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"Bleyen's mane, Reya! What happened?" Reya immediately recognized the bleating voice of Blyth, one of the farm workers for the rolling hills east of Haarshollow. The little otter didn't quite register his voice though. Everything in her body hurt like nothing she had known before. Her mind was set on making it to town and any other thoughts got pushed to the side. She stared at the ground in front of her and kept walking on trembling paws.

"Say something, otter! You were in the fire? Snake on a skewer, you shouldn't be walking on those paws!" His hooves drifted into her field of view. Reya nodded, but kept moving forward.

"Gotta thank you, big otter guy. Must be a cousin or something, right?" Torren shook his head no. "So you aren't speaking either? Well shit, must be an otter thing." He maneuvered in front of the wounded otter and gently held his hoof against her forehead. Reya stopped walking. The shaking of her legs was even more pronounced when she was still. The goat turned to his side and kneeled in front of her. "It looks like you could use a ride. These hooves ain't good for much, but they can sure carry a mammal in need."

Reya wanted to protest. She always felt weird about animals riding other animals. She figured that it was a product of her growing up in the countryside. Everyone tended to act more feral away from civilization. It was never to the point where civilized predators would eat civilized prey, but she did know a beaver who turned his nose up at the idea of living in an underground den or a constructed cabin. Instead, he opted to build his own den in the lake like a feral beaver would.

His back looked very tempting. Reya didn't bother to protest as Torren gently nudged her onto Blyth. The goat carefully stood up on all fours.

"You ready? I'll try to go steady, but that cute donkey girl I like is such a tease."

Reya groaned. She could never tell whether Blyth thought his jokes were actually funny or if he told terrible jokes on purpose.

"I was groaning at your joke, by the way, not the burns," Reya muttered with a smile. She winced as the goat began to walk forward. True to his word, he moved slowly and steadily. Yet, the pressure against the burns was enough drove her to bite her tongue in an effort not to cry out in pain.

"You were in that big fire back there?" he bleated.

"Yeah," she muttered.

"Figures, you're pretty hot for an otter! You know, because fire makes you hot?" Blyth laughed at his own joke. Reya rolled her eyes. "You know what I'm talkin' about, Gither!"

"What are you talking about? That's not Gither, you doofus!" the little otter huffed, "He has spots! I don't have spots and Gither doesn't have spots. He's like half again as big as Gither too! And why would you even say something like that? It's gross! Gither's my brother, of course he doesn't think that about me."

"That sounds like the Reya I know!"

"Oh shush, you big dumb goat."

"So who's your new friend there? And what's up with Gither? He isn't with you and he hasn't been in Haarshollow lately.

"His name is Torren, and he's been helping me get better." Reya wasn't ready to let Blyth know that the spotted otter was the reason Gither wasn't around anymore. "He's a great guy, and he's the reason I made it out of the forest."

"And Gither?"

Reya painfully shifted on the goat's back. She sighed. "He's on an errand."

"Otter, I can smell goatshit before it comes out of my ass!"

"Gross!"

"You know you can talk to me, that's all I'm sayin'."

Reya rested her head back down against the goat's coarse fur with a groan. She didn't want to talk about Gither. It had been months since he left, but she still hurt when she thought about how her brother had just up and left her.

"He left," she murmured.

"What'cha mean?"

"I don't want to talk about it, okay?"

Blyth snorted. "I've never seen you not want to talk about something, girl."

"Well, maybe it's because I'm in horrible pain, you nunce." She was half joking, but her own words got away from her. She raised her voice in a sudden surge of anger. "I just got out of a forest fire with terrible burns and I don't need to be interrogated about my brother abandoning me!" The wounded otter paused with a huff. "And don't you dare make one of your stupid jokes about it!"

"I don't know, I thought I was on fire with my jokes," The goat said, looking over his shoulder with a stupid grin. Reya was flabbergasted. He didn't even seem phased by her angry outburst. A quick glance told her that Torren at least had the decency to try to hide his fits of silent laughter. Reya groaned. Blyth continued, "So what's up with your friend there? Hasn't made a peep since I found you."

"He's a mute."

"Funny, I could've sworn he was an otter!" This finally elicited a chuckle from Reya.

"Mute, not mule! Torren can't talk."

"So how'dya know his name?"

"Well, I guess he can kind of talk. He uses his paws and expressions to say things, you know? Kind of like script, where each thing you want to say is a drawing, only instead of a drawing it's a movement."

"Well I have got to see this! Go say something, boy!"

Torren looked down, his ears twitching in embarrassment. His tail stiffened behind him. He pleadingly looked up to Reya. She teased him with a vindictive smile. He'd laughed as she was made a fool of. Now it was her turn. "Go on!" she laughed, "what are you waiting for?"

The spotted necked otter gave in. 'I feel like I'm being made a fool of!" he signed with alternating paws as he followed alongside the goat. Reya laughed and translated for Blyth.

The goat did a good job distracting Reya from her injuries. She realized what he was trying to do before long, but went along with it anyway. Distractions were good, especially before she could get proper supplies to treat herself.

She hadn't been in Haarshollow, the small outlet of civilization near her home, for over four moons. However, it hadn't changed much at all. It never did. The same squat wooden cabins housed the same amiable creatures.

It was a small town. Only around two hundred animals actually lived in the village proper. More were spread out in the countryside like Reya and her brother.

The wounded otter was glad not to see many other people as she was carted towards the healer's lodge. She felt embarrassed of her injuries. She had treated many of the town's animals and didn't want them to see her in such a pitiful state. Those she did come across offered a few words of condolences and then rushed off. Somehow they made her feel more miserable.

Torren stayed close to their side. Reya certainly didn't want him to end up alone, a stranger in a town where everyone knew everyone, with no way to communicate.

Talip the mole was highly regarded in Haarshollow. He was a point of pride, and a slight claim to fame. Gither was an excellent healer and had helped a lot of creatures that lived out in the forest, but he'd gone out on his own after apprenticing under Talip. Suffice it to say, Talip was an herbal encyclopedia. He could rattle off the names of herbs, remedies, and poultices for almost any situation that one could think of. Reya had spent over a year of her life trying to sponge up his knowledge when she began to start seriously treating animals on her own.

However, Talip was no saint. Gither left his apprenticeship because, in his own words, the mole was a grungy asshole who cared more about a thorn than a paw. Reya's own interactions with Talip just solidified that sentiment.

"Oh! Blyth!" The otter heard Talip before she saw him. He scuttled out of the cabin - probably the largest in the village - and began to sniff the air around him. The rodent looked comically small next to the huge cabin door, large enough to fit an oxen,

"Who is this who you have brought with you? A spotted necked otter! I did not know that there were any families of spotted neck otter that lived here. What is he..." The mole trailed off in his thick accent. He stuck his snout back in the air, sniffing intensely. "Oh! Oh no! Reya, you must be in pain! Bluth, get the poor lady in here right now! Those burns smell very bad and she needs immediate attention." The mole turned to Torren, his worried expression dropping from his face as if he had completely forgotten Reya's injury. "You may enter too, Spotty."

Torren followed the goat into the cabin looking slightly perturbed. He stood by as Reya was gently set down on a soft feathery bed. These were rare for the area. The local branch of the avian association sold their moulted feathers at what most people considered to be a completely exorbitant price. The village had, however, managed to pool funding for the lodge's accommodations.

'I don't like him,' Torren signed, glancing at the mole.

'Just because he made fun of your spots that doesn't mean he's not a nice guy!'

'Its not that! I just -'

"Shh - its ok," Reya chided out loud, "just go catch some fish or something, Mr. Spotty."

"Yes! Fish would be a very good idea. Our Reya needs good food to heal well!" Talip interjected.

Torren nodded and left rather grumpily, leaving the smaller otter chuckling behind him alongside a guffawing bear and a confused mole.

"What's the matter with him?" The mole asked as he expertly scampered up a ladder to a carved oak cupboard on the wall opposite to the beds. The drawer slid open and he tossed a roll of gauze onto the floor.

"He didn't like your little name for him," Reya giggled.

"No! I mean the hand waving. Why does he only wave his hands?"

"Oh, he's mute. He uses hand motions to represent words. Kind of like how we use drawings for words on paper." She almost pushed herself out of the bed when she saw the gauze. "Oh! There's no need for that! That stuff's expensive!"

"And how many animals have you fixed up at no charge?" The goat asked. "Talip spent a good deal of money getting this stuff and might as well use it. Besides, you need it more than anyone." Reya didn't put up much more of a fight about the treatment. She was in more pain than she wanted to admit.

"This going to sting." The otter girl clenched her teeth as she felt a few drops of sharp stinging liquid on the tip of her tender tail. Her eyes watered and she couldn't hold back a squeak, but she held herself as still and as composed as she could manage. Blyth's head rested on the sheets next to her, his nose pressing lightly against her fur. The goat's gesture was kind, but it didn't make Reya feel any better.

"Salt water?" she asked through gritted teeth.

"Yes, it cleans the wound," the mole replied, "Gither has been teaching you?"

"Yeah - ow!" The stinging water had started dripping down her left hind paw, reaching more painful damaged skin.

"The paw burns are very dirty," he leaned in close to her paw, trying to get a good look around it, "The blisters are not in a good shape. Why you didn't make the otter, the male, why didn't you make Spotty carry you? With Gither as a teacher you should have the sense to rest after getting such bad burns."

Reya turned red under her fur. She didn't like being corrected on her mannerisms. However, she didn't argue back. Talip was a very experienced healer and he knew what he was doing. Besides, people in the area didn't say 'stubborn as a mole' for no reason.

Once, a local badger named Mela had gotten her foot badly torn up when she had carelessly dropped - top down - a basket of kitchen knives she was carting over to the town hall for a unification day feast. Talip demanded that the foot be amputated. The badger adamantly refused, instead, punctuated by very foul language, she demanded bandages and dressings in the hope that her paw could be saved. Talip led her out the door with her foot still bleeding all over the ground and refused to let her back in until she agreed to let him amputate it.

Many people in the village detested him for that incident. However, it over ten years before and the sentiment had died down before long. Besides, when Mela finally relented, Talip cared for her injuries sunup to sundown, as if the life-threatening argument had never happened. Needless to say, the mole was not someone Reya wanted to get in an argument with.

Dealing with pain is always easier when focusing on a conversation instead of an injury and Reya, having taken care of many patients before, knew this and would not give up on talking to the two animals next to her. Of course, Reya rarely gave up a chance at a conversation when she was perfectly well either.

"You know how it is Talip - ouch! - you can train however much you want, but it all goes down the piss-pit when you have to take care of yourself."

"Actually I - "

"Yeah, Talip I know!" She puffed up her chest and mimicked the mole's heavy accent, "I only have hurt myself once and it was when I fought a deadly snake! After I finished strangling it with my bare paws, I then used snake body as a tourniquet and sucked venom from my own bite."

"That never happened," Talip protested in a huff. Blyth guffawed. "It not very funny." The mole continued to protest

"She learned from the best!" the goat teased.

"Seriously Talip, you take jokes worse than Githy and that's saying something!"

"Haha! Yes, that is exactly how Gither is! Are you otters not supposed to be fun loving?"

"Guess my mom saved it all for me." Reya flinched, "Ouch! that stings pretty bad!"

"You otter believe it! That guy is about as talkative as a rock," Blyth chimed in, still recovering from his laughter.

"Yes, I agree." Talip nodded.

"Oh, shut it, you two. I just had to counteract Gither's silence, you know! It's not easy talking for two people all the time."

"How is your brother doing? I haven't seen you guys in forever. I believe that the shrews, the tailors, they were going to send some people out to check on you, but the rabbit Sylvia said not to go. So -" Talip stopped suddenly. Reya's face had fallen. The small otter let out a small yelp as the mole started scrubbing at the dirt and gravel in one of her paws.

"Oh my Reya..." He muttered.

The otter lay there, silent and downcast.

"Did he? Oh my. You otter, you have been through so much. Did he pass away in the fire?" Talip spoke tenderly, but there was an odd air of morbid curiosity behind his words.

"No! Not that. At least, I don't think so." She turned her head away. "We had a fight and he left."

"You?" Talip asked, stunned, "You had a fight? I don't think you have ever made an animal angry in your life! How did you get your own brother angry? He is the calmest otter and you are the friendliest otter. I do not understand it!"

Reya broke her solemn expression with a chuckle. "We actually fought more than you'd imagine. He could be really stubborn sometimes." She trailed off. Her eyes felt as wet as her salt-water dabbed paws. "I'm sorry, I don't really want to talk about it."

"Don't worry," Blyth said, "You'll be fine! I ain't seen anyone not come out of this here lodge healthy as a whistle in years."

"You praise me too much," the mole spoke sternly.

"Nope. For once in your arrogant little life, you aren't giving yourself enough praise."

"You call me arrogant you giant sack of fleas?"

"I've been free of fleas for two months now! I don't see you taking a bath yourself!"

The mole raised his paws in response. "I keep these clean and that is all I need in this job."

"All you need in this job? I guess that's true. A healer doesn't need opium to put people to sleep when his smell knocks'em right out first!"

Reya was cracking up at this point. "Cool it you two! Lets be civilized here! We're not ferals here, you know! The smell of either of you would make a skunk run away wheezing!"

"Ow! Forget about the burns on your skin, otter. That caused real pain!" Talip put his paws over his chest like he had just been struck with a grievous wound.

Claws rapped at the door.

"Come in," Talip called.

The door pushed open and Torren followed, a sack smelling strongly of raw fish gripped in his jaw.

"Torren! Where'd you get that?" Reya asked, shocked.

'There's another river only a few minutes walk to the -' Reya cut him off.

"No! I mean the bag! Where'd you get the bag?"

'I..' Torrens paws fumbled a moment as he recounted, 'I was carrying back two of these in my mouth and struggling with the other three in my paws so I had to come back on my hind legs. A raccoon stopped me after a few minutes trying to make it back and, and after she stopped laughing at me, ran to fetch this for me.'

"Is anyone planning on tell me what he saying? He looks like rabid ferret trying to wave down a horse on the road."

Torren ears twitched bashfully, much to Reya's amusement. "Well, he apparently looked even more ridiculous when he was trying to carry the fish back in paws. Mayel took pity on the poor guy and got the sack for him."

'I do not look ridiculous!' he signed.

'The angrier you get, the sillier it looks,' Reya signed, giggling.

Torren reached into the bag and pulled out a fish with his paws, tossing it up to the smaller otter.

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Listen Talip," she turned to the mole, "I know there's dangers of eating stuff raw, but I don't think I've had anything more than tea in almost two days. You gotta let me eat this."

The mole just grunted and shrugged.

"I need to clean your paws, though. They need to be wrapped and kept clean until the open blisters are healed. So don't touch the fish with your paws."

Reya nodded.

'You thought I looked silly? This'll be a sight.' The spotted otter grinned at her.

Reya stuck out her tongue at him before chomping into the fish. She only realized how hungry she was when she began to eat. Torren had hunted food for her that morning, but the arduous and painful walk into town had built up her appetite. It was an excellent distraction from the painful burn treatments.

Applying the honey to her paws took much less time than cleaning her burns had. She could tell that Talip had been incredibly careful to extract each piece of dirt and grime from her wounds while trying to brush against the painful tail and paw pads as little as possible. However, the honey was liberally slathered on before her limbs were wrapped up in gauze and wound up with twine.

"Now we will take care of your torso, okay?" The mole said in his thick accent, "This will hurt again, but the burns on your torso are not as bad as the burns on your limbs."

"Thanks Talip, I'll be fine," Reya assured through her last mouthful of fish. A small pile of bones had built up to the side of the bed where she spat them out. "Mind helping with those Torren?"

The male scowled and scooped the bones up into the burlap sack without a word.

He turned to leave when a harsh scream pierced the silence. Reya twisted to try to get off the bed, but Blyth held her still. "Don't move," he ordered, uncharacteristically stern for the mule. She relaxed. The pain of her sudden movement done just as much to make her reconsider.

A panting beagle nearly crashed through the door only moments later.

"Its Sylvia! Her arm! Good Bleyen, it's awful!" He wobbled as he spoke, nearly falling over. Torren was staring at him like a deer in headlights. The cries were getting closer.

"Torren! Catch him!" Torren stepped up to the little dog's shoulder just in time. The beagle fell against Torren, stumbling to catch his footing.

Torren led him to one of the sof beds while more animals burst into the room. Reya immediately recognized Mayel the badger, wide-eyed and holding Sylvia. Sylvia's left front wrist was covered with a frilly blood-soaked tablecloth. Another rabbit, shaking and pale with fright, followed holding Sylvia's paw.