Whitebark Stream Some say you can get hurt by what you don't know

His imagination was running wild enough that he ducked his head away from Vercingetorix, imagining the man's face contorted into a smirk when he was actually doing an admirable job keeping his expression quite straight. A scowl overtook Ephraim's features as he plodded a short distance away and shook himself off. Great. He was sodden and the wind cut coldly through his wet fur and he had nothing to show for it. What was he going to tell Heda if he caught cold?

He didn't have to think about it too long. Verx reassured him. Ephraim shot him a frown but there was something in his eyes that gave away that he was glad for the support. He and the adult probably both knew he never would have caught that fish and all of his bluster was just big talk, but Vercingetorix never let on if he did know. Instead he did something that made Ephraim gawk.

What a complete idiot!

When the soggy wolf extracted himself from the stream with a shivered statement, Ephraim picked his jaw up off the ground and gasped, "what'd you do that for? Now you might get sick too!" The boy in him found it funny and struggled not to laugh. Verx was a strange guy but he had a big heart in there somewhere, tucked down under his philandering and wisecracking. He didn't think anyone else from Drageda would as willingly have made themselves look foolish just to make him feel better. "Heda's gonna kill us!" he insisted, but now it was his eyes that twinkled with mirth as he suppressed a snort of laughter.