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'Okay, Reya. You ready?' Torren signed. The spotted otter had helped Aris carry in a small end table and set it down next to Reya's bed. It wasn't much, but it would be a lot easier on the girl's paws as she carefully made her way down to the ground.

Reya carefully rolled to her side - the side without her broken arm - and started to pull herself up onto her feet. She was very careful about it. She hadn't used her leg muscles in quite some time, and if they didn't hold her she could fall against the sling and subsequently her damaged arm. It probably wouldn't hurt her recovery, but she didn't care much for the pain that would come with an accident like that.

She pushed herself unsteadily onto three legs. The otter was even more unstable than she normally would have been thanks to the soft downy mattress, but she was able to hold herself steady after a few moments.

"Everything feeling fine?" asked Aris who was looking on from across the room as he finished dressing a bad scrape one of Mayel's children had gotten when playing in a particularly rocky are near the river.

"Yeah, I just haven't used these legs in a long time. I've gotta ease them back into use pretty slowly." She cautiously placed her working front paw onto the end table before following it up with her rear legs.

"So far so good," she muttered under her breath. She'd seen a number of animals recover from broken limbs while she was living with Gither. Legs could easily give way if used too much before their muscles were built back up. Reya's weren't completely atrophied after only a week of disuse, especially with a diet of good fish meat and local produce, but this time Reya was electing to be cautious with her recovery. She'd race around all she wanted when she was fully healed and she wished for that healing to happen as soon as possible.

The step down from the end table to the floor was a bit higher, but ultimately easier without the unstable mattress to worry about. She leaned over the edge, carefully keeping her sling from bumping against the edge of the table, and pushed her paw down onto the solid wooden ground.

There wasn't much pain from her burns. It hurt, but it was a dull pain and not a sharp stinging one. It hurt like a deep bruise. It was far from pleasant, but Reya could live with it. The gauze helped as well. It added a soft layer of padding between the charred flesh and whatever might come in contact with it.

Torren was next to her as soon as she was on the ground. He pushed against her on her bad side and helped to keep her moving where her broken paw couldn't. Reya could learn to walk on three legs - she'd seen other animals do it just fine - but she didn't mind putting that off until her three good legs were a bit stronger.

"Thanks," She said, pressing into the larger otter. He nodded in reply, unable to stand up to sign with his front paws and support her at the same time. He led her out of the lodge. Reya blinked several times. It was very bright and she hadn't seen much direct sunlight recently. There were two windows in the lodge, but she didn't have a great vantage point to see out of them from the bed she had been stuck in.

The town hadn't changed. It never did. She stopped moving and Torren obediently followed suit. She hadn't actually looked around much since she'd come here with Torren, which wasn't too surprising considering the condition she'd been in the last few times she'd actually been on the streets.

The cobblestone path wove in and out of the trees, trying to remain as straight as it could. There were huts alongside the road clustering mainly around the medical lodge. Off to one side she could see the path split into a circle where it wrapped around the town's other important public building, the town hall. On the other end, the path grew more windy and less defined as it branched off and into smaller trails and eventually vanished into lightly trod paths. The only true road, also a sturdy cobblestone, branched off from the main street on the side opposite of the town hall. It remained a steady cobblestone, if poorly maintained, for the full trail down to Fenbury.

The horse, however, was probably waiting for them at the town hall. They made their way over slowly. Aris, having finished working with the injured badger child, respected the slow pace of the two otters and followed behind them.

The horse was waiting outside the town hall. He was already hooked up to a sizeable cart behind it. The cart was loaded up with foods, some small trading supplies, and a blanket that Reya assumed was for her. Everyone else would probably be walking beside of the cart for the majority of the trip.

"Where's Weisk?" Reya asked.

"He's flying down to Lenwick with word of our departure. He should be back in five or six days. He'll probably reach us while we're staying in Fenbury.

"Well at least we don't have to put up with him for the _whole_trip," Reya muttered.

"Hey! Are you the otters I'm supposed to be picking up?" the horse called out to the two of them.

"You were right Aris, they did send a person!" She said to the beagle. She then looked back over to the horse and shouted back a response. "That's us! What's your name, sir?"

"You can call me Walaski! I assume that one of you is Aris."

"That's me," said the ranger.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. What should I call you two?" He asked the otters.

"I'm Reya and this is Torren."

"It's a pleasure. Are you fellows ready to get moving today, or do you have more to attend to before you leave?"

"We're transporting a prisoner. As soon as we load both him and the injured otter here into the cart we'll be ready to go."

Walaski frowned for a moment. "I don't mean to question your judgment 'bout criminals, but if your guy did that to Mrs. Reya here... I don't know if it's a good idea to stick them on the same cart."

"Oh - uh," Aris stuttered for a moment. Reya noted that the perpetually nervous beagle had sounded uncharacteristically confident for the first half of the conversation. "Her injuries aren't related to the criminal."

"I see," The horse paused for a moment, obviously wondering whether it would be rude to ask what had happened. Reya didn't doubt that he had questions. She'd gotten rid of the gauze on her head the day before and, even though it was healing as well as could be expected, the half of her face that had suffered the worst of the burns was quite an off-putting sight.

"Forest fire," Reya said before he could decide.

"Well, I don't envy you, miss. I'll try to keep the trip as smooth as I can manage."

"Thanks." She tried to sound cheerful. She didn't like people talking about her like she was a cripple, however. She wasn't. At least, not permanently.

She certainly felt like a cripple, however, as Torren slowly helped her up the makeshift stepladder that had been set up in front of the cart. It was perfectly stable, made up of some leftover wooden crates and logs.

It was much harder for her to climb up to the cart than it had been for her to get down from her bed in the lodge. She actually had to push her body upwards with her paws, pressing her tender burns down into the ground with enough force to lift her up.

A squeak escaped her, as much as she tried not to let the pain show, as she pushed herself up onto the first box. Torren, still next to her for support - both physically and mentally - looked at her with concern.

"I'm fine..." Reya said, "it just hurts a little. It's not bad." Torren obviously didn't believe her, but there wasn't much more that he could do either way.

Reya climbed the rest of the short way up without a peep, but the pain clearly showed on her face. She realized that the bed rest hadn't done quite as much for her paws as she thought it did. She would have stopped after the first step and asked Aris to fetch some pain-killing tinctures - which she sorely wished she had taken before she left the lodge - but she didn't want to worry them. They'd be going on a long and rough ride and Reya didn't want her friends worrying about her for the whole way.

Torren stayed with her as she lay down on the soft woolen blanket in the small corner that wasn't packed with trade goods or supplies. There wasn't much space, but Torren tried to curl up with her. It was tight, but Reya liked that.

Reya had a hard time sleeping on beds. They were too open and loose. She liked to curl up close to something comfy, and Torren fit that description very well at the moment. She sighed as she closed her eyes. It wasn't night, but she needed the rest. She may not have been tired enough to fall asleep, but the otter was happy just resting with her eyes shut.

Torren didn't move either. She didn't know how long the two were curled up together. She heard voices talking wispily in the background of her mind. She heard the shuffling of boxes and goods stacked inside the card. And she heard Aris scolding someone for being too loud because they might wake her up. She didn't mind though; she was never fully asleep.

She did get pulled back into consciousness as Torren nudged her with his dry nose. She smiled. A dry nose meant that it had been as restful for him as it had been for her.

"Mmmh?" She mumbled. She opened her eyes, and turned her head to see Torren's response. He definitely had some trouble talking. He was on his side, curled around her, completely hiding one of his paws underneath him. The other paw managed to get his message through though.

'Moving soon.' Reya nodded.

"That's fine. I'll be OK, I think."

'Just not want surprise,' Torren struggled to find words that could be adequately said with only one paw.

"Thanks!" She said cheerfully.

"So... uh... you guys are ready, right?" Aris asked.

"Yeah, I think we're all set to go. I'm keeping poor Torren company here. He'd never make it on foot." She could hear both Aris and the horse laughing from the opposite end of the cart. Torren playfully batted her ear.

"Oh stop it, you might hurt your poor little paws," she mocked. She winced slightly as she rolled over. There was barely enough space on the small blanket to fit the two of them, but she was able to free up a few inches between them for Torren to be able to talk back to her.

"You're a great pillow, but you know how much I like to talk."

'You won't let me forget!'

The cart started with a lurch. Reya and Torren bounced slightly against the blanket as the cart's wheels began to roll across the unsteady cobblestone. The blanket was thick enough to cushion the bounces of the cart significantly, but not entirely. Luckily, it didn't bother her broken bone. Aris had made sure to tightly wrap her injured arm to her chest so that it wouldn't wave around on its own as the cart moved.

'No problems?' Torren asked after a few seconds.

"Everything's fine," Reya reassured. "My arm's bound well and the blanket's nice on my paws."

'Just say something if it starts to hurt, I'm sure we can stop and readjust the blanket for you. Ok?'

"I'm sure you'll have no trouble stopping the cart for me," Reya teased, "what with your strong manly voice and all."

'Oh shut up! I'll hop out and tap Aris or something.'

Reya giggled, "or I could just ask them to stop."

'Well that's no fun, is it?'

"So if I hurt my broken arm, you think its fun?"

'That's not what I meant!'

Reya laughed. "So what? You just enjoy it a little bit?'

'No!"

"Oh, I see how it is!"

'What do you mean?'

"You're just using my injuries as an excuse for a free ride in the cart."

Torren feigned a look of indignation. 'How dare you!'

"That's right Torren!" She stuck her tongue out at him. "I've caught you red-pawed! This cart you're stealing a ride on... Its going straight to a cell for you!"

Torren gasped in shock. 'I've been found out! My disguise was no match for the great Reya! She saw right through me!'

"That's right, you fiend. And now I've got you exactly where I want you!"

'Ah... but maybe you're not as good as you think!' The larger otter signed slyly.

"Whaddya mean?"

'I've got a hostage!' He wrapped one of his large paws around Reya's side, careful to avoid any of her tender exposed skin. 'Now all you rangers over there better drop those weapons to the ground. Make one move and this little otter here gets claws stuck right in 'er back!' He said with his free paw. Contrary to his grandiose speech, he gently rubbed back and forth through her fur.

"I don't know if I need rescuing just now," Reya giggled, "that dangerous paw of yours feels pretty good."

Night came before Reya knew it, and Walaski pulled the cart to a stop.

"This looks good as anywhere to set up for the night." He snorted as he spoke, Reya guessed that he'd rather have stopped somewhere else. The ground was pretty ragged. The forest that they'd started in had never abated; in fact, it had grown denser. The ground was rough and void of grass. Small sticks and rocks littered the ground, making a good resting spot hard to come by easily.

"I guess we're gonna have to dig something out for us to sleep in," Aris replied, "I - uh - think the two otters are fine up on the cart, so we only really need to work on making spots for us. I brought blankets for us, but they aren't very big. Well, relatively. Yours is - um - kind of huge."

Walaski laughed. "I think you'll have to do most of the work. These hooves ain't much good at clearing sticks."

"Torren'll help!" Reya volunteered.

"Ok!" Aris sounded relieved. He'd just walked the whole day alongside the cart. Even with whatever kind of physical training he'd had when becoming a ranger, she figured that he was pretty tired.

'Thanks Reya!' Torren signed, rolling his eyes sarcastically.

"What, you want me to help?" She replied innocently, waving a bandaged paw in front of his face.

'No, no... I get it...' Torren waved her paw away. He stood up, groaning, and hopped down to the ground.

It took around an hour for Aris and Torren to clear twigs and rocks out from a large enough space for both the horse and the beagle to sleep in. Walaski spent the time grazing the small bits of grass that grew where light filtered through the canopy. When he'd exhausted the grass close to the cart, he started to pull from a bundle of hay stuck in the cart.

"You're making me hungry," Reya said.

"Well, sorry to say but I'm not in charge of your food. You should probably be pokin' the two over there - not physically, I don't mean." That brought a laugh out of the small otter.

"Yeah, I was just saying, you know. So where're you from?"

"Lenwick. Should be back there in three days at this pace, I'd say."

"I'm technically from Lenwick too!"

"Whaddya mean?" The horse asked.

"Well, the town I'm from isn't really big enough to be recognized as a real government. I think its because they don't want to have to give us any real government positions or anything. Everything from the actual city up to our town is technically considered part of Lenwick. Its just in name only, though. We don't pay taxes; too expensive to travel four days to reach us to collect a pittance. Although, we don't really get any of the benefits either. Unless something seriously causes an incident, we're left to ourselves."

"Well, lived in Lenwick my whole life and I never knew that! Learn something every day I guess."

"Well, we don't really get talked about much, we do kind of live out on the edge of nowhere."

"That's the truth. I'm surprised you got the money for this here path. Looks like it's almost never used from what I see."

Aris butted in to answer for Walaski. "This was actually built almost a hundred years ago! Some official somewhere wanted to expand the kingdom's territory and figured that if he built the road, people would follow. It worked for a bit, but it didn't last."

"Yeah," Reya agreed, "there's not much farmland or anything up there that can't be settled cheaper than other places. The fields up there aren't very big, and can only support about five or six farmers working there. There's just not much opportunity up here."

"Why'd you and your mate choose to live up here then?"

Reya blushed furiously. She tried to say something, but a big lump in her throat kept words from coming out. Aris answered for her.

"Uh - Torren's not her mate."

"Oh, sorry 'bout that. Honest mistake! You two seem pretty close." Reya could definitely see how the horse could think that she and Torren were together. She thought of her cuddling with Torren... He was just being supportive! She had trouble sleeping alone, and he knew that! At least she thought he did. She was sure that she'd told him at one point.

The small otter instinctively curled herself against the wall of the cart, away from where Torren had been. Silence dropped across the group for a minute.

"Well, I'm thinking that it'd be nice to get some sleep," Walaski spoke.

"Yeah," Reya said quietly.

Torren hopped back up to the cart with Reya, he and Aris had only cleared out enough space for the beagle and horse to sleep somewhat comfortably on. Torren wouldn't fit, as much as he might have wanted to avoid the awkwardness of sleeping next to Reya after Walaski's mistake.

He meekly pushed himself against the opposite end of the small space from her, but there was barely enough room to separate the two. Reya's tail was curled around and behind the bigger otter. She could feel every breath he took; his soft warm fur pushing gently against her tail. Her face only grew hotter with embarrassment. After a moment, he broke the embarrassed air of silence between the two.

'Don't let it bother you... It was just a... a misunderstanding. Ok?' Torren smiled nervously. He was right of course, Reya thought.

"It... um," Reya whispered, trying not to let Aris or Walaski hear, "it's OK. I'm not... _bothered_by it. It's just - you know - pretty embarrassing. You're a good friend, I don't mind having to correct them if I get to keep you as a pillow."

Torren grinned. 'I think that's a fair deal.'

Reya fell asleep before long, her head pushed up against the warm body of the spotted otter next to her.