The Grotto

Ceto followed her as best he could. The ropes that held fast his strong side seem to have grown tighter as the waters had grown colder. Every yard forward was a struggle and he wondered how long he could keep up.

It grew hard too to follow her through the narrow lightless channels of ice, under roofs of ice and through literal tunnels under the ice. He shivered and thought of what would happen if he lost her in this maze - he struggled on.

There was a grinding and a shifting like the sound of heavy slabs of stone rolling over crushed rock that troubled him and made him wish for open waters again.

"One long dive ahead," she said.

He wondered what she meant and thought to ask, but nearly as soon as she spoke, she put her nose to the depths and dropped like a stone. Ceto, too started to be fearful, put his nose behind and tried not to think of his exhaustion or pain. He could sense the huge wall of ice that they were decending along. He wondered how deep it went.

On. On. On. For what seemed like an hour at least, they dove. He felt the great wall begin to taper inward until at last there was space beneath it. There was no sound. He caught the faintest hint of her turn ahead of him and he did his best to place himself behind her and struggle on.

"Warm," he thought suddenly, "There's a heat coming from somewhere."

It seemed to him that the water began to grow less cold. That and there seemed to be a light growing up around them, a whitish green sort of light - wholesome. It was not the light of the sun.

In his wonder he forgot himself and he drew upwards with her towards the surface of whatever or wherever they were. As they rose the water grew more temperate, cool and comfortable. He passed through great schools of small squid and fish and then at last he breached.

"We're here," she said at last after they'd taken many breaths, "Welcome to my grotto."

He was in a place the like of which he'd never seen before. It was a great sheltered bay surrounded by ice mountains and open to the sky. The circumfirence was hard to determine, but he guessed it was miles and miles across - a wide hidden sea. Warmth filled the waters beneath him and the place seemed to be filled with schools and schools of food.

"Eat if you like," she said, "There's enough for many gams here without worry of lack and we are only two."

Then, for many hours, for he had a great hunger, he dove and ate and ate until he felt content and tired.