Hey everybody,

Here we start on our journey. Please leave comments, reviews, or questions in the review section. Also, please let me know if I make any spelling or grammatical errors as I have nobody to review my work. Thanks!

P.S. I haven't been on many boats, so I'm going to try to provide no specifics that may lead to people bashing me for calling something the wrong name.

The view of an island rising above the sea lays in the distance with the sun shining in the sky illuminating the beauty of the volcanic creation. A boat approaches the few sand bars carrying two passengers on it.

"The Song of Dragons," the captain asks. "You said that you are researching Folklore at university, is that right? There is certainly mention of that legend here in Paoul."

The other passenger nods her head while staring out at the sea as the break through the waters.

"'The Dragon's Song brings misfortune', or some such superstition or legend. It is an odd thing to be interested in. Particularly going so far as to take a break from your studies to pursue it, and even saying you want to work for me at R&R Diving Service. Well, the work will at least take you to oceans all around the world. It is not as glamorous as you may think. You will spend your time doing normal things like guiding or photography. But never mind that, my unusual friend! Ah, what was your name again?"

She gave him a queer look and answered, "Marina. Marina Marklin."

"Nice name. As you get older, it becomes harder to remember people's names, you know. I remember faces, though. I think your face is that of a person of great resolve. A person's face reflects the life that they live. You must live carefully to make sure that your face is always a good one!"

She sat there thinking about his words for a minute. She thought that her face was rather soft for all of the work that she put out in the sun, though it was hard to tell due to her Pacific Islander heritage from her mother, but her father's face was the same out in the sun. She had her dark brown hair in a ponytail that would swing back and forth in the wind as the boat raced on.

"That reminds me, there was no photo attached to your application. Maybe it fell off? Well, it doesn't matter. Let's take a new photo before we arrive."

She looked around and spotted a camera lying in one of the cabinets onboard. She quickly took several photos and checked to make sure that they didn't portray her as a sea monster. She deposited the camera in its resting place and walked around the boat stretching from the ride as it slowed down. Having already changed into a wet suit, Marina had grown hot, even though there was a breeze.

"That is a nice photograph even if I say so myself," the captain said examining the camera. "Let me introduce myself properly. My name is Jean-Eric Rouvier. When I was young I chased my fair share of dreams, like yourself, that is true. And I made a name for myself as a marine adventurer. I dove deeper than was safe back then, and suffered badly from decompression sickness, the bends. It left me with a medical condition which means I can never dive again. So, I am nothing more than an old man who has fallen from the grace with the sea. I have no time for things like this Song of Dragons of yours. But we are short-handed now, so anyone willing to work is more than welcome. There is somebody I want you to meet, so we will wait here for them."

After a short while, a girl in a yellow wet suit approached the boat via jet ski. Once situated she sprang in saying that she was sorry for being late.

"You are just in time, Oceane."

"Oh! Is this the job applicant?"

"Allow me to introduce my granddaughter, Oceane Rouvier. She is the apple of my eye, just about to turn 15, and the only diver at R&R Diving Service."

"Hi there! I'm Oceane. Believe it or not, I started diving around the same time I started walking! I heard that you've done some diving before, so let's see what you can do," she exclaims handing you gear to put on.

"This dive will be your entrance examination for R&R Diving Service. Follow Oceane's instructions and see how well you can move around underwater. As soon as you're ready, we'll start the dive!"

They both gathered their gear and did checks on all of their navigation and gauge equipment. They stood at the edge of the back of the boat and turned to face each other.

"Bottom's up," Marina called out as they both fell backwards into the water.

Both spent the first few minutes adjusting their gear and buoyancy before descending about 5-10 feet.

"All right! No problem maintaining neutral buoyancy and your posture is good. Looks like you have more than a little diving experience! Okay, let's get started. First, I'll introduce you to Gatama Atoll. This area is called Atoll Gate. It's a small coral reef in the NW of Gatama Atoll. Most of the marine life here is smaller sea creatures. Let's see how well you do interacting with them!"

Message to anybody out in bodies of water: DON'T TOUCH WILD MARINE LIFE! It can cause problems later in the ecosystem. Flora or/and fauna should remain the way it is before you explored there. Also, it is probably best that you don't take food with you on your trip under the waves because you don't know what you'll attract. Please refer to your dive master if you wish to dive in a spot where you can feed animals. Thank you for reading this warning and story. Back to the story.

Marina swam around until she found a black and white striped fish.

"Good, you focused on a particular fish. That is a Moorish Idol. The best way to interact with marine life is by feeding it. Go ahead and give a try."

She reached out her hand that held the ball of fish food out to the school and watched as they consumed it in seconds.

"Look at them eat! I think they like you. Interacting with animals like this helps you to learn about them, and that's valuable information that will make your work here easier," Oceane said as she swam deeper to take a closer look at the coral.

"There are lots of dinky little fish living amongst the coral and on the reefs. If you find a spot where you think they might be hiding, you can look for them, but be careful not to mess with their habitat. Once you've got to know the area we'll leave Atoll Gat and explore a little."

The reef was covered in coral, so both girls took the time to examine every nook and cranny that they could find to observe the many creatures swimming in the area. There were many schools (groups of fish) and several smaller sections of coral that housed young fish, such as Sailfin Tangs and Emperor Angelfish.

"We can exit Atoll Gate by heading SE," Oceane said as she made her way to the opening of the reef. Once they both reached the opening, Oceane turned to tell Marina, "Now, we're going to move on and explore the calm seas of Gatama Atoll. There are so many fish, it's like a marine playground! I'm sure you'll love it!"

Marina nodded as Oceane talked about the area, until she saw something big moving behind her. She swam over to her and spun her around.

"Is that what I think it is," Marina asked as they both stared at the visitor.

"That's a whale calf! It's incredibly rare to see one. We might never get this chance again. Let's try to get closer," Oceane said taking off towards the whale.

I hope I wasn't this rambunctious at 15, Marina thought swimming after her to stop her from getting too close. After moving out the way for some rays, they got close enough to see the calf up close.

"It's a humpback whale calf, and judging by how small it is, it could be as little as one month old," Oceane said.

"If your right, at this age, they should be swimming with its mother."

"Could they have gotten separated or something? This could turn out really badly. . . "

A look passed over Oceane's face that seemed to be connecting to a memory, so Marina said, "Let's find the mother. She must still be somewhere near Gatama Atoll if the baby is here. If she was here, where would she go?"

Oceane thought it over for a minute before suggesting, "Maybe . . . the Spring Garden area? It's directly south of here." They both take off south leaving the baby there in the shallow waters (I consider water depth under 15 feet to be shallow in open ocean).

After swimming for a couple of minutes, they are able to make out the shape of a humpback whale in the Spring Gardens.

"There she is! There is the mother. They usually live in deeper areas, further out in the open sea, but at this time of year, when they're giving birth and raising their young, they come to the warm, shallow waters of Gatama Atoll. Okay, let's try to lead the whale calf to its mother!"

We turned around to go back and get the calf, only to see that it followed us.

"Aww. They're so excited! The mother must have missed her calf," Oceane said while the calf swam closer.

Marina realized that they were in the path of a collision course and tried to get her attention.

"I'm so glad we got them together again! Hey," she yelled as Marina dragged her out of the way of a calf frantic to get to its mother.

"Are you okay," she asked Oceane. She simply nodded as she tried to get her breathing back under control.

"Don't do that to me! You almost gave me a heart attack."

"Would you rather I left you in the path," she asked back. Oceane kept quiet until her attention was focused on the calf again. As she turned, her necklace began to sink in the waters giving off a tune.

"Oh no, my pendant! Hey . . . Did you hear something coming from the pendant?"

Marina turned to respond, but seemed to focus more on the giant whale heading straight for them.

"Look out," she shouted pushing Oceane out of the way again. She did a quick maneuver to get out the way herself which resulted her being on the other side of the whale. They both swam up until they could see each other over the top of the mother.

"Are you okay? You were amazing! What on earth was that all about? That sound coming from the pendant, then the whale going crazy. . . Where did the whale go?"

They turned to find the whale and her calf swimming around each other in circles.

"Looks like she's settled down," Marina said staring at the two.

"Probably because she's reunited with her calf. They say that whales are closer to their young than any other sea creature. Look, look! The calf is taking milk from its mother! It's great to see them back together."

Marina agreed as they watched the whales swim off to other sections of Gatama Atoll.

"Now to go and find my pendant. That's strange. . . I know I dropped it here, where did it go? Oh, no! Look over there," she said pointing at the whale. "It got caught on the whale's snout in all that chaos! What am I going to do? That's a memento from my mother!"

"You will stay right here," Marina said as she swam towards the whale. She swam up the side of the whale, so she could see that there was someone there. It took a few tries, but she eventually got it to come off and returned it back to Oceane.

"Thank you so much! You got my pendant back! Let's get back to the boat, Grandpa's probably worried about us," she said as they took off to Atoll Gate where the boat was anchored.

The captain had just about fallen asleep when he heard splashing towards the end of the boat. Two heads decked in scuba gear were seen floating in the water. He lowered the ladder and helped them and their gear back onto the boat.

"So, how was it? You were gone so long, I was beginning to worry."

"We saw a humpback whale Grandpa! And her calf! Of course, we were almost hit by them, but then. . ."

"What? You were nearly hit by a humpback whale?"

"Yeah, it happened when I dropped my pendant. It made this strange sound and the whale suddenly went crazy. I've never seen anything like it before. I'm still not sure what happened."

"I see. . . So that is why you took so long to return. Well, there are still many mysteries surrounding that pendant that is true. Mathieu and I originally recovered it from the sea floor. Mathieu Rouvier was my son, and Oceane's father. He died 14 years ago."

"What's up? Is something bothering you," Oceane asked when Marina grew a puzzled look on her face.

"Based on the writing on the pendant, I think that it may have something to do with the Song of Dragons that I'm studying."

"It was probably nothing more than water rushing through the pendant and making some kind of noise," Jean-Eric said.

"But could something like that really be an accident? 'The Dragon's Song brings misfortune,' that's what the legend says. Maybe that's why the humpback got angry? Maybe there's something special about the pendants that Mom and Dad left me? Grandpa, the other pendant. . . It's at the bottom of Deep Hole, right?"

"The one you dropped in the sea when you were just a child? Yes, that's where it is."

"I've got to see it again. I'll go and get it!"

"You lost that years ago, you'll never find it now. And besides, that area is a danger zone. There is no way you can dive there."

"But-"

"Calm down and forget about these worthless superstitions. On a more important note, was our new recruit any good?"

"Absolutely! Even I was impressed! You should have been there to see it Grandpa. I've never seen anyone roll away from danger like that!"

"Well, you certainly seem to have made an impression on Oceane. That is good enough for me. Consider yourself a member of R&R Diving Service."

"Congrats! I'm looking forward to going on more dives together. It is getting late, so let's make our way back to the island."

"Marina. Marina, wake up," someone was yelling as she was waking up in her bed. She looked over to see Jean-Eric out of breath and frantic.

"It's Oceane," were the only words that came out of his mouth.

Alright, me duckies, that's all for now. In Jean-Eric's conversation earlier, he mentioned something about decompression sickness and I'm here to say that it is not pleasant. I've, thankfully, never experienced it before, but had a friend that did and it was not pretty. From my Open Water Diver Manual, decompression sickness happens when a diver ascends too quickly which causes nitrogen in the blood to bubble which causes blockages because of the difference in the compression of air at different water levels. It is best not to dive below 100 feet recreationally due to the pressure stress and that people should go down/come up about 15 feet every 30 seconds.