Their arrival had been eventful. At least one pair of ketucari had thrown themselves overboard in pursuit of a Creature, another had dragged giant pinchiepollies onto the ship and begged Kartha if they could keep them, and at least four reported spotting the shadows in the water.
And then Hugleikr’s ship had been invaded by a giant.
He’d thought that he’d known giants. He’d been wrong.

What had he been thinking? Hugleikr undulated his body, serpentine in the gloom. (How long had he been swimming? Since before he could toddle, he was certain…) Somewhere above him, a beam of light swept by. He twisted his body and dove behind a craggy stone. Around him, the water vibrated. The low thrum of a motor, a sound that rose up from his stomach and into his chest with a wave of hot anger and fear. He slowed his breathing--the magics his mother had taught him splitting air from water in his sinuses--and pressed into the stone. The lights grew brighter, brighter. Glinted off of the black stones. And then the motor roared, a large machine shaped much like a fish passed overhead.

What had Hugleikr been thinking?
The stranger he’d encountered, the opalescent giant with the dark stripes along their sides. Why had he thought he could take a hostage?
Oh certainly he was physically strong enough!
…On land. In the water? There was no leverage, especially if he didn’t want to actually harm his hostage. And he didn’t really. He just… wanted information. Hugleikr shook his head, glowered after the ship. And carefully crawled back up the cliff--
Only to find himself face to face with the stranger themself.
Golden eyes went wide, mirroring his own, and a snarl split their broad face. It was panic that drove him, bracing himself against the cliff and kicking straight up just as the pale-furred stranger lunged to tackle him and capture him themself. For such large things, these giants were fast. Unfortunately for them, Hugleikr had experience on his side, and he twisted to dodge the next charge, wrapping himself in magic. New vigor pulled into his limbs and spine, gifted him with newfound speed.
He wasn’t going to allow himself to be captured lightly.
There were lights somewhere above. Another twist and he launched himself up towards them. The stranger’s paws clipped his tail this time, snagged on a snarl that almost broke his momentum--instead it parted him from a clump of feathers and brought the horrible stinging bite of sea water on an open wound, and he was free. Surging up towards the lights. Feline shapes, Not particularly large, their powerful tails spaded like dolphins. The same creatures that the curious pair of explorers had thrown themselves overboard for. Perhaps then, he could count on the creatures being friendly.

Hugleikr surged up through the water column, as the lights grew and blinked. Below, the stranger clawed their way up after him. Soon he was surging past the feline shapes, their eyes flashing in their dark, watching him. He had only a moment to take note of it before one of them made a Sound.
A whistle. Like the dolphins their tails so resembled.

And a moment later, despite his speed, there were claws and teeth in his tail.
He snarled, kicked back at the creature, dug his claws into its glowing belly--but another sank claws into his shoulder, teeth into his scruff. Their eyes wild, wide. Throats alive with chirps and whistles. He twisted, snarled as he bit into the shoulder of the creature on his own, tugging its red fur--growling with disdain to discover that its skin was loose as a set’s and no amount of force could dislodge the beast from him.
Another surged for his chest, and he slashed at it, Greheli flashing into a barrier.
They’d stopped his climb through the water, no matter how he kicked and thrashed to keep them from doing serious harm.

And below, the stranger swam higher, a low sound in their chest.
Lights passed over Hugleikr. The water column vibrated with a motor’s drone. He kicked one of the creatures off of him, blood clouding the gloom further. His breath came sharp. Fast.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. He thrashed, twisted to try to kick at the creature on his shoulder to no avail. The rest of the pot snarled, shrill and catlike, at the approaching stranger and submarine--and grabbed their injured and scattered, leaving him to struggle with those already attached and clawing at him.

The opalescent giant grinned up from below.
And left with no other choice but to accept that his options were capture or death by swimming set, he chose capture. And let himself fall through the water back into rough, outstretched claws.