Jennifer pauses at about calf-depth, and sighs deeply, turning around and striding back to Kyle's slowly changing form as it lies prone on the sand, a whimpering, quivering mess.
"Get up," she says, holding her right hand out for him to take.
Shakily, he reaches up with a wide, thick arm and clumsily grasps for her long-fingered hand. "You came back fuh me! You'ww ficksh thish?"
"No way in hell," she says resolutely as she pulls him up to his small, increasingly flipper-like legs. "I just figured a poor dumb animal like you needs all the help it can get. I'm going to lead you to a desert island I found a few hours ago where you can finish your change and then get moving. I hear Alaska is pretty good for walruses but it's a long way away from here."
"Awashka?" Kyle asks, and Jennifer resists the urge to laugh at the way his slowly growing tusks force his speech to sound.
"What? It's either that or you wait for the zoo folks to find you and take you with them. You wanna live your life in captivity or free? Choice is yours."