This time they are carrying a large glass tank filled with water, presumably from the sea, between them. The tank has no top, but there are handcuffs built into its top. Kyma slides further into the water and turns to flee the cave, only to find that iron bars are now blocking the exit of the cave. The bars are coming from not only the top of the cave, but the sides as well, leaving Kyma with no possible way to squeeze through. She starts to swim around the cave in a random path, trying to evade the men, but in her desperation, she enters the shallow waters and gets stuck there. They wade over and haul her up, before forcing her into the tank and clicking the cuffs into place before she can push herself out again. She looks down to see that the water reaches just past her waist, covering all her scales with only an inch or two of water covering her skin. As long as she keeps her tail in a position that is mildly awkward and uncomfortable, her entire tail will stay wet. Before they can roll her tank out of the room, they pull out an extra glass panel and slide it onto the top, ensuring that the open space is only enough for her upper half to fit through.

They roll her out of the cave and back into the hallway. They move towards the offshoot that leads towards the room with the stone slab and turn down it, but instead of going all the way down the hallway and into that room, they enter a nearer room. In the middle of this new room is a large tank the same size as the stone slab, but the walls of this tank are about three meters high, with about a meter of space in between its top and the ceiling. There is a ramp leading up to the top of the tank, and Kyma suspects that it is for them to roll her little carrying tank up to it so that the men can more easily get her into the water.

"What is this? What is that tank for?"

Dr. James walks into the room, every step oozing with smug confidence. "Little Kyma, that tank is for you to go in for your next test. It's full of freshwater. For this test, we want to see how you will react to freshwater." He raises a finger. "However, there is a catch. You can't have any seawater on you, as it will mess with our results."

He waves his hand at the men, and they uncuff Kyma before pulling her out of the tank. She hangs in the air between them until she is dry enough for her tail to begin to sting. Then they march up the ramp, carrying her between them. Once at the top, they resume the wait until not a single bead of water has been present on her for a period of several minutes. By this point, she is crying at the pain. They dump her unceremoniously into the tank, and the glass slides up to the ceiling, leaving only an inch of space at the very top for airflow. Kyma hovers at the surface for a couple minutes before swimming down to the bottom of the tank and then back up to the top, just to give herself something to do. After about an hour of her doing these laps, they beckon her back up to the surface of the tank. They pull her out of the water and situate her back into the carrying tank.

She looks up at the men and asks a question. "Am I done now?"

They don't utter a word in response, just carry her out the door and down the hallway, stopping two doors down. When they open the door to this new room, Kyma cranes her head to look around in both curiosity and apprehension. The majority of the room seems to be filled by a massive aquarium tank set into the floor. Directly in front of the door is a raised platform that slopes down to the water in its center. As far as Kyma can tell, the water continues on past the back wall. Dr. James follows them into the room and Kyma twists around to look at him.

"What am I here for? Is this another test?"

Dr. James gives her a nod of affirmation. "Little Kyma, this is a test to see if you can communicate with sea creatures in or out of the water. We'll be testing it three ways. When you're in the water with them, when you are in your carrying tank, and when you are not in either. Don't fret, we'll wet your tail when you ask us to. Now, let's start with you in the carrying tank.."

"But how am I supposed to do it?"

He shrugs. "Try any way. If it works, it works. If not, then that is one option ruled out."

"Is there a specific animal you want me to try to communicate with?"

"There are sea otters and-" he elaborates when he sees her confused expression at his words. "Sea otters are a mammal that lives on the West Coast of the United States. Now, you can communicate with the otter in there or with the fish. I would suggest starting with the otter."

Kyma frowns. Maybe she should just try thinking of what she wants? She creates a picture in her head of an animal floating at the surface, trying to make the animal resemble her idea of what a sea otter would look like. With her eyes closed, she concentrates on sending the image out and into the aquarium. She is about to stop, discouraged by her lack of results as well as the fact that she doesn't know what a sea otter would even look like. But before she can give up, another image appears. It isn't from her mind but outside of it, and it shows her sitting in the carrying tank with her eyes closed. Surprised, Kyma's eyes snap open to see a curious creature floating in the water before her. It is covered in dark brown fur, with the fur on its face a lighter creamy brown. As she gazes at the otter, she is met by the impression that it is a curious, playful, and hardworking creature. She smiles as the otter holds out her paws towards Kyma, something contained within them.

When she notices that Kyma is unable to come closer, she barks angrily. She crawls up to the tank and stands on her back flippers. Kyma reaches her hand down towards the otter, who drops a golden coin into it. She barks again at the men, and Kyma sends her an image of herself in the water with the otter. Reassured, the otter crawls back into the water. Kyma sends out another thought, this time to the aquarium fish. After a moment, a group of tiny fish all swim up to the surface and form a ring around the sea otter. Before Kyma can have them do more, she is pulled out of the tank and plopped down on the platform edge. She slides off of it and into the water, and the otter immediately swims over to her. Kyma smiles at her before diving down to the bottom of the tank and carefully pulling a sea urchin off of a rock. She hands it to the otter, who swiftly bangs it on a rock repeatedly until it smashes open. When she is done eating the sea urchin, Kyma asks her to move back towards the middle of the fish circle. Then Kyma makes the circle swim in patterns around the otter, who watches with fascination. The otter lets out a startled bark, and a pair of arms grabs Kyma in the same moment.

They deposit Kyma on the ledge, and she sends the otter a reassuring thought, as the otter looks like she is about to attack the men behind Kyma. Kyma asks the otter to grab a large seashell, and she does so happily and with great speed, depositing a clamshell bigger than Kyma's hand onto the ledge just in front of Kyma. Kyma scoops it into the water and places it beside her, prepared to pour it over her tail when needed. Kyma asks the otter to collect little things she finds interesting, and she does so, bringing up vast quantities of oysters, abalones, and plenty more gold coins. Kyma thanks the otter for showing her, and the otter responds by dumping everything into Kyma's little shoulder bag until it is full to the brim. Kyma laughs and uses the clamshell scoop to fill the empty spaces of the bag with water in order to keep the shellfish from drying out. The men reach down to pick Kyma up, and the otter lashes at them once before finally letting them put Kyma back into her carrying tank. Once in the tank, the men wheel her back into her pen and deposit her into the water of the cave.

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She finally had a test where she wasn't hurt! Yayyy. What do you guys think will happen next? As of right now, when I'm publishing this, I have the next four chapters all set up. Happy reading guys, and here is a drawing of Kyma.

And here is one of her pendants.

~Goddess of Fate, signing out.