
Lehesu, on the other fin, was a genius of curiosity - or a totally demented mutation. The conclusion
depended on whom you sought for an opinion, Lehesu or any other individual of his species. In his thirst
to know what unlooked-for wonders lay beyond the cloying safety of the ThonBoka, he was utterly
alone. He could not so much as begin to explain the burning need that drove him into the Open Sea - not
to anyone his own age, certainly not to any of the Elders, no, not even to the younger ones.
Well, perhaps one day he would have young of his own. And if curiosity were something that could be
passed on, they would understand and share his thirst. He chuckled to himself - how he would ever find a
mate who could tolerate him might constitute something of a problem.
Then again, it might not. It was highly unlikely he would survive traversing what amounted to a desert.
Every fiber in his great and graceful body ached with hunger. He had been cruising for what seemed an
eternity without encountering a molecule of nutriment, and it was far too late to go back. He lifted his
enormous wings once more, unable to ignore their rapidly failing strength.
Lehesu had never seen or even heard of a cat, but he would have understood what killed it, how, and
why. Still, he couldn't really bring himself to regret what he had done. Curiosity may have killed him
already, but it was vastly better than dying from boredom.
Perhaps.
Lehesu estimated that he had, at most, only a few hours before he expired. His people fed continually as
they moved about through life, automatically, almost unconsciously. There was little capacity in his
gigantic body for storage of nutrients.
As he weakened, and the effect was increasingly noticeable, increasingly painful to him, he reflected that
at least he was dying in theOpenSea, away from all the - But wait! What was that? There was something
else in the desolation! Far beneath him in the depths, another entity swam, one that pulsed with life and
power. Stretching his sensory abilities to their limit, he could feel that it was comparatively tiny, yet it
virtually sang with strength-which meant there had to be sustenance around somewhere.
He did another uncharacteristic thing then, something no other Oswaft would have done: he dived for
the object. Lehesu was not a predator. Nor was he herbivorous. Such distinctions had no meaning in his
time and place, under those circumstances. It was the habit of the Oswaft to eat whatever they found
edible, leave everything else alone.
They knew of no other intelligent species, and the entirety of creation was their dinner plate. At least he
could discover what the thing had found to eat.
He realized there was a possibility that it would find him, and he had little strength for fighting left, even if
he had been inclined to fighting, which he was not. Yet he had less hope, even, than strength.
Down and down he went. Yes, there it was, a mote less than a tenth his size, yet he could feel that it
was stronger than he was by a substantial margin.Better armored, as well, much like the small
carapace-creatures that swam the calmer currents of the ThonBoka.
They were delicious.
As he approached the thing, he could see that it was not shaped terribly differently fromhimself . To
judge from its direction of travel, it was a bit broader than it was long, more rounded in its major
contours than he was. Like Lehesu, it had two nondescript projections on its frontal surface, although