Wo was an ordinary person in the country of Dhidox. Ze had blue skin, webbed feet, and both lungs and gills, so ze could breathe underwater. And there was lots of water where ze lived.
"More flooding has been reported around Hidii today", said the news reporter on the TV. Then the signal got lost and the screen filled with static. TV's were a new technology in that country, having recently been brought over from Onceuponatimia, and they hadn't yet worked out the problems. Like how to deal with water.
"Sorry for the interruption. That was the third time that's happened today." Actually, it was more like the 12th. "So, in other news, the president of Súiacúil has decided to permanently remove all water from Lake Chocolake and replace it with chocolate, in honor of today being 50 years since Úiaoe's creation of the lake."
"Remove all the water?!" said Wo. "But they hardly have any as it is!"
Ze took a drink from zir water bottle. "I wonder what it's like to live without water around all the time", ze said, and ze started walking west.
After walking and swimming west a ways, ze did notice that water seemed less and less common. Finally ze came to a place where there was a big black line on the ground, and a sign: "Welcome to Súiacúil". Ze stepped over the line.
The first thing ze noticed was that the air had a rather sweet taste to it. Ze walked further. Soon ze came to a small village. Ze walked into one of the shops, which turned out to be a candy shop.
"?????", said the person working there.
"I don't understand", said Wo, then added a phrase ze'd heard: "On to̽ soėnas carā Súėⱥcúėlė."
The people working there said something to one another; finally they found someone who could speak Dhidoxu.
The person said, in a strong accent, "How can I help you?"
"Do you have any water?" said Wo.
"Yes, over there." Ze pointed to a place on the shelf. There were a few water bottles next to many more bottles of sugar-water, sweetened fruit juices, and liquid versions of chocolate and caramel. Wo took one of the bottles of water.
"Thanks", ze said. "Do you take sand-dollars?"
"Did you just get here? I suggest you go over there. You can get our money and buy phrase book. For now I will take." Ze took the sand dollars. Wo took the water bottle and went to over there.
When ze got inside, the person working in there said "Hi" to zem in an accent that was not quite as strong as the accent of the person working in the candy store.
"Hi, I'm curious", said Wo, taking a drink from zir water bottle, "what do you do here without water all around?" Wo took another drink from zir water bottle.
"We... don't need that much water", said the person working there.
Wo took another drink from zir water bottle. "Well, anyways," ze said, taking a drink from zir water bottle, "can I exchange these sand-dollars and buy a phrase book?"
"Certainly."
Wo did not take another drink from zir water bottle, because it was empty by now. Ze took the Súiⱥcúili money and looked at it. "Cacao beans?" ze said.
"Yes", said the person.
Ze walked out the door and glanced through the phrase book. "May I have some chocolate?: Caba carā coco̊lo̽ghtėlu? I need caramel.: Cipa carā co̽remelėlu. I eat sugar.: Súiⱥa carā."
Wo came across a person who looked like ze was also from Dhidox, and ze had a perfect accent. "You're drinking water? Come on!" ze said. "We're in Súiaocúil! They have much better things here, like chocolate and carimelen and jelly and candy and donuts."
"Wait—what's carimelen?"
"I forgot the Dhidoxu word for it, but it's brown sticky stuff that's good to eat. Here."
The person handed Wo a chocolate. Wo bit into it. It had a gooey center. It did taste good.
"Wow. Sugar does taste better than water!" said Wo. "I was going to come here to protest the removal of water from Lake Chocolake, but now I think maybe they have the right idea." Then ze went home. The end.