Big Salmon Lake A walk in the skies

The silence had been challenging, as there were many things that Crowfeather wished to ask @Germanicus, opinions he thought would carry great weight and value if spoken by the silver warrior.

When they arrived at the water of a lake that did not seem or smell like the first, Crowfeather finally paused to look at his guardian.

This- this is a different lake, he said with thought. With sweeping eyes, Crowfeather sought the mountains he had used as his initial guide. We can pass through the rivers here, right Germanicus?

I don't know what I'm doing to mess these up. I am terribly sorry. Bothersome thing >_<

a smaller lake. not the one called rodney by the caldera dwellers. there was a thick forest to one direction, a river flowing beyond to cross their path. the waters seemed swift-moving. the gouge along his forearm throbbed with unsurety.

"yes." in his mind, the land curved back toward the first lake they had left behind. 

he had not enjoyed the quietude between them. the scent of rich earth filled his nostrils the longer they waited in sight of the river.

A monosyllabic response met the large ears of the slight boy. Crowfeather did not take this as a bad sign, but he did wonder what Germanicus was thinking about. The stoic countenance upon the older man's face was unreadable and had been for several hours of travel. 

The seer glanced at the man's web-covered wound. Some of it had broken free from his pelt and the flowers had dried up to fall away. It would need tending again after they found another place to pause their trek. Mental notes were made for more flowers and twice the amount of webbing so that they could push through to Brecheliant. 

Look, Germanicus, the shadow exclaimed with a trot toward the water, fish!

crowfeather was adaptable. it was a quality that germanicus envied. he had seen it only in the young and in those unharried by life.

it was a good deal of why he had kept his distance.

buoyed by the lighter tone in his companion's voice, germanicus approached, and stood watching the slice of fins through water.

"i must — entreat you. to forgive me for —" the tactician found irony in how suddenly he lost the end of his sentence. "i am not used to being slowed by anything. not even wounds. it give me the feeling of being chained, i fear."

he stepped forward to test the shallow water at the river's edge with careful steps.

Gazing at the glittering creatures beneath the surface of the water, Crowfeather smiled. 

The dark boy knew that he was not the best hunter, but he had adapted well in the company of the older man. There had not yet been a chance for him to show how well he could fish. There was a hunger in his stare, following the gliding movements of the prey within the lake water. When Germanicus spoke, it took only a moment for Crowfeather to respond. 

Oh, but that is alright. I'll make sure to clean it and tend to it again before we go to Brecheliant. By the time we get there, it should- it will- well, it should look better, the slim shadow offered to Germanicus with a delicate wag of his tail. It was meant to be reassuring. Crowfeather did not believe he had any reason to forgive the man, not for anything he had done.

germanicus felt outside himself. compelled to heel these tendrils of chaos, he turned his focus to the fish. "thank you."

he hoped there would be nothing more said upon the matter.

"have you fished in rivers before?" the ranger asked softly, eyes upon the aquiline features of his protege. not that, so much. crowfeather was his own person, and the eagle felt as though they had touched a new surface.

Oh, yes, Crowfeather's answer was quick and pleasant. 

I have fished in rivers, lakes, even the ocean. The Starsea was surrounded by water and forests. We feasted on fish for every pup made into a warrior. Even when I was made- the smile faded from his narrow snout. The seer's eyes glossed over slightly and his frame stiffened. It was an abrupt stop, the dark wolf did not go on to say more. 

The ceremony for his role as the oracle had been a beautiful one. The healers and warriors had prepared a scene unlike any other. They feasted for days and told tales of their great stars that had passed on. The moon and star blessing had proven his power and when Crowfeather had slept beside the moonstone for the first time, he had dreamed of a fire that had taken everything. 

Here, I'll get some for us.

Light paws moved him into a more advantageous position and his sharp snout broke the water quickly before he withdrew. A wriggling fish was clasped in his teeth, face soaked. Crowfeather looked to Germanicus and wobbled from the strength of his tail swinging at his rump.

the shadow was agile in the water. germanicus watched, and an impressed wave of his own tail was given. but he had not forgotten the way crowfeather had suddenly silenced himself.

or the haunted expression in the giltcloud eyes.

the eagle wished powerfully to know what sort of shade pursued the young hunter.

"you know the stars. you know the water. in my home we would call you a naiad." 

the flash of gills beneath the surface caught germanicus, and he lunged for the fish. but he was not so accustomed to rivers, and came up soaked, jaws empty.

Germanicus spoke of a term they would have used for Crowfeather in his homeland. The dark figure looked at him intently, storing away the word naiad in his mind, in his tone for safekeeping. 

Biting down hard enough to cease the fish's squirming, Crowfeather tossed it toward the silver male and then crouched on a stone beside the water again. The young wolf's eyes were intent upon the stirred prey. They swam beneath the surface, glistening, jewel-like, and tantalizing. 

Darting again, he pulled back with a fish clasped tightly, smiling around the struggling shape of it. Crowfeather ended its movement quickly and stepped off of his fishing stone. 

I like to hide from them. Watch them move slower, when they get comfortable, he explained softly. You can start to predict where they'll move if they get startled. If you reach in quick, where you think they're going to try to escape, usually you'll get one. Crowfeather bit into his fish and began to peel away at the meat. 

What's a naiad? he asked tenderly after a moment.

the shadow was his own sort of tactician. germanicus listened carefully. he had fished before, but he had not applied strategy to it. this day, he had learned something from the young hunter. 

he found that these past days had brought several sorts of surprises.

there was something distinctly vulpine the way that crowfeather hunted fish from the water with smooth motions. germanicus watched the way that honed muscle moved beneath the dark coat.

"a naiad is a pretty being, one who loves the water." he kept his gaze averted, though face ran hot beneath his stoic veneer. "they cannot be captured. a naiad turns to foam on the surface of a river to escape."

The fish was forgotten between his paws. Crowfeather's mind had been stolen by Germanicus' answer. 

A pretty being, he felt a trill rising in his throat and swallowed it back down. He would not laugh at the man's words for all their foreignness to him. Crowfeather had never been called pretty before, not in a genuine way. The wolf who belonged to the Saints had referenced it. It had been possessive and cruel. The way the Starsea leader had done just before the seer had become a young man. 

A naiad is an amazing thing, Crowfeather whispered before returning to his fish. The dark wolf's cheeks were flaming. 

What is pagan? he required this answer next but did what he could not to look into Germanicus' intoxicating canary eyes.

the way that crowfeather reacted drove all thoughts of pain from germanicus. he became fixed to the mobility of the other's mouth. he had felt that mention of the pagans against might put him in a state, but this time it did not. "it means you do not know my gods."

it meant that crowfeather did not know his world. not the one of men, grouped together at the front. not the bonds made during the end of boyhood, which came at the beginning of your first battle. not how these bonds became tempered, and more. 

not the agony of your lover, slain while you lived on.

not that sort of hell.

germanicus let out his breath in a rush and looked to the river. "where should we ford?" too abrupt. but it must be this way.

Crowfeather was not sure how some of the words Germanicus spoke were so curious sounding and arrived with such a plain meaning. 

Pagan, the seer worked in his mind several times over. A word tied to the gods and belief. It was curious still, perhaps... in different ways. The shadow wondered if it bothered the silver guard to know that their faiths were so far apart. Crowfeather was not opposed to learning. He hoped he had demonstrated this much. 

The Starsea was part of him, however. That could never be forgotten or left behind. 

The mountain point is over there, hidden behind those trees, he gestured with a nod of his nose to the bramble forest. Before, Crowfeather had worried over each query the soldier had made. On the edge of the water, after several days with the older man, the seer thrilled at what might fall next from Germanicus' lips. 

We- we might be able to stay by this lake, but nearer- nearer to the trees just over there, again he nodded the direction he intended. His cheeks still pained him and he did not know how to cease the feeling in his stomach.

the trees, repeated twice. germanicus looked in the direction of the odd woodland and nodded. "will you medic me there, when we have arrived?" he asked, using an old bit of sentry-slang. crowfeather would not recognize its origin, but germanicus only wanted to see the watercolor dazzle of reaction in the celes' gaze once more.

"lead on," he murmured, jerking his muzzle for the shadow to go on. he would need to rest, and to eat; their path had been hurried by the cat, and his healing as well.

it was the way of those who walked the world alone.

or perhaps in twos.

Yes, Germanicus.

This time he savored the name. 

One stolen glance to the man's face before the shadow rose and carried their trek, around the water and to the wood beyond.