"Ah..."
"Big brother... Big brother... a little boy has drowned here."
A little Water-Bearing Race girl, the equivalent of a ten-year-old human, crouched down and rubbed a glowing member of the Water-Bearing Race with her little hands of transparent water, then turned and shouted toward where her older brother was playing.
Her voice, clear and young, echoed along the quiet lakeshore.
Hearing her, the little Water-Bearing Race girl's older brother hurried over with several friends.
The Water-Bearing Race children's bodies were made of water and a special transparent bone substance, refracting faint rainbow light in the sunshine like a group of walking crystal sculptures.
At a glance, they saw their fellow Water-Bearing Race member lying unconscious on the lakeshore, his entire body emitting an unusual radiance.
That radiance was not something ordinary members of the Water-Bearing Race possessed. It was a hundred times more brilliant than the sheen of any member of their race they had ever seen, like a little sun lost among the sand and gravel, impossible to obscure even in broad daylight.
"That's water-bearing radiance!"
The little Water-Bearing Race girl's older brother's pupils contracted slightly. Though young, he had heard the village elders speak of what this radiance meant.
"He's from the Higher Water-Bearing Tribe!"
"Quick... pull him ashore... he must be unconscious."
After confirming the unconscious Water-Bearing Race member's identity, the group put all their strength together and pulled him out of the sand and gravel by the lake.
Only after bringing him ashore and washing him clean did the group examine their unconscious fellow Water-Bearing Race member.
Like them, he was made of water and that special transparent bone substance.
Only the proportions of water and transparent bone differed.
For lower Water-Bearing Race members like them, water made up 50%, while transparent bone accounted for