A deal was a deal.

Meredith, despite living in a forest, was no stranger to water - there were lakes and even entire underground passageways within the woods she called home, and the spirits there bargained with her like any other. Yet she never would have considered a favor this dangerous without a proportionate reward.

It would be worth it, though. The spirit of the caves would reward her if she could awake it from its slumber. Such was the deal she had struck with one of its servants, who had come to her in her dreams.

She had cast off her cloak and dived downwards once her preparations were complete, but even then, she was making deals in her head through the descent into the frigid waters. One favor to keep her warm, one future bargain so that the undertow through the caves would not fight her. One favor to keep her lungs sustaining her for far longer than normal, another deal for illumination with a tiny wisp who had forgotten its name.

The actual completion of the deal would be simple. She merely had to find the center of the cavern, where there was warmth and air, and enter the spirit realm there, healing the wound which had allowed the energy to leak out of it like a holed ship.

Merely.

She felt little fear as her lungs started to tighten midway through negotiating the twisting passageways and caverns, merely annoyance. Fear would not help her reach air quicker, and she had long ago moved beyond it. Yet the witch could not deny a tiny thrill...

--

It's that man again, byondrage (http//www.furaffinity.net/user/byondRAGE), drawing Meredith for a change!