Testing the Waters

“Okay. All I need to do is get a little baby water sample. Just a baby one.”

Beedle inhaled sharply and held his breath, preparing to descend the last few rocks that led down the steep cliff to the shore. His backpack which contained his water sampling supplies rattled audibly as he stood there, slightly unsteady, all four feet planted on one rock. He exhaled slowly at long last.

“Let’s go,” he muttered quietly but triumphantly to himself, using his own self-motivation to push his body forward and down to the shoreline where the land met the sea. The Tidix-c II sand was squishy under his feet as he splashed into the cool water - the main focus of his part in the project. He had been tasked with re-testing the water’s acidity level in comparison with the previous year’s numbers. Despite his high anxiety and tendency to way overthink things, Beedle had volunteered himself for this year’s expedition as a direct effort to get better at handling his own emotions. It was hard, but he’d been making more recent attempts to put himself in controlled but uncomfortable environments so that he could gradually learn to handle his anxiety on his own terms.

Beedle carefully scooped some water into his test tube, holding it in front of him and observing it as it caught the light. The water itself was clear and ever-so-slightly teal tinted, something Beedle hoped was natural to this celestial body.

“Alright, now all I need to do is drop… a couple of these in here,” Beedle hummed to himself as he squeezed a dropper of clear fluid into the collected water, watching as it turned from clear to a deep red color. He grimaced.

“Oh well, at least I’m not the one doing the actual analysis,” he reasoned to himself, swirling the red water around a couple more times before dropping it into a slot inside his backpack. He pulled out another flask to take another sample, but stopped short when he felt a tickling sensation on his toes. Trying not to scream, Beedle slowly looked down into the water, expecting seaweed or something of the sort - but was met by another tiny face looking back up at him.

Horrified, he splashed away as quickly as he could, but soon realized that the small blue face he’d been met with was… a Boolew?

Feeling slightly guilty and ashamed at his reaction, his curiosity pushed him slowly forward once more to see if he could still catch a fleeting glimpse of the creature. Boolew were always something of fascination for Beedle, and he’d never even seen one up close. Not until today.

A few moments passed, and hope for seeing the Boolew again was dwindling. Beedle sighed and adjusted his bag on his back, readying his second test tube to test his second batch. Lowering it into the water, he shook the remaining thoughts of what had just happened from his head and focused on continuing his task.

Suddenly, just before he was about to lift it up, his test tube was filled with more than just water. Everything seemed to stop for a moment as he slowly pulled it upwards and held it up to the sky, delighted and shocked to see the same little blue Boolew swimming happily in circles inside that he’d just seen moments before. It looked intensely curious and excited to see something of the likes of Beedle, who simply stood and stared back stupidly in wonder.

“Wow,” Beedle finally whispered, taking care not to make any more sudden movements, “and to think I was scared of you a minute ago. You’re just a cute little guy.”

Beedle spent a few more moments with the Boolew before releasing it back into the water so it could return to its natural habitat.

“Maybe things that scare me real bad aren’t always real bad,” Beedle mused as he watched the tiny Boolew swim away until it was out of sight, feeling as though his heart was literally swelling with happiness.

“Thanks little buddy,” Beedle whispered gratefully under his breath, “I’ll try my best to remember that.”