Sawtooth Spire Paper Hearts

Ping didn't care for the stick. He wanted to blow bubbles in the shallows instead. Okay then. To each their own.

He splashed around with the other boys who quickly became aware that one of their own was not playing with them. At this point, most of the playing stopped and they quickly moved on to their own attempts to get Ping to join them in their play. Iqniq sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. Well now. This could end badly.

Both boys splashed the fox. Ping yipped and retreated onto the shore. Iqniq moved up behind Ata and Sita and pulled them both back into the shallow creek by their tails. "It's okay if he doesn't want to play. We can still have fun." To reiterate that, he lowered his mouth to the river, sucked up some water, and squirted both of them.

He left Ping to his grooming; giving the boy plenty of space to recover from his water traumas.