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Word Count: 6,634

SheerContest2021

Link To Raven's Ref Sheet: https://toyhou.se/9857036.raven

Info On Kaishark Here: https://www.deviantart.com/polyhexian/art/Open-Species-Kaisharks-813768589

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](https://toyhou.se/9857036.raven)**

Raven lay on her back breathing heavily through her nose as pain stabbed at her chest from the inside, causing her to wince at every few breaths. Thick foam was forming at the corners of her mouth, dripping from her jaws onto the bed she was lying on that was made out of various grasses and mosses. Her partner, a coyote named Hunter, was sitting on a chair in the corner that he had made out of wood by hand, gazing at her with an anxious expression on his face.

"Raven..." Hunter's voice was soft as he spoke and he reached out with his paw to touch her shoulder gently. "Are you _sure _you'll be alright? I...I don't think I've ever seen anyone this sick before."

Raven, who was lying on her side, lifted her head weakly to frown at her partner. "I told you," She croaked, her voice hoarse from the sickness that was taking over her body. "This is an illness that affects kaishark and I have seen it once before, back when I lived at that stupid village. I think I'll be alright." With a weak grunt, she let her head drop down onto her bed of mosses and grasses.

Hunter flattened his ears, a soft whimper sounding in his throat. "I'm not so sure," He murmured. "Raven, you look so weak. I've seen you sick before and it was nothing compared to this. As I said, I don't think I've seen _anyone _this sick." He gently stroked one of her fins with his paw, his muzzle twisting into an even more worried expression. "Maybe this sickness is worse than the one you had seen at your old village...maybe you need more help."

Raven groaned weakly, rolling onto her back. Kaishark were known to be swift, graceful, and powerful creatures who were mighty hunters of the ocean. They could hunt with weapons but their natural assets were certainly the easiest for them to work with, so they preferred to hunt by tooth and claw. Their powerful tails and lean muscular bodies made swimming at high speeds a breeze, and they could swallow multiple small fish at once with ease. They were known to be truly amazing hunters, and Raven had been no exception...until, of course, she had left her home by the ocean and had moved far, far away to live in the middle of a tall pine forest, directly beside a wide river. Still, she spent most of her time hunting in that river and had learned how to hunt and swim there quite well, using only her natural abilities to do so. She had never in her life been reduced to having to lie in bed for days on end like she was now.

"Maybe going for a swim would help me feel better," Raven rasped. As she staggered to her feet, however, Hunter quickly put a paw on his shoulder to stop her, shaking his head.

"No," He said, his voice rather stern. "You've tried that already, Raven. You need _real _help...you need someone who can give you something to help you, someone who has experience with this illness."

Raven turned away from her partner and let out a hacking cough, causing flecks of foam and spit to land on her bed. She shuddered, as the cough had caused her a great deal of pain. Then she turned around and stared at Hunter with a distressed look on her face.

"Hunter," Raven croaked out, "I don't think we _know _anyone who has experience with this-" She broke off with another hacking cough and continued. "With this illness. I can't think of anyone around here that would know anything about it." She flopped back down onto her side with a pained gasp, clutching at her chest with her claws.

"You _do _know someone who can help you," Hunter said quietly. "There are no kaishark here other than you, that's for damn sure...but you came here from a village not too long ago. As you told me earlier, you have seen this sickness before. How did the kaishark who got sick recover?"

Raven shuddered at the burst of pain that shot through her sinuses and chest at once. This combined with Hunter's suggestion caused her to snap, and she whipped her head around and glared at her canine partner. "I _do not want _to go back there! You already know what has happened to me and how the kaishark my age treated me...you already know..." Raven wheezed, her chest tightening even more as a pang of guilt jolted through her. She turned her head away from Hunter, averting her gaze. "I'm sorry for that..." She wheezed.

Raven sat on the bed and leaned close to her head, resting his snout on top of it. Something warm and wet his the scales on top of her head and she realized he was _crying. _

"I'm sorry..." She rasped again.

"I just want you to be alright, Raven," Hunter whispered, his voice trembling. "You got sick so suddenly a week ago...I've never seen anything this terrible! I know you tell me not to worry but I-I can tell it's worse than you're letting on."

Raven sat up and looked at Hunter, feeling a fierce stab of guilt for not realizing how much pain her illness was causing her coyote partner. Tears were streaming down from the corner of his eyes, some dripping onto the bed while others remained and soaked into his fluffy pale brown cheek fur. Raven leaned over and rested her snout on his shoulder. In response, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a hug.

"I...I don't want to lose you," Hunter whispered into her ear.

She stroked his back fur gently. "You won't," She promised.

"How do you know?" Hunter asked, sounding weak and sad. "You haven't even gotten proper help yet...Raven, I understand what happened to you in the village there, believe me, but going back there might be the only way for you to recover."

Raven sighed, her breath shaking from her illness as she did so. "I...I know you're right, Hunter, but I had a terrible time there..." She wheezed, feeling weaker now that she was remembering her past experiences with peers in the village. "I left my life as a _real _kaishark behind the day I left that place and I didn't intend on going back..._ever..._that would be too hard."

Hunter pulled back from the hug and looked Raven in the eyes. "I know, Raven, but this time _I _will be with you. You have nothing to worry about and I won't let anybody do anything to hurt you, I swear." A fierce glint shone in Hunter's eyes that told Raven he was dead serious. She closed her eyes for a moment and let out a weak shuddering breath.

"You're right," Raven said weakly, letting her head rest on her partner's shoulder. "But...how will I make the trek there? I feel so weak...I don't know if I can do it."

Hunter's expression was grim as she sat up again to look at his face. "You must!" He said desperately. "I will do everything I can to help you, okay? Just...please try, Raven. Please try."

She nodded. "I will. As long as you're with me, I feel like I might be able to pull it off."

***

The two didn't have anything to pack, aside from Hunter's knife and bandana, both of which he usually had hung on a nail above the door when he wasn't using them. Hunter had put the bandana on his neck, which Raven thought made him look _adorable. _He'd picked some berries as well, some of which he'd put in a basket he had woven for their journey. The rest the two had eaten, though Hunter had to practically shove them down Raven's throat to get her to eat them, for her illness made her have no appetite and made swallowing feel as if hell itself had spawned within her throat.

Only a single day had passed since Raven had agreed to Hunter's pleas to go back to her home village and he had been quick to prepare first thing that morning before she had even woken up from the night's slumber. It was one of the only times he'd even left her side since she had become sick. He had been back before she had even opened her eyes first thing.

Now the two of them stood outside the little shed they had made together out of wood, leaving it behind for the first time since they had settled. The front door faced the river, which Raven had swum in and fished in daily up until she had fallen ill, and around the back of the shed was nothing more than what looked to be endless pines, though Raven knew from traveling there that they did indeed end sometime...though she never thought she'd ever leave the woods again, at least not to go back to the ocean.

"Are you ready?" Hunter asked her, reaching out with one paw to hold her own. "If you need to stop at any time, please tell me. Oh, and don't hesitate to lean on me."

Although Raven was feeling incredibly weak, she refused to give in to the pain. She didn't want to make poor Hunter any more worried than he already was. He didn't deserve it. She lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. "I'm fine for now," She said, managing to make her voice sound at least a little convincing. She hadn't been out of bed for four days straight and walking felt _weird, _though she would not let Hunter see that she was struggling to do that.

"If you're sure then we should probably go," Hunter said. He squeezed her hand gently. "I'll make sure to help you every step of the way. Let me know if you feel too sick to continue, okay?"

Raven nodded and took in a raspy shuddering breath. "Right," She said before letting out a cough. "Let's go...guess I need to lead the way...but I kind of want to hold your paw."

Hunter grinned at her, though the worry didn't leave his eyes. "Of course ya can!"

And with that, the kaishark and the coyote began their trek back to the ocean where Hunter had never been...and where Raven didn't want to be again.

***

The journey had gotten off to a rocky start, for Raven hadn't been very steady on her feet. Eventually, Hunter had figured out she was struggling to walk, so he made them stop at multiple intervals despite Raven's insistence that she didn't want to stop, for she felt like she was somehow failing him and herself by slowing them down. Hunter, of course, had insisted that she wasn't slowing them down in any way or failing anything, so, alas, she ended up letting him stop whenever he noticed she was growing weaker or falling behind.

It had taken Raven two full weeks to walk to the spot where she'd first met Hunter, which was not far from where they had made the shed, but she knew her illness was causing this _journey to likely take twice as long, for they had to stop _a lot to compensate for her being too sick to walk. She had even passed out at one point, waking up to find Hunter hugging her and crying.

Now, as the two camped together underneath a pine with low-hanging branches, Raven sat with her legs crossed and watched as Hunter lay on his side, snoring quietly. She tried not to sigh in exasperation, as each night he'd fallen asleep despite saying he'd try his best to stay awake to guard her and make sure she was safe. Of course, she was _happy _that he'd fallen asleep, knowing it would be quite unhealthy for him to have done what he'd said.

As Raven watched her partner's side rise and fall as he slept, she thought back to the time she'd met him, only a day after finding a spot near the river in the pine woods to settle down.

She emerged from the river with a scowl on her face, sitting down on the bank with her back to the river and slapping her tail angrily in the water, causing ferociously loud splashes. Her nostrils were flared, as she was furious due to having not been able to catch anything in the river that she had decided to make her home beside a day earlier. Not only was she slower than molasses while swimming in the dumb river due to never having swum in one before, but on top of that, she was also injured. A kaishark named Jett had betrayed her, pushing her off a low cliff which caused her to plunge into shallow water and bang her shoulder hard against sharp rocks. Jett had pretended to be her friend but had been secretly plotting to betray her due to a feud she'd had with their best friend, Tide.

I will _never _forgive them for what they've done to me! _Raven thought fiercely as she continued slapping her tail against the river behind her, causing water to spray wildly into the air. _If I ever see them again...which I sure as hell don't intend to...I will skewer them with my own claws! _She vowed viciously. That was why she had left. She couldn't handle the betrayals, bullying, ridicule, and other cruel behaviors of kaishark her age. _

"Hey!" A voice called, although Raven almost hardly heard it between her own thoughts and her loud splashing. She stopped moving her tail and looked up to see a coyote standing above her. He was a tall coyote with broad shoulders and pale brown fur. He had a pair of rich brown eyes and wore a bandana around his neck. "Are you okay? Your shoulder's looking pretty bad..."

"Huh?" Raven grunted and twisted her head around to look at her shoulder that had been injured when that idiot Jett had pushed her off the cliff. It was a pinkish-red color, which stood out against her black scales and purple stripes, and it throbbed with pain whenever she moved it. "It hurts a lot...but I'll live. Someone pushed me off a cliff a couple of weeks ago and I bumped it...no big deal, though, I'm sure it'll heal."

Worry flashed in the coyote's gaze and he kneeled beside her, peering at her shoulder. "What kind of jerk would do something like that?" He growled. Shaking his head, he focused his attention on her wound. "Two weeks sounds like a big deal to me. The injury might be infected." He glanced around. "I was thinking of settling around here and I started gathering some wood for a hut. Is anyone with you or would you like to stay with me? I haven't ever really seen your kind around here."

"I came by myself," Raven replied bitterly. "I can't trust my kind not to do crap behind my back...you know, like pushing me off a cliff. I didn't do anything to the kaishark that did it, I swear."

"I understand," The coyote said simply. "My name is Hunter. I just left my family as well, though it was because my mother kept having new kids with my stepfather, and...well, she didn't want her other kids hanging around with her. I walked for a few weeks and came here, though I don't know where I'll place my house yet."

Raven found herself slowly warming up to the coyote, though she wasn't sure why. She hadn't thought she'd ever be able to trust anyone after what Jett had done to her, which his friends had also known he'd do all along. But there she was, finding herself feeling warm beneath the coyote's gaze.

"My name's Raven," She replied. "Thank you so much for your help! I, uh, well..."

Hunter winked at her. "No worries. Now, c'mon. Let's get you patched up..."

Now, as Raven watched her partner sleep, she remembered how she had thought she'd only be with Hunter for a few days, perhaps living nearby and remaining a simple friend. Boy, had she been wrong. Six months later the two had become partners, something Raven had never thought she'd get to do in her wildest dreams. When she was with him she felt like she didn't need the ocean. It hadn't taken her too long to learn how to swim in the river as well, despite it being vastly different from the ocean, and shortly after they'd met she had been catching fish for them both.

Still...now, as Raven sat beneath the pine tree feeling weaker than she ever had in her entire life, she realized that she _did _long for the ocean at times, where it was quiet and still. Where different and tastier creatures swam in the depths. Although she didn't want to return for fear of being ridiculed or mentally harmed by those who had betrayed her long ago, she realized she was looking forward to seeing the ocean again, as she thought she never would. Not _everything _had been bad there...just being excluded by fellow kaishark her age.

Finally, despite how much pain she was in from her sickness, Raven found herself slipping into the dark yet comfortable clutches of sleep.

***

Raven grew weaker with each passing day, though she knew they were very close to the seaside village she'd grown up in. Now she truly couldn't walk without fully leaning on Hunter for support and she was surprised at how strong he was, managing to carry her with ease. Her tail dragged on the ground as they walked and her head felt fuzzy due to a fierce headache that had begun to throb in her skull at some point.

At one point Hunter had helped her sit down beside a shallow pool, where she immediately tried to rejuvenate herself with the water. As she did so, she looked at her reflection and saw with horror how weak she looked. Now she knew why Hunter was so desperately worried about her.

Raven's face was gaunt, looking especially hollow where her eyes were. It was clear exactly where her jawbone was as well, much to Raven's horror. Although she had never been _big, _she had certainly been muscular enough, never scrawny to the point of looking _weak. _But now...now Raven was barely more than a skeleton with scaly skin stretched over her bones. Her ribs showed clearly through her rough scaly flesh, much to her absolute shock, and it was obvious that she hadn't been eating well in recent days.

"Oh," Was all she said aloud as she stared at her half-starved reflection in the clear pool of water. She frowned and glanced at Hunter, who was staring at her sympathetically. "Now I see why you're so upset about my sickness."

Hunter moved closer to her and rested his furry tail on the base of her scaly one. He rested a paw on her shoulder and lovingly and gently squeezed it. "I'm sorry, Raven...I should have tried to get you to eat more...it's just that I know you're having a hard time swallowing and keeping food down.

"It isn't your fault," Raven said to him, burying her snout in his silky red bandana. "I..." She coughed and flinched away from him before continuing her sentence. "I can't eat even if you force food down my throat...but I'll try harder from now on, now that I know how weak I look."

Hunter smiled. "Thank you, Raven. That would make me very happy."

***

"There it is," Raven rasped darkly as she and Hunter stood on top of a hill, looking down on a rocky gorge that overlooked an ocean bay. "There's the village. We made it."

Raven was leaning against Hunter, taking in wheezing breaths from the effort it took to climb up the hill after already walking for the majority of the day. She hardly had the strength to keep her head up, let alone trek for days on end. But now she was nearly done her trek to the village and would no longer have to endure the pain of walking while being too weak to so much as lift a clawed finger to help Hunter care for her.

Raven was leaning against Hunter, taking in wheezing breaths from the effort it took to climb up the hill after already walking for the majority of the day. She hardly had the strength to keep her head up, let alone trek for days on end. But now she was nearly done her trek to the village and would no longer have to endure the pain of walking while being too weak to so much as lift a clawed finger to help Hunter care for her.

Hunter angled his ears in the direction of the bay with a surprised expression on his face. "There?" He asked. "But...I don't see any houses or anything."

Raven let out a laugh. "We live in caves, silly! See that gorge? There's a bunch of caves built into the side of the wall, facing the ocean. That's where we live."

"Ah," Hunter said, nodding thoughtfully. "I see. My bad. That makes a lot of sense, though. Is there...anything else I should know about your kind and your village?"

Raven was about to open her jaws to say that he already knew everything he needed to know, especially about how she was treated in the village when she realized there was something _very _important that she hadn't told her coyote lover yet.

"Yes!" She gasped. "I..." She coughed and wheezed, causing her partner to give her yet another one of his concerned looks, but she quickly pulled herself together again before he could say anything of it. "I forgot to tell you that...uh, us kaishark don't have any genders. We, uh, aren't born with them like most species are. I...I chose to identify as a female when a troop of foxes visited our village one time and explained the concept to us. It felt..._right. _I mean, it isn't common for kaishark to choose a gender but a few in our village did...like Jett." She added darkly.

Hunter nodded. "I understand." He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the bay where the caves were located. "It looks like I can see light there now that the sun has set more. Yep, okay, I _definitely _feel like an idiot for not seeing that before."

Raven snorted a laugh, which resulted in a bout of coughing. "I...I don't think I'm quite ready to go there yet. Can we camp out for one more night first and go there in the morning?"

"Hmm," Hunter frowned and studied her with an anxious look in his eyes. "I would rather get you there as soon as possible...but if you're sure..."

"I'm positive," Raven rasped, a bit more harsh than she had intended to be. "Sorry," She apologized quickly. "It's just...I'm not quite ready to go back there because..."

Hunter sighed. "I understand. Fine. But let's find a good place to rest first..."

***

Hunter had guided Raven down the hill and found a spot beneath a rocky overhang in which the two slept, with Hunter protectively cuddling Raven close to him. Both of them knew by now that Hunter would fall asleep anyway, so Raven had convinced him to be her sleeping buddy instead of a guard, pointing out how nothing would likely harm them since they were so close to kaishark territory. Kaishark guarded their land fiercely, so enemies hardly dared to go near them if they could help it.

I'm not sure if I'm ready... _Raven thought as she curled closer against her fluffy partner. _Not everyone in the village was bad. I...I guess I had more kaishark who cared about me than I thought at the time...but that's part of the problem. Jett probably told them some bad crap about me. Lies and stuff...and so did that dumb best friend of his, Reed! _She scowled at the thought of the two kaishark who had caused her to leave her village in tears that day. _And I don't want to know the look on their faces when they see I've returned after doing whatever the heck Jett and Reed probably told them I did! But Hazel did miss some of the kaishark who probably would've defended her no matter what...maybe seeing them one last time would be good for her. And if they _are _mean...well, that just means I was right to leave and gives me more of a reason to never return.

***

Raven's dreams were surprisingly nostalgic that night.

Raven stood at the top of the gorge and looked down at the splashing waves of the salty seawater below. She scent of the water carried up into her nostrils and she let out a contented sigh, pulling her tail close to her as she crossed her legs and gazed at the beautiful sight of the beach below. Listening to the waves rolling and crashing against the surface made her feel strangely calm.

"Hey, Raven!" A cheerful voice called, prompting Raven to turn her head around and smile as a green-and-white kaishark walked up to her with a smile on their face.

"Hey, Gull!" Raven greeted them, for this kaishark was a cousin of hers. They used to be smaller than her but now they were a powerful broad-shouldered kaishark who was beginning to become one of the most efficient underwater hunters in the village. "What's up?" She stood up and stretched her arms above her head.

"I was just wondering if you'd like to go for a swim with me," Gull said, returning her smile with their own even brighter one. "I just finished work for the day and I know how much you like swimming on days like this one. Your mother said that you were bored today."

_"Heck yeah!" Raven lashed her powerful tail energetically, bouncing on her feet. "Let's go! I'll race you to the water!" _

Raven woke up and opened her eyes with a groan, for Hunter was nudging her with his snout to rouse her.

"Ugh," Raven rasped, immediately overwhelmed by the pain of her illness, which caused an ongoing headache to throb in her skull along with causing immense pain in her throat and chest. "I was having a good dream."

"Sorry," Hunter apologized. "But I think it's time for us to go to the village." He helped her to her feet with patience that Raven could never muster herself.

"Fine," She breathed, hardly able to speak through her swollen throat that morning. "Let's get it over with..." She did admit, however, only to herself that the dream made her almost _want _to see her friends and family back at the village...at least one last time.

***

Anxiety clawed at Raven's chest like a set of sharp claws as she stood on the path that would lead her to the village. The familiar sound of waves lapping at the edge of the beach did little to calm her nerves, though she did feel a sense of strength knowing that Hunter was standing at her side, making sure that nobody would harm her even if she wasn't the most welcome kaishark in the village. She leaned against him, her breath rattling in her throat, and fought the urge to just collapse onto the sand. She would bring herself to the village for his sake.

"Come on," Hunter said softly, affectionately squeezing her in a hug. "It'll be okay, I promise."

Raven nodded and groaned weakly, allowing him to help her down the path that led to her village. The familiar thick foam was gathering at the corners of her jaws again that day, dripping down onto the sand with a sizzling noise that caused her to wince whenever she heard it. She was hoping the healer she had grown up with was still here, alive and well in the village, and that they could fix her up...

As she entered the bottom of the gorge that faced the ocean, she saw young kaishark wrestling each other playfully directly in front of one of the caves while an older kaishark watched. Their laughter carried over to Raven's ears, bringing back memories of when she used to play like that as well...

It was still early, so not very many kaishark were awake. However, one kaishark was sitting alone on a boulder in the center of the village, gazing out into the sea beyond. Raven's eyes widened and she stiffened, immediately recognizing that kaishark.

She tugged on Hunter's bandana. "That one!" She gasped, pointing to the green-and-white kaishark. "They're my cousin, Gull!"

Hunter nodded. "Right. Do you want me to take you to him first? He can get you help."

"Yes! And it's 'they', not he." Raven was practically running as much as she could to get over to her cousin, with Hunter keeping a firm grasp on her to make sure she didn't fall since she was so weak from her illness. "Gull!" She called weakly. "Gull!"

The kaishark snapped their head around and looked at her, their eyes widening with recognition. "Raven!" They cried, leaping off the boulder and sprinting over to her, their tail lashing wildly through the air as they did so. Gull looked like they were about to tackle her but skidded to a halt when they saw how weak she looked leaning against Hunter. "You're back! But...oh dear, you don't look good." Worry flickered in the depths of his bright yellow gaze.

"She's very sick," Hunter told them. "She needs help and she has told me in the past that there is a healer here who can help her with such a sickness. Can you get them, please?"

Gull's face took on a serious look as he nodded. "Yes! Wait right here!" He took off toward the caves on the side of the huge rocky wall. The two kaishark who had been wrestling playfully moments earlier were now staring after him with bewildered looks on their tiny faces, while the adult kaishark who had been watching them was staring at Raven with a look of shock on their face. Raven recognized this kaishark as Shelly, a friend of hers who had ended up taking on the role of a female after the foxes had visited.

"Wait here!" Shelly ordered the two younger kaishark before running across to where Raven was weakly leaning against Hunter. "You...Raven..." Tears formed in the corner of Shelly's eyes. "It _is _you...I thought you had gone away forever..."

"I'm here," Raven replied, surprised to see how emotional her friend was. She hadn't realized anyone in the village had missed her much, aside from Gull. "I'm sorry for leaving, Shelly...it's just that I couldn't handle what happened between Reed and me..." She lowered her head in shame.

Shelly was the only kaishark who had known about their feud.

"Nobody blames you for that," Shelly told her, gently resting her tail over Raven's. "It caused a lot to happen in the village..." Her gaze flicked toward Hunter and her expression was curious. "Who is this coyote?" She asked.

"He's my partner," Raven told her, smiling proudly despite her illness. "He convinced me to come here and get treated. He is the best. He's here to support me."

"So I'm guessing you're a friend of hers?" Hunter asked Shelly.

Shelly nodded. "Yep! We were pretty close before she...well before she left." She frowned. "But it isn't her fault!"

"How not?" Raven asked, her voice practically barely more than a wheeze now.

"That's a long story," Shelly replied, whisking her tail over the sand. "But I'll tell you more about it later if nobody else does. I take it Gull went to get help?"

Raven nodded and before she could speak, she heard the sound of footsteps pounding over the sand as Gull ran back from the healer's cave with the healer directly behind them.

The healer was a white kaishark with a black underbelly and red freckles on their nose. Their name was Conch, and they were the same healer Raven had grown up with.

"Thank you for bringing her here," Conch told Hunter. "I need to take her to my cave immediately. This illness is bad but if treated correctly she should recover within a week or two. By the looks of it, she'd...well, she'd not be alive for much longer if you had waited longer to bring her here. Would you mind waiting outside for her while I bring her to my cave? She'll have to stay there for a while, but you'll be able to visit her a lot. I just need to check her over and allow her to rest for a bit." Conch glanced at Shelly and Gull. "You two, please make Hunter feel at home here." The two other kaishark nodded eagerly while Conch carefully guided Raven over to his cave and rested her on a hammock.

From there, Conch checked Raven over, muttering to themselves as they did so, leaving her to look around the cave. It looked exactly as she remembered it from her childhood, with dried herbs and glass jars in every available section. It hadn't changed a bit in the few years Raven had been away.

Conch came back to Raven with a liquid concoction in a glass bottle. "I'm glad you came back when you did," They told her in a grim tone. "You have the foam disease, which can kill a kaishark within six weeks if it isn't treated properly." They handed her the jar, which she grabbed with her weak and shaky claws. "You will need to take this once every two hours for the next week. This medicine, along with days of rest, will get rid of the illness."

Raven nodded gratefully and gulped down the liquid. It tasted horrendous, which was an indication that it worked quite well according to what she had learned when it came to Conch's treatment growing up.

"So," She said, scrunching her snout as she handed Conch the empty bottle. "What will happen while I'm here? Can Hunter share the cave with me?"

Conch shook their head. "No, but I'm sure the other villagers will be more than happy to help arrange a cave for him to stay at, or maybe even lend them one of their own. For now, though, I would like for you to get an optimal amount of rest, which means staying here alone or under my watch, okay? He can still visit you periodically."

Raven nodded. "Fine," She agreed. "You know best."

Conch paused, then added. "Is there anybody else from the village you would allow to visit? I'm sure your return will prompt a _lot _of kaishark here to want to see how you're doing."

"Anyone is fine...er, except Reed and Jett," Raven added quickly. "I...uh, didn't get along with them in the end before I left."

Conch nodded. "Oh, we know that. Jett was cast out of the village shortly after you left. Shelly saw him push you off the cliff. She heard everything. Reed and a few others went with him."

Raven snapped her head up a bit too fast, causing her to wince and press a claw to her temple. "Really?" She gasped, awestruck. "I...I didn't know. I left because of what Jett did."

"That's what we thought too," Conch replied. "Your friends and cousin...well, let's just say they didn't take kindly to what Jett had done. Gull nearly sliced his eyes out! He said he felt betrayed." He laughed. "Shelly held him back but was giving Jett some harsh words the whole time. After a discussion, Jett was forced to leave, and his friends went with him."

"Oh," Raven stared at them in surprise. "I...I left because I thought Jett would make a story up to make me look bad...and to make it look like I _deserved _to get pushed." Her eyes watered, for she was warmed that the village had taken her side in that. It was a shame she hadn't stayed...or was it? _I would have never met Hunter...and truth be told, I think he is my soulmate! _

"Well, Shelly saw the whole thing and your reputation here is fine," Conch said with a smile. "We all assumed you left because of Jett's treachery and we were correct after all." He patted her shoulder gently. "Now rest, Raven. You can talk more when you recover."

***

Hunter visited Raven _many _times while she recovered in Conch's cave. He chatted with her about how he was making friends with the other kaishark in the village, and the two discussed with joy how Jett had been exiled for what he had done to her. Hutner had been sharing a cave with Gull the entire time. Shelly and Gull each told their side, with Gull saying how hurt and shocked they had been because he'd viewed Jett as a close friend. Shelly revealed to Raven that the two kaishark she had been watching were _hers, _and that she was raising them proudly and happily by herself.

Other villagers began to visit as well, bringing Raven gifts and telling her how much they missed her. Only a few villagers harbored a grudge against her, though they had chosen not to leave with Jett and had been a friend of his. They distanced themselves, however, and allowed her to be welcomed by the bulk of the village.

When Raven recovered, she visited the caves of some of her friends and went fishing and swimming with some of the other kaishark, startled at how much harder she found swimming in the sea now that she hadn't done so in years.

***

After she was fully recovered, Raven and Hunter spent the first night together on the top of the gorge, staring at the sea below. Raven leaned against her partner lovingly. She was still scrawny due to the lack of food and nutrition from being sick, but she was beginning to eat better again.

"Hey, Raven?" Hunter asked. "I noticed that you are rekindling old friendships here and it makes me extremely happy. I'm proud of you for coming back here and I am _so _happy Conch healed you." He smiled at her and pulled her into a hug. "I can't imagine life without you."

"I can't imagine life without you either," Raven told him softly, burying her snout into his chest.

"Hey...I was wondering if you wanted to stay here," Hunter pulled away from their embrace and gazed into her ice-blue eyes. "I mean, this is where you grew up and you seem so at peace here. You look so much more graceful in the open sea." He nuzzled her gently. "And if you do, I'd be more than happy to settle down and make a life here!"

"Are you sure?" Raven asked.

Hunter nodded. "Of course! I know I'd never have the chance to have good relationships with my family, and I think you deserve to, and to have me to help you at all times."

Raven smiled, though for a moment a stab of nostalgic sadness shot through her chest. She remembered when she met Hunter in the woods...she remembered all the days spent in their little wooden hut by the river.

But she also remembered spending her earliest days fishing and playing with other kaishark, getting healed by Conch, and having a smooth time swimming in the ocean. Her life was rooted on this beach, where she learned almost everything she now knew about life. She missed it more than she initially thought, and she hadn't realized how supportive the villagers here were...

"What about our home?" She asked Hunter.

Hunter laughed. "I've lived in many homes in my life, Raven. It may be our first home, but I think we'll have a much happier life here."

She smiled. "Then yes, Hunter. I would love to live here again, where I grew up and where I...I guess I belong." She hugged him again and they spent the rest of the night cuddling and reminiscing together.