Greatwater Lake The rain is trying to drown my feet

She turned back just in time to watch her new pal gulp down the fish. Quell's lips parted on a surprised but delighted laugh. Dauntless, she repeated in her head. Badass! It was too bad his appearance didn't quite match up with the name. She wouldn't have called him ugly, though there was something homely about him. Perhaps it was the drab color he wore.

Q wasn't about to hold that against him, though. "Yet?" she echoed aloud. "I smell a story," she added, sniffing loudly at the air and giving him a grin and a nod, inviting him to elaborate.

While he talked, Quell scooted to the water's edge and dipped her toes into the frigid liquid. Slowly, she eased her forelegs deeper, the water passing her ankles and then her elbows. She began a stirring motion, all the while keeping her head tilted toward Dauntless. So when she felt Frolic push a fish into her submerged paws and she withdrew it from the water, it looked like she was an effortlessly expert fisherman.

This continued twice more before Q decided she was going to get frostbite if she kept up the ice fishing. She pulled back from the water and looked down at the fish, kicking one more over to Dauntless before gulping down the others herself. They conversed a little more after that, until Dauntless announced he needed to go.

Only when he'd disappeared into the distance did Frolic emerge from the lake, chirping as he nibbled at Q's freezing toes. "Thanks, buddy," Quell murmured, planting a big, sloppy kiss on the otter's forehead and earning a slap of his tail for her effort. She smirked at him, the two of them playing on the snowy shore for a while longer before they retraced their route back toward their respective new homes.