Demesne Patron EX SS 28 – Swimming Lessons (Patreon)

The sun was shining, the bugs were being loud—I really can’t understand why anyone would call the spike to the ears they make ‘singing’—and the sun was starting to get warmer as we moved away from spring and into summer. Personally, I felt it was still far too cold, but everyone else in the demesne except Lori was saying that the summer heat had arrived, and so I bow to the will of the majority.

This meant our house no longer used a blanket when going to sleep at night. As a man, I know better than to not just nod along and say “yes” when Umu, Mikon and Riz all agree on something. That’s rare enough it needs to be encouraged. I just wish encouraging it didn’t leave me with cold toes. Sure, otherparts are warm—Riz and Umu are cuddly sleepers, and I’m always between them—but having the blanket let me be warm all over, especially since we were all—

Uh, anyway!

Standing on the dock one admittedly-warm afternoon, trying not to shiver at how cold the breeze was, I looked out over the six men in front of me. Liggs, Cottsy, Multaw, Hans, Yhorj and Cyuw were the crew who operated the Coldhold without me most of the time. They were all capable men, and I trusted them to be able to operate it and not get killed, capsized, or shatter the hull on a rock from not watching where they were going.

However, we’d been heading back to Covehold Demesne soon—or relatively soon anyway, depending on whether or not a dragon came our way before summer ended—and as their lord and the person who’d be leading that trading expedition, I felt it important that I made sure that my men were prepared should the worst happen.

Well, second or third worst. Worst would be them getting eaten by a dillian should they fall from the Coldhold and into the water.

“All right, men,” I said with a smile. There’d be no pratfalls today. I needed them to take this seriously. “So, to prepare for going to Covehold Demesne, I’ll be reviewing your swimming, and we’ll be practicing the strokes and floating.”

I expected them to groan, but instead they flinched, looking uncomfortable.

“Look, I know it feels strange and terrifying,” I said, “but it might make the difference between one of you being cold and wet and swallowing a little water, and one of you drowning to your deaths if you happen to fall into the water where I can’t see. Come on, it’ll be fun. While everyone else is working, we get to soak in the river. There’s that, at least.”

“Do we have to go so deep, though?” Hans asked. “Can’t we just stay near the bank?”

“We won’t be anywhere near the shore when we’re going to Covehold, and that’s where someone is most likely to fall into the water because of the waves. Remember last time, with that big wave that knocked Yhorj over? If he hadn’t been holding tight to the tiller he’d have been swept overboard into the water. Then what would have happened?”

That made Yhorj look very uncomfortable for a moment.

“Come on men, you all know I wouldn’t ask you all to do this if it wasn’t necessary,” I said. “So whether you like it or not, we’re doing this. I’m not coming back to explain why you’re dead because you couldn’t do something Karina can do.”

That was slightly unfair, as Karina had taken quite enthusiastically to swimming. She seemed to think it would help her catch the bigger seels by letting her get into the water, chase them down, stab them to death, and drag the seel back to shore.

Sometimes I worry about that girl a bit more than I worried about most other people in the demesne. She was right up there with Lori, Shana, Umu and Cassan.

Fortunately, I was talking to grown men and not moody teenagers. Grown men with families they had to take care of. Such people were known to do much more distasteful things in the name of taking care of the ones they cared about, or even just the ones they were responsible for. Lori did things she considered utterly loathsome in the name of her responsibilities for people she wasn’t even all that fond of.

I had them take off their boots and line up at the end of the dock, facing the far shore. Well, technically facing the far shore. The eye couldn’t help looking down at the very, very wide directly in front of them, the water moving placidly again now that the spring flooding had long since subsided.

“Just jump into the water,” I told Liggs, who had somehow found himself first. “There’s no need to panic. The dock’s right there. Just take a step and fall in so you get used to the feeling and know not to panic when it happens.”

“Can’t I at least take my shirt off for this, Lord Rian?” Liggs said, trying to delay the inevitable.

“No. If you fall from the ship, you’ll be wearing all your clothes. You need to be able to do this with them on.”

“I usually take off my socks, though?”

I rolled my eyes. “Well, fine, you can do that, but I don’t think you’d appreciate the blood-sucking slugs getting at your toes. Which is it going to be?”

Liggs looked like he was seriously considering whether it was worth it.

“If you don’t jump in, I’m pushing you in,” I said. “Falling into the water unexpectedly would be more accurate, after all.”

Sighing, Liggs thrust out his foot as if he was about to take a step, and fell face first into the water.

I turned to the other men on the dock. “Right. Now, as Liggs will be able to tell you one he stops flailing, that’s a terrible way to fall into the water. It smacks your entire front, and can even drive the air from your lungs. You’ll almost certainly get water up your nose, which—”

“Argh!”

“—leads to a terrible headache. Hence why I said to jump into the water. You’ll instinctively try to keep your feet under you, which helps break the surface and lets you enter more smoothly.” A hand slapped onto the surface of the stone dock. “Stay where you are Liggs. Just keep your head above water and get used to the feeling, but don’t pull yourself up. Take deep breaths and calm down. We’ll all be joining you soon.”

“Auuugh!”

“Blow the water out of your nose, Liggs, you’ll be fine. All right men, into the water with you!”

Soon, the seven of us were in the water, the men grabbing onto the stone dock with one hand and essentially just… hanging there. I was further out into the water so I could see them and, more importantly, they could see me. My clothes weighed me down a little, my shirt clinging to my skin, but this wasn’t the first time I’d done this, and so I knew what to expect. My feet kicked under the water, and I resolutely did not think of toothy things coming up from below to bite at my toes. Even if there were seels in the river.

“All right men, you’re in the water! How do you feel?” I said. “By now, you might be feeling squids and graspers tickling your toes, because you’re just hanging there like lumps—” The men shuddered, and some of them moved around in the water as they kicked their feet. “Aren’t you glad I had you wear socks? Keep moving your legs and feet, you remember how I taught you all to tread water, right?”

There were several rounds of “Yes, Lord Rian,” as the men started moving their free hands as well as their legs, raising their heads a little higher above the water.

“Great! Now all of you move towards me. Come on, come on, the boat and the dock are right there, and we’re all here! No one is going to drown!” Probably.

Even if it was with clear reluctance, the men let go of the dock and started moving towards him, their arms and feet moving frantically.

“Everyone, relax, relax! There’s no need to try to raise your heads so far up above the water, just know when to breathe. Don’t flail, move your hands in circles like I taught you…”

Despite their unease, there was no complaining. They’d done this before, back when we’d prepared for the first journey on the Coldhold to Covehold Demesne, and while they clearly hadn’t practiced it in the time since, they did remember how to swim.

After that came floating, where I had them just float on their backs with their heads barely above water. They kept trying to raise up their arms and legs, which only pushed their head under. Still, it was something they needed to, if not master, then at least practice in, since it was the most efficient way of staying afloat. And this time I most definitely didn’t use the words ‘float like a corpse’ to describe how to do it!

Finally, there was getting them to actually move in the water. I swam out a little ways into the river, just short of where the current really started, and had them swim towards me. It wasn’t a very far distance—maybe ten paces at most—but the men struggled with it.

“You don’t have to keep your head up the whole time! Hold your breath, put your head down and just swim, I’ll tell you when you get close!”

I had to move in to rescue two of them. Cyuw had gotten a cramp in his leg from kicking far too hard and keeping his foot overextended, while Hans… well, the man just seemed to give up halfway. Or was trying to float and let the current take him closer to shore, but accidentally got water up his nose. It honestly could have been either one. That then proceeded into a practice session of how they should act when I’m rescuing them.

“Just relax and float. I’ll grab you from behind—no, hands off, I hold on to you—look if you don’t let go of my arms we’ll glug glug glug….!”

Of course, I forgave Hans for grabbing me like that, just as he forgave me for punching him in the face to make him let go so I could finally grab him properly and drag him back to the dock. It was an underwater punch, so it wasn’t as hard as a normal punch.

“All right,” I said tiredly as the seven of us clung to the dock, “we’re done for the day.”

The men raised a ragged cheer.

“We’ll continue about an hour on the waterclock after lunch.”

There were groans.

“Oh, quit your whining,” I sighed. “That’s hottest part of the day. If you were working you’d be spending it wanting to take a bath anyway.”

There was muttering on the theme of “Well, yes, but…”.

“Enough of that. Last thing to practice, pulling yourself up onto the dock. If anyone does fall into the water, they need to be able to get out again. Come on, you’ve all been wanting to do this all lesson, up, up, up!”

Everyone was tired, but they were all strong men. One by one, they all pulled themselves up onto the dock. Not all of it was dignified. Cottsy had to scramble, then move sideways so he could grab onto the post we used to tie the boats to, hooking his arms around it while he kicked up one foot out of the water until he was able to hook his heel onto the edge of the dock. I stayed in the water, keeping and eye on them until they were all out of the water and shivering from the water in their clothes. A couple took off their shirts, exposing themselves to the sun to warm up.

Once they were all out, it was my turn to approach the dock. Instead of reaching up, I grabbed the underside of the dock and pushed myself down, holding my breath as I sank into the water, until my feet hit the cold mud at the bottom of the dock. I bent my legs and pushed off, rushing upwards as a kicked and swam with the movement. It broke the surface, my body rising out of the water, and I slapped my hands on the dock, kicking my feet until I was able to push myself up and out of the water.

Then I turned over and just flopped onto my back on the dock, my arms and legs exhausted from all the swimming. I felt like I was freezing in the late spring, early summer weather. With a groan, I got back to my feet.

“Good work, men,” I said, picking up my boots. My socks were soaked, as was the rest of my, so no putting on the boots. “I know it’s not easy for you, but I’m glad you’re all willing to do this. Give it a couple more days, and you’ll all be comfortable in the water again. Now go and get warm before we catch something that we need to ask the Lady Binder for healing for.”

There was a sigh that had undertones of ‘Finally!’, but the men all gave me a respectful nod that only had a little bit of resentment as they grabbed their own boots and headed for the baths, no doubt to warm up in the bath water.

Sighing, I took a moment to sit at the stairs over the flood wall, letting my limbs rest after all the swimming. Ugh, the things I did to be a responsible lord…

From over the wall, I heard excited chatter coming closer. Turning, I saw some of the children climbing up and then down the stairs. There was Yhalta, Mikon’s youngest cousin Aliya, Karina with her youngers sibling Cif and Malli, red-haired Phami, Bharelli and Yerart. They slowed as they saw me, but I just gave them a tired wave.

“Here to cool off?” I asked.

“Yes, Lord Rian,” Karina said with a smile.

I nodded. “Well, keep an eye on each other, all right? Stay safe.”

“We will!”

I waved them off, and they rushed—but didn’t run—towards the end of the dock. The girls had already girded their skirts, so it was only a matter of kicking off their tsinelas before all the children jumped into the water, some falling rear-first with a splash as they tucked their knees up to their chests, escaping from the heat of sun into the water. And then grabbing the tsinelas that fell into the water before they get swept away and tossing them onto the dock.

Watching them enviously as their laughter echoed from the river, I wondered if I could get them interested in the exciting careers of maritime mercantilism and industrial sea-salt mass-extraction in a few years…