Big Salmon Lake hateraid

Hydra perked up at his answer, and he felt his heart skip another beat. How was it that her entire demeaor was so infectious; like she'd crawled up between his ribs and hijacked his emotions. Rian felt as if he couldn't even stay sad around her. He was faced with a slippery slope, and the decision to either take a leap or back down. The boy hesitated when moved alongside him—the air she displaced moved against him, and he felt the individual hairs of his fur shift. He swallowed. How was he supposed to properly mourn the loss of his family if he was too busy galavanting around with friends? 

His mind caught up with his feet and he blinked, turned, and watched as she shuffled over to a place near his tracks. Rian cocked his head and crept towards her with cautious steps. She filled his mind to the point of bursting—his anxiety needed something to focus on, and so it picked the nonexistant danger of the thick sheet of lake ice. He extended his nose towards the thing that she touched, and sniffed. It smelled slimy and mossy. Gross, mostly. Oddly finned and iridescent in the faint overcast light. 

The O'Malley boy pricked his ears and watched as she dug at the snow, kicking it away, revealing the arced tail of a fish half-stuck in the ice. He furrowed his brows, looked at her, then the fish. "What the hell is that?" He whispered in a monotone.