when dew first changed from water to fire, he cut his hair. left it all over the bathroom for days until he finally let mountain into his room to check on him. mountain cleaned it up silently, behind a closed door and choked sobs.
and by the time he actually even goes down near the lake again, his hair had just grown down past his jaw. he didn't go swimming again until it was nearly past his shoulders.
the first time dew went swimming again, he nearly drowned. it had been months by then after his transition into a fire ghoul, and he hadn't been able to sleep—burdened by the urge to go down to the water. so he does. he gets up out of bed and wanders the halls, pausing just outside of the new water ghoul's room. he almost knocked, almost asked rain to come with him, but he stopped himself, and went alone. he went down to the lake alone, and stood at the end of the dock, and then closed his eyes and jumped in.
he failed to consider that he wasn't going to be as good as he used to be in the water. he couldn't hold his breath for as long, couldn't go as deep as he wanted to, and it nearly cost him his life. because he tried. he tried to swim down to the bottom and just be, to quiet the noise in his head, to stamp out the draw to the water that was no longer his. he couldn't hold his breath for as long as he used to, couldn't handle the pressure—couldn't even make it more than halfway to the bottom. he couldn't swim to the surface as fast as he used to be able to.
so his muscles screamed from the strain. his ears popped, eyes felt like they were going to explode. his lungs burned. for one feeble moment, he felt like he was actually going to die, that he'd never make it to the top and the one thing that had previously made him was going to kill him.
but then he broke the surface, swam to shore. he dragged himself up onto the sand, soaking wet and shivering. he drew his knees up to his chest, let his head hang between them.
The @aclfestival has to be one of my favourite festivals of all.
Thanks to everyone who checked out the set and to @MumfordAndSons, I was honoured to join you. Thank you for your words and the beautiful moment you created for us all in that place together.