Ocean Deep
"You're wrong." The voice is low, swallowed up by the sibilant hiss of the waves. "It's not an estuary. It's deeper, darker, like – like" –
He bows his head. "Hai. Like the Marianna Trench."
"I keep going – but I'm sinking. There's no end in sight."
"Wrong. Always an end – to everything."
"Rock bottom?" The boy lowers his head, afternoon sunshine glinting off the stiff purple peaks of hair. "I'll get stuck."
"Good."
"Good? I'll drown!"
"No, you will rest – regain balance."
"And then?"
"And then, Eli-san," Chozen smiles, "you will use the rock as a base – and launch, like a hawk."