Totoka River it’s yours and it’s mine.

the world was built on the backs of others; it was all take, steal, thieve. take one’s life to survive, steal one’s flesh to eat, thieve from the earth’s bounty everything from water to the plants they walked upon. 

qiao was about to answer the boy’s question when humming broke through the reeds. she froze, eyes upon stormchaser — who had already noticed they weren’t alone. 

they had been together long enough to know what to do now. qiao went wide, slinking through the reeds with the to’lang left behind. it was not a trinket that lent to stealth. 

a man bent in the water; his frame carrying the scent of others and evidence of physical exhaustion. a scent emanated from him that instinctively was a warning; he was not well. 

she motioned silently for stormchaser, her eyes coming to rest upon the peculiar thing at his feet. 

the boy would know what to do. 

warm days and pleasant nights, traveller. qiao shouldered her way through the reeds, coming front and center to the man. a fine spot for fishing, aye?