Broken Antler Fen redmist

When they reached the embankment it was Teya who made the plunge first. Reyes wasn't sure if he wanted to go so far, to feel the water against his skin or any of that. Being wet wasn't the issue - and he certainly could swim if necessary - but the smell of it, the way the light turned to disjointed silver shafts as it permeated the water, it wasn't a beautiful sight to him; it brought a bad memory to the forefront he would rather ignore.

Besides, Teya looked agile in the water. She knew how to cut through the current and then use the pulse to move quickly in to position, shadowed and lurking. Reyes looked around for further signs of the target and saw a wet sluice of mud where the creature must have belly-flopped; when he approached this to give a cursory sniff, something moved further ahead and there came the plop of water moving. Or - something racing for the water, at any rate.

Reyes looked up but could not see the dark shape of the otter as it moved so fluidly along, not until he caught a wavy column of brown near the surface; the creature's head was down and it was moving rapidly with the current, to where Teya waited.