Kota had actually begun to doze off, lulled by the waves and Morgan's steady rowing, when the boat jolted and scraped against something. He shot awake with a start, gripping the sides of the boat, and for a second was too bleary eyed and disoriented to register what was going on.
And then, looking up, he saw it.
LAND! Beautiful, precious land!
Kota didn't need Morgan's prompting to get moving. With a small gasp of happiness, he scrambled to his feet--and fell over the side of the boat and into the water instead of stepping over the side of it all graceful like he'd been planning. Pushing himself to his hands and knees and spitting out salt water, he decided not to get up so quickly this time. Whoops. He should have known better, after sitting on his butt so long, unable to stand or stretch his legs; his ass and left foot were numb and tingly.
"We made it," he said, and crawled up onto the sand--and then bent down to kiss it. Which always sounded better in theory, because it just caked his dry lips in wet sand. Spitting and rubbing at his mouth, which got even more sand on his face, he sighed and just gave up. Whatever! He could deal!
When he could finally stand, he took his sweet time stretching his legs and back and then turned to Morgan and beamed at her. He must have looked a mess, with a blood and now sand streaked face. "Well done! We're not gonna have to cannibalize each other after all."
Stepping over to the boat, he grabbed the back of it, took a deep breath, and heaved backwards, dragging it further onto the sand. It was hard work because he was exhausted, but it had to be done; they needed to get the boat inland before the tide came, because they might need it later.