a brand new playground. As said, as smart a she might be Soti was indeed still young at heart.

He was also a bit smug about being right. Someone was willing to help him with the "wet work".

"My name is Soti," he introduced himself once he had fallen into pace alongside the Zora who welcomed him. "May I know your name as well?"

It didn't seem right to the Kokiri to just get to work without first asking the name of the one who had offered to help him so quickly.

[Kulau]

Kulau looked over to him and smiled. "Kulau. Nice to meet you Soti. I work as a diplomat." Fitting that he was the one to greet Soti. He approached his door and knocked a few times, waiting for a response. None came.

After a moment with no answers at the door, Kulau shrugged his shoulders and slowly removed his work uniform, revealing his swim trunks and folding up his uniform nicely within before turning to Soti and smiling.

"Well, it seems everyone is busy except me right now, so I'll be the one to assist you in your research. How large a sample do you need Soti?" Kulau then began to stretch out. He didn't want to stiffen up while he was swimming, not in the least.

[soti]

"Well, I wouldn't want to take up too much of your time. Not when you have such an important job," Soti said with respect to Kulau. He was somewhat easily impressed having lived life in the forest with just other children, after all. "But if you are going to offer I can't turn down your help."

Soti walked to the edge of the rather large basin in the middle of Zora's Domain. A large waterfall fed it but the pool was far too deep for Soti to get to the bottom of even if he had been a decent swimmer. Sitting down cross-legged before the pool Soti removed a towel from his bag and dried off before opening his book. Many illustrations of plants as well as forest-like locations passed by before he came a blank page that he was happy with.

"Please, if you could collect just a single full-sized and unbroken sample of any type of flora that grows underwater in this pool I would be most grateful. I can worry about additional stock later, right now I need to catalogue locations and types," Soti explained as he began furiously sketching with a feather pen. The two blank pages quickly became a rough estimation of the visible part of Zora's Domain itself with various markings and notations that only Soti himself probably knew the meaning of. "Mura will tell me where they came from so don't worry about memorizing where you got them."

At the sound of his name the small Fairy emerged once more and floating before the ambassador.

"Nice to meet you, Kulau," he said. Indeed it was nice. For once Mura wouldn't need to haul up heavy, wet plant life by himself.

While the Fairy greeted his new diving partner Soti also set out several large squares of cloth on the ground near him while he continued to work on his sketching, presumably to hold any samples that were retrieved. The boy had been doing this for a long time in Faron Province and a fair amount of experience showed in his quickness to get set-up. A fair amount of his natural childishness also showed in his simplistic and direct approach to the work, but Soti only cared about results.

[Kulau]

Kulau bowed to the fairy partner. "Nice to meet you too Mura. Let's get going." In the blink of eye, Kulau had jumped from the side into the bottom of the pool that was the center of Zora's Domain. Kulau quickly got to work taking samples of the various flowers and weeds that grew there. He scared a few fish on the way but Kulau was no threat to them, he simply wanted the plants.

After some time had elapsed, Kulau emerged from the surface and handed a handful of wet soppy leaves, weeds, and flowers over to Soti, careful to make sure they were all intact and separated so as not to cause any confusion.

"There's the first batch. I'm going back in for more." Once again Kulau was off and swimming down for more flora. It was a vast, untouched collection of things from the domain pool, and he had to check to make sure he got all of them.

[soti]

Soti was more than pleased with the progress of the work. That fact that he'd been able to get right to it almost immediately, and with local help no less, wasn't something to take for granted. The redhead childishly(As was the Kokiri's nature) imagined all his work would go this smoothly and that fact that it actually was would probably make any future obstacles all the more bothersome to the would-be botanist, Regardless, he now worked with a self-satisfied smile on his face, drawing sketches of the samples that Kulau had given him with highly-practiced speed and precision.

"So, what's it like up here usually?" Mura asked of his current "assistant" beneath the water's surface as they dived for more samples. The Fairy's voice and hearing were unimpeded by the liquid and he knew that a Zora would have no trouble conversing while submerged. "Seems like a pretty peaceful place."

Unliek his partner who was too busy thinking about flora, Mura actively worried about fauna wherever they went. he didn't want to see Soti eaten by a local giant sea monster or something equally dangerous.

[Kulau]

Kulau examined some of the local flora, scaring a small crab in the process. He chuckled to himself, watching the crab scuttle off into a new hiding spot.

"Not much really happens up here. We don't get attacked, very rarely are there any fights. We just try and keep things as peaceful as possible. The more adventurous types would consider it boring but I have no such opinions. I think we have one of the best places to live in all of Hyrule. Of course, my opinion is biased." All the while, Kulau was picking up more samples to be studied before shooting back to the surface and meeting with Soti again.

"Ok, I think that's all of them. Disturbed a couple of crabs in the process, but they'll live." They were just crabs. Not like the zoras really ate crabs. At least Kulau didn't.