Wo was an ordinary person in the country of Dhidox. She had blue skin, webbed feet, and both lungs and gills, so she could breathe underwater. And there was lots of water where she 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!"
She took a drink from her water bottle. "I wonder what it's like to live without water around all the time", she said, and she started walking west.
After walking and swimming west a ways, she did notice that water seemed less and less common. Finally she came to a place where there was a big black line on the ground, and a sign: "Welcome to Súiacúil". She stepped over the line.
The first thing she noticed was that the air had a rather sweet taste to it. She walked further. Soon she came to a small village. She 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 she'd heard: "On to 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." He 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", she 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." He took the sand dollars. Wo took the water bottle and went to over there.
When she got inside, the person working in there said "Hi" to her 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 her water bottle, "what do you do here without water all around?" Wo took another drink from her water bottle.
"We... don't need that much water", said the person working there.
Wo took another drink from her water bottle. "Well, anyways," she said, taking a drink from her water bottle, "can I exchange these sand-dollars and buy a phrase book?"
"Certainly."
Wo did not take another drink from her water bottle, because it was empty by now. She took the Súiⱥcúili money and looked at it. "Cacao beans?" she said.
"Yes", said the person.
She walked out the door and glanced through the phrase book. "May I have some chocolate?: Caba carā cocologhtėlu? I need caramel.: Cipa carā coremelėlu. I eat sugar.: Súiⱥa carā."
Wo came across a person who looked like she was also from Dhidox, and she had a perfect accent. "You're drinking water? Come on!" she 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 she went home. The end.