Float, drifting. Lightness warms. Nip lightness from up; easy. Rest. Home surrounds.

Silver, flashing; big silver. Flee, skim lightness, hide. Silver follows. Flee.

Over rock. Home shallow; safe from silver. Lightness warms; rest.

Warmer; home flows away. Rock blocks. Home gone.

Lightness burns; hurt. Gills dry. Lightness sears; rock cuts. Dying.

Push up; fins too weak. Sides heave. But lightness sustains. Wait; lie, wait.

Home returns, lifts. Grasp rock; foot pulls over, back to deeper home. Down to dark and cool.

Foot swims well, slow but strong. Foot is goodness, all of them.

Silver returns. Back to rock. Too shallow to swim, but foot pulls over. Home shallow, warm. Lightness dries, cooling first, then warming.

Home nearly gone, so up to rocks. Out of home, but it doesn't hurt like before. Feet support, carry. Rocks are warm, good place to rest.

A long brown watches, crawls near. Back to home; hide deep there. Maybe brown can't follow.

But home chokes! Blow lightness out; push home out of nose. Gasp; fill with lightness again, and rest. Float, out from rocks, watch as brown crawls away.

Back to rocks. Up on shore, safe from silver. Think about home, lightness. Lightness helped float in home, but no more. Float on home--that's not the same. Can't float in lightness; can't breathe home. Must live at bottom of lightness now.

A small brown crawls by. It tastes all right, but not good; won't starve in new home. Look around; might be something better. Up more rocks.

Hear a roar; spotted thing attacks. Back legs are stronger still, so jump. Jump carries out over home.

Fall into home; home scatters. Home is cold, now; feels--wet, and too cold. Must return to rocks; dry out, warm in lightness.

Lightness fading. Place where spotted thing attacked still light; walk up to there and lie in lightness. Easier to walk now; hind legs are strong. This leaves front legs free; they help with climb.

Spotted thing follows; no place to go but home. But front legs can pull on lightness.

Floating in lightness is not like floating in water. It takes work; front legs work hard, but they are learning. They will gain strength. Home lies below, and the bright part of lightness scatters across top of home.

Dip down over home, and silver nips lightness from up--his up, not mine. Silvers tasted good once, when they were small. Catch one?

Dive into home. Home scatters, but I catch silver in my beak. Beat home with wings; push home back, then into lightness. Home's wetness shakes off, drops back to home, down.

Up into lightness, and glide. Toss head back, feel silver wiggle down my throat. Silver still tastes good. Turn on the wind, so the wind carries me farther out from rocks. Beat lightness with wings, push myself higher.

Bright shimmers still on home, as lightness once did on silver--and on me. But I have a new home now, above the rocks, above the water; it is a good home, and a safe one.