Whitefish River up the river

plagued by fatigue, he had nearly forgotten about all the superficial injuries he still harbored from his incident. now that pema mentioned it, his skin burned and ached, and a small contusion on his left shoulder throbbed. "don't think i've ever met a proper medic," aditya said, fascinated. "i've never been part of a pack, sooo. . ."

with a groan, he lurched back onto all fours, trying to figure out if there was anything wrong with him besides scrapes and bruises. all his bones seemed to be intact, and he wasn't bleeding terribly badly. "i'm going to leave treatment up to you, but what i really need is a bath, get all this salt off," he concluded with a smile. before he could wade into the stream, dawn trotted up, a silver fish in her jaws. he accepted her gift with rapturous gratitude and dug in, thinking to himself that this was the most delicious thing he had tasted in a while. the freshwater fish helped to wash the brine from his tongue.

after he had finished eating, he looked at dawn and grinned. "naa, the sea's not a bitch. i blame the storm more than anything, really," aditya laughed. "but it's so beautiful otherwise. i love to dance in the waves and swim in the blue shallows." he surveyed her curiously. "you've not been there, i'm assuming?" it was more of a rhetorical question than anything; he figured the young girl hadn't gotten out to the coast, by her expression.

"morningside," he echoed pema. "it sounds wonderful. will you ladies take me there?"