FSE

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"Snowy," a soft voice reached me. It was a familiar voice, one that I knew was not threatening. Without the need to defend myself, I didn't respond much to it, rather resting a little bit more. "Snowy! Wake up!"

It did not seem that the voice would let me rest. Sleepily I opened my eyes. My tail blocked most of the view, being in my curled position but I could see that there was some light out. Not enough that would have signaled that the sun had yet risen but it was nearly there.

"Sleepy fox, hurry up or I'll eat all the food," again came the voice of Midnight.

Food? What food? My sleepy mind was slow to process the wolf's meaning. Looking beyond my tail, I saw Midnight knelt over me and he gently pushed my shoulder.

"All right, I'm awake," I groaned and slowly unraveled from my sleeping position. Sitting up, I glanced at Midnight and finally noticed something that he held in his paw with a slight tangy scent to it. "What's that?"

"Some kind of fruit, I found a bush of them nearby and animals were eating them," Midnight said. "Well, most of them. The bush has a lot on the inside that the animals couldn't reach. Anyway, I don't like them but I know you like fruit."

He held out the berries in his paw to offer them to me. In many ways, it reminded me of the first night that we met, when Midnight offered free bread to me.

With a slight smile I reached out and plucked some berries from his paw and gobbled them up. They were sweet and tart, and potent in flavor unlike many other berries that I have tasted before. "Wow, these are really good!"

Before I knew it, I had eaten all the berries from Midnight's paw and desired more. The wolf must have noticed that.

"I'll show you where I found them," Midnight said cheerfully. The ground rapidly descended making it a bit steep but Midnight did not have much trouble going down into the woods.

Allowing myself a moment to gain my bearings, I glanced around the setting now that I could see it well in the sunlight. The sun peaked over the mountains and signaled the start of the morning.

Behind me the cave was still bellowing out huge plumes of steam. The steam rose and was forming a thin cloud high above that was slowly being blown away. The rest of the hot water formed a stream that went straight into the woods, rapidly descending the mountain. The water was cooling the further it went away from the cave because its steam output lessened the further it went.

From here, I could really see across an entire valley beneath me. The mountains that I was on ringed around the entire valley, and in the distance I could see no end to those mountains. Each mountain peak was buried in heavy snow. I glanced back toward the cave and gazed up at the peak of the mountain that I was on, and had to strain my neck to look almost straight up. This mountain was exceptionally tall too, and the top was capped with snow.

Down in the valley I could clearly see the lake in the middle, and the island resting in the middle of that. The island was huge, covering most of the surface of what would have been the lake, but I could also see the markings of a city on the furthest point of the island. Even if we had a full moon cycle, I was not sure if we would be able to make it to that city it was so far away.

"Hurry up Snowy!" Midnight called from the woods. He must have realized that I was not yet following him.

I picked up my nearby clothes and held them in my arms as I stood up and followed Midnight. Descending down into the woods was not easy as I nearly fell forward at first, but taking slow steps it was not long before I reached more level ground. Midnight was waiting at the bottom for me.

"Come on, it's this way," Midnight said, turning to lead me in the search of this berry bush. "I woke up a while ago and was really hungry. I thought about what that big... creature said but if I don't eat meat then I will starve. I don't think I'll use traps though because that does not give anything a fair chance. Does that sound right?"

Whether Midnight wanted me to actually answer or not, I was not sure because he immediately continued. "Anyway, I heard some rustling and I followed the sound. I tried to stay really quiet but the animal must have heard me because it ran off. I chased it and caught it and I realized that that there is something that we don't understand, like that I was meant to catch it. That must have been what that creature was talking about."

It did say we had not yet experienced enough so there must be something else it wants us to learn, I thought as if it was obvious.

"I was curious about what it was doing with that bush so I went back to check on it," Midnight continued his storytelling. "It happened to have a lot of fruit on these vines. Us wolves don't like fruit too much it seems but foxes like you do, so I went back to the bush to see if I could find any fruit left. There must be a lot of animals that eat the fruit here because all the outside of it had nothing. I could only find some inside the bush, and it's all thorny so it pulled on my fur a bit. You're smaller so you can probably get where I couldn't, and where the animals couldn't reach."

It did not take long for us to reach the berry bush. I could smell the same fruit, very faintly in the bush. It was actually a bunch of vines that had wrapped around a smaller bush, which made it very dense; that and there were little tiny thorns on those vines.

I set my clothes aside and crawled under the vines that were tallest. Vines pulled at my fur, pulling out some of the white fur. I wasn't worried though because I was shedding that coat anyway. Inside the bush, I was able to see some of the fruits still growing on the vine; bright red as they were perfectly ripe. I reached out and pulled one free, surprised at how easily it slid off from the plant. I quickly ate it, feeling that tart and sweet taste flood my tongue once again.

Navigating the inside of the vines, I pushed them aside to reach more fruit, and often had to pull out and enter through another way. I managed to find plenty of the fruits, and it was not long until I felt a sensation I had rarely felt; my hunger was satisfied.

"--the whole ship caught fire," Midnight had not relented telling yet another story but I was lost in what he was saying. "All the Enes soldiers went back to their ship, and that was the only reason why Nervelli and I were to escape."

I wiggled out from under the bush again and sat down next to Midnight, licking around my lips at the little bits of berry juice that was stuck in my fur. The black wolf halted his story once I sat down next to him.

"Where's your stuff?" I asked, realizing that Midnight's clothes were missing. He was not wearing them but I at least had my clothes in a pile next to me.

"Near the stream," he answered, lying down on his back and staring up through the trees at the sky. "I lost my shield and sword though in that cave. I still have the dagger at least but I hope we don't come across anymore Enes soldiers."

I lied down with Midnight and stared up at the sky. I never wished that we would come across any of those reptilians that were so determined to kill us, but Midnight was right that now we were less prepared if we did come across any.

We fell down a mountain though, into a cave that was impossible to follow us through. Likely those soldiers that were chasing us think we're already dead. No one knew where we were at that moment, and that secret brought a lot of relief.

Neither did we have anything to do at the moment. Nirvelli was gone, and there was no one to lead us anywhere, no where to go, no adults threatening us, no adults telling us what to do; no hunger gnawing at us either. All the world worries that we once had were now gone.

"What should we do now?" Midnight asked. He must have been thinking the same thing I was.

Live, I heard the words of the creature echo in my mind. I glanced at Midnight who turned toward me. His orange eyes were as bright as ever. There was nowhere for us to go, we no longer had to be in Sirmiq to survive and there were no one else around.

"I don't know," I answered honestly. What was there for us to do?

"Let's go take a bath then," Midnight said, sitting up once again. "My body still hurts, and after everything that happened yesterday I feel like I need a bath."

"Okay," I agreed. Midnight pushed himself up to stand and headed toward the stream, where he must have left his clothes.

I stood and followed him.

Even though winter has barely just ended, I could feel that on this side of the mountain that the temperature was already warmer than what I was used to. Spring arrived earlier than normal here too, not only because the thorny vines were producing fruit but a lot of the foliage has already begun to bloom. Back in Sirmiq it would be another moon cycle or two before the foliage would be at this level.

Midnight led me to the stream that originated from the cave that we escaped from. Indeed his clothes were there in a pile, and the stream was actually now cool enough that it was good for a drink. I quickly satisfied my thirst, and followed Minight since he was leading us to follow the stream.

It did not take us long to come across a lake, that the stream was feeding directly into. The lake had a sandy shore but it was not very large, not when compared to the sea or many other lakes that I have seen.

I set my clothes on the grass that grew just beyond the sand. I took off the arm ring that I was still wearing around my arm and set it on top of the clothes and headed straight for the water.

In the warmer temperature, my body did feel a bit heavy with my winter coat still mostly on me. After the weeks of travelling, and yesterday's rain and snowstorm, along with everything that had occurred in the canyons and cave, the idea of a bath was appealing. I headed straight for the water and waded in.

"It's all shiny now!" Midnight exclaimed from the shore. I had only waded in the water that it only came up to my knees but I turned back to see Midnight. He had set his clothes down too, but he stopped at my pile. In his paws was now holding the arm ring that he had given to me in the ruins near Arktiline. With the bright and unhindered sunshine, it was easy to see how shiny the ring really was. "How did you do that? Remember when I gave it to you it was all orange and brown."

"It just turned that way one day," I admitted. "I don't know. Maybe it just turns shiny when someone is wearing it."

Midnight was holding the ring close to his nose, giving it a sniff and examining it carefully. His orange eyes were opened wide with curiosity as he stared at it. I did not know if he would want to keep it now that it is shiny. I didn't want to admit it but it made me nervous how interested he was in the arm ring now.

"Put it down," I nervously said. I did not want Midnight to think that I was being possessive or aggressive so I added lightheartedly, "You need the bathe so hurry up."

Midnight glanced up at me with those large orange eyes. He was confused for a moment before he smirked a bit. "I'm not going to take it. Here." He stretched out his arm and held out the ring for me to take.

I assumed he was offering it to me so I wouldn't have any doubts that he would try to steal it. The moment I took a step forward, my hindpaw landed on a smooth rock that had been concealed by sand that caused me to slip and fall forward. With a loud yelp, I braced to catch myself and landed on my paws and knees with a loud splash. Water, sand and mud splashed up from where my paws landed and covered my face.

My ears echoed the splash and my own yelp, but another sound reached my ears once the water calmed down: Midnight's laughter. I looked up and saw the black wolf laughing hysterically so much that he couldn't keep his eyes open or catch his breath.

"Haha! You're... ha, you're all covered in mud!" Midnight yelled through his laughter. He was hunching over as he tried to catch his breath but his hysterical behavior did not lessen.

So he thinks its funny to be covered in mud? I thought to myself, a sinister idea forming in my mind. I pushed my paws deeper into the mud, brought them together to scoop up a large amount of it. I felt a strange expression stretched across my muzzle.

Live.

Before Midnight could recover from his fit of giggles, I kicked off from the shallow waters holding the mud the best I could in my paws while I charged straight for the giggling wolf. Him being less than a few meters from me, I quickly closed the distance. I saw his tearful eyes open just in time and replaced with being giddy to one of shock.

"Whoa!" Midnight exclaimed and at the last second he dodged my mud attack and jumped to the side. I had prepared for the mud to go right on Midnight's head but when he dodged, I could catch myself and most of the mud slipped from my paws and hit the ground with a splat! "You almost got me!"

I missed, I thought. There is still enough mud on my paws though to get back at him. With my sinister grin still spread across my muzzle, I turned to look at Midnight. I slowly gathered as much mud as I could in one paw.

"Hey, don't," Midnight warned after his eyes noticed the movement of my paws. He understood my intention. "I will get you back." He honestly did not look concerned but was grinning as if accepting the challenge. He even still had the tears of laughter in his eyes.

The moment I drew my arm back and braced myself to sprint after Midnight, he turned and bolted the other way to flee with lighter sounds of laughter escaping him. With the slippery mud in my paw, I gave up on chasing the wolf and decided to chuck the mud as hard as I can at him. The mud was too slippery to stay formed in a ball, but the mud splattered across the distance between Midnight and me, and even a little bit impacted on the black fur of Midnight's back.

The wolf gasped at the sudden feeling of the wet, heavy impact on his fur and stopped in his tracks. He turned to look at me with shock in his eyes once again. "You got me! You know how hard it is to clean mud out of our fur!"

"Now we're even," I said triumphantly, my grin only growing larger.

"Not yet," Midnight said with confidence on his voice. His eyes changed from shock to sinister really quickly. He tossed the arm ring aside and stood tall. "I told you I'll get you back. Now it's time for your bath!"

The black wolf charged me suddenly and I barely had enough time to react and jump back into the shallow waters of the shore. While I ran toward the deeper water, I felt Midnight's body tackle me from behind and we both splashed into the water. The water was deep enough that I was instantly submerged and did not risk landing on the lake floor.

Midnight's weight was removed from me quickly which allowed me get my hindpaws beneath me and stand up, emerging from beneath the water. I was now completely drenched.

"Now you're all clean," boasted the wolf standing less than a meter away from me and closer to the shore where the water was shallower.

"You're still all muddy," I declared. With the wolf so close, I tackled him and we both fell back in the water this time with me on top.

Crashing on the shore, I pushed myself up off of Midnight. The wolf started to stand back up but hesitated a moment before he fully stood up. Rather than a little mud splatter on his back, it was coated in sand and mud now.

I win, I thought to myself feeling very triumphant and proud. I started to laugh seeing how much sand was now covering Midnight's fur on his back. "Now you're worse than I was!"

Midnight shook his body sending bits of sand flying through the air, but there was too much for him to simply shake off, especially since it was all wet. "I guess I really do have to bathe now. I'll take the ring with me."

Midnight went back to where he dropped the ring, picked it up from the sandy shore real quick and ran back into the lake causing large splashes.

"Hey!" I yelled and charged through the shallow water at Midnight. "That's mine!"

I had forgotten that the wolf was still holding the ring in his paws. With laughter the wolf moved deeper into the lake, and he was starting to have trouble moving quickly in it once the water was chest high for him. I chased but was having trouble closing on him because of the water too. The deeper in the water we went, the slower we were able to maneuver.

Being right behind Midnight, the water was up to my collar bone when I started to have trouble keeping my hindpaws on the lake floor. I pushed off the floor of the lake as hard as I could and dived at Midnight, grappling him around his shoulders. The moment he felt me dive on him, Midnight stretched out his arm to hold the ring as far away from me as possible. His hindpaws were barely touching the floor of the lake though so he quickly lost balance, and we both fell forward into the water.

I was still reaching for the ring while we were both submerged, but Midnight was able to find ground to stand on and lifted us both above the surface. I took a large fresh breath of air but Midnight still held the ring out of my reach, only just.

My paws no longer were touching the lake floor as I was putting my full weight on Midnight. I had one paw reached out for the ring while I used my other to stay steady and support myself on his shoulder. One of my hindpaws was pushing off of Midnight's back, just above his tail while I tried to get a knee on his shoulder that would give me enough reach to grab the ring but I kept slipping.

"Hey get off me you brat," Midnight laughed while he struggled to stay standing as I was climbing over him. He tripped once and was submerged up to his ears for a moment before he caught himself and was able to stand back up. That was all I needed though as I got my knee on his shoulder and was able to extend my body to compensate for my shorter reach. One of my claws finally hooked the ring. "No!" yelled Midnight breathing heavily beneath me.

The wolf tried to shake me off by rolling into the water. We both splashed again and once we were beneath the waves, I pushed off with my hindpaw that was pressed against Midnight's back and wrangled the ring free from his grip. Midnight immediately tried to gain a grip on me but he missed and I managed to avoid his paws.

Breaching the surface, I was able to take and breath and I desperately tried to swim back toward the shallower shore to get away from my pursuer. Midnight being taller than me was quicker to gain his hindpaws on solid ground again, which allowed for him to stay right on my tail. The moment I felt ground beneath my hindpaws again, I tried to run but the water provided a lot of resistance so I was going slower than I'd like.

Midnight's splashing was still behind me so while I gained traction as the water became shallower, I was able to sprint back onto shore and gain a safe distance from the wolf still in the lake.

"Ha! I got it!" I yelled, holding the ring above my head and turning back to Midnight. I realized that I was panting already, having been submerged several times and struggling with the stronger wolf.

Midnight was still knee-deep in the water. He looked a bit amused even though his expression had formed a scowl.

"I'll get it back," Midnight vowed still wearing a playful scowl. "Besides, you need another bath!"

I was certain all the mud was washed away already. It wasn't a sticky type of mud at all so how could any of it be still on me?

My answer came immediately as I watched Midnight kneel down to scoop up some mud. He didn't waste any time throwing it directly at me.

Instinctively, I flinched away from the throw but the mud scattered and splattered across the front of my body and little bits splattering across my muzzle and face. Once again I had mud covering me and was greeted with a triumphant chuckle from Midnight.

"Ha! That's not all," Midnight declared while he scooped up more mud with every intent to throw it.

"That's not fair!" I yelled with a slightly nervous giggle, but that did not stop the wolf from his intent. I spun on my paw pads and turned to run parallel to the shore, hopefully throwing off Midnight's aim. I sensed that he threw the mud but only felt a little pressure hit the fur on my tail. Luckily I managed to evade most of Midnight's muddy attack.

Splashing behind me signaled that Midnight was chasing after me, and it was very likely that he still had mud to use. A thought crossed my mind that a mud attack would be ineffective if I were already in water. Changing the direction I was fleeing, I started to run back in the water, sending splashes in every direction with each step of my hindpaws.

Running around the lake's shore, I stayed ahead of Midnight but the wolf had longer legs and I was not much faster than he was. It took no more than thirty seconds before I sensed that he was right behind me; he had easily caught up to me. Next thing I knew, I felt a large glob of mud impact on my neck.

The feeling of the cold weight smothering the fur on my neck was enough for me to freeze in place as chills were sent down my spine. I knew it was mud but so much of it on a vulnerable area of my neck gave me a creepy and disgusted feeling. Mostly because the mud on the lake floor was really slimy.

Midnight's laughter once again accompanied me being covered in mud. I felt his paws add to the weight of mud and he tried to smear it.

"Don't," I gasped, disgusted by the feeling of the mud weighing down my fur. I jumped away from the wolf and dived into the shallow waters, determined to wash the mud off the nape of my neck.

Splashing in the water, I felt most of the slimy mud slide off and the rest dispersed in the water. With my free paw I tried to scrub the back of my neck, hoping that it'll wash it all away. While I rolled in the water, I felt the ring in my paws suddenly slip from my grip has it was jerked away from me.

Pushing off of the lake floor and was able to break the surface again and shake my head of the excess water. The water wasn't deep because all I needed to do was kneel and my head and shoulders were still above the water. Standing not far from me I saw Midnight with his toothy grin and standing proud. His paws held up the ring that he successfully stolen from me in front of his chest.

"That was cheating," I complained. How could I get it back? It was difficult enough to get it the first time.

"No it wasn't," Midnight said with a giggle. "You attacked with mud, and so did I!"

"But you had so much more," I whined, still sour of having that mud on my neck.

"I know," he said and stuck his tongue out at me. "But I still win."

I sprung up suddenly and dived for the ring, but Midnight dodged instinctively and I only managed to crash into his shoulder. Midnight lost his balance and fell back on his tail with a large splash. I braced for my fall and landed on my paws, nearly falling on Midnight's legs that were beneath me.

The wolf pulled his legs out from under me and pushed himself up to flee from me once again. I quickly pushed myself up so not to give Midnight any lead on me.

"Come back!" I demanded, chasing the giddy wolf along the shore line once again. The wolf attempted to go deeper in the water, but this only slowed him down as it had before. Once he was deep enough that the water was at his ribs, he stopped and turned to face me. He must have realized that if he went any deeper, then I could dive on him again like before. Essentially I had him cornered.

Slowly I crept closer to the soaked wolf but he kept his distance and tried to get around me back to shallower waters by scuttling to the side. I cut him off each time and did not allow him any route to escape. Slowly I tried to get closer, close enough that I can dive at him and take the ring back.

When I was close enough to make my dive, I waited and watched every slight movement of Midnight, waiting for the opportune time to pounce. Midnight held the ring in his right paw, and he moved it under his left arm. Maybe he was trying to hide it from me, but that was my moment to strike. I could feel my grin widening.

That very moment Midnight threw his arm out and flung the ring right by me as it flew back toward the shore. I turned to watch the trajectory of the throw, and saw it land safely back on shore where the sand was dry. Midnight gave a triumphant chuckle.

He may have bought himself some time but I was closer to the shore than he was. Turning as quickly as I could, I tried to sprint back toward the shore.

Hardly half a step in, I felt paws grip me on either side of my waist and pull me back toward Midnight. The wolf paws' pressure disappeared on my waist but before I could escape, I felt his arms enclose around my waist and he pulled me tight against his body. Suddenly I felt the ground fall beneath my hindpaws with Midnight using his entire body to hoist me up and mostly out of the water. Lifted in the air, Midnight held me there just for a moment. Unable to move, with my body pinned back against Midnight's, my hindpaws were barely touching the surface of the water. Before I could even think to try to wiggle free, a sense of vertigo overtook me as Midnight let gravity take over and fell back carrying me with him.

Both of us splashed back into the water and with Midnight's body being a pivoting point, I splashed into the water head first. Tail over head, I rolled weightless in the water and was completely disorientated. With some paddling, I managed to steady myself after a few seconds by having my hindpaws reach the lake floor. I pushed off the floor and broke surface, inhaling a breath of fresh air. I tread on the surface of the water for a moment and that was when I saw Midnight was already two meters away and heading straight for the ring on the shore.

The tricky wolf threw me over himself, placing me further away from the shore than him. That is why he had thrown it even though I was closer to the shore. I'd have to use more drastic measures in order to beat Midnight. I could not let him gain any more distance from me.

Before Midnight was too far from me, I immediately started to chase after him. With his head start, I had to catch up. He reached the shore, his fur dripping liters of water, but my opportunity came when Midnight leaned down to pick up the ring. I dived on Midnight and landed on his back, wrapping my arms around his collar bone and my legs around his waist. Midnight fell forward but caught himself with one paw so he kept himself from landing hard on the shore.

"You little gray fox, I am not a tree!" Midnight laughed as he stumbled to stand up. I giggled with the black wolf, placing my jaw on his shoulder while I held on to him tight. "Let go."

I shook my head and giggled a bit. "No, not until you give me back the ring."

Midnight tried to take a step but he still had trouble compensating for my weight. Both of us were soaked and still dripping water, we were a lot heavier than normal. Midnight tripped and I fell with him with a huff but I still refused to let go.

"Okay then I dare you to stay on my back," Midnight said, having his own ideas. Being on his paws and knees, it was easy for him to roll over, both of us crashing in the wet sand but he rolled over enough that I was now pinned beneath him on the shore. I now felt the full brunt of Midnight's weight on my body. "Let go!"

"No!" I giggled, still refusing to release my grip of Midnight. Being pinned under him, his weight made it a bit more difficult to breath and my voice sounded a bit muffled. "Give me the ring."

"Ha! No way!" Midnight refused. Even though with my fur full of water, Midnight was still strong enough to roll us over once again. He nearly risked rolling over my tail so I kept it tucked between our legs so it wouldn't be rolled on. He pushed himself up to his paws and knees trying to stand again but it didn't work. "You're so heavy."

Crawling toward the lake, it wasn't long until the water was reaching me. Once it was a little bit deep, I start to feel the affects of being weightless in water, which in turned made Midnight stronger as I was no longer weighing him down so much. It did not take long before he had submerged us in meter deep water, which took enough weight off of him that he was able to stand up once again.

"Let's see who can hold their breath longest," Midnight challenged. With that he dived in the water, submerging both of us. Under the water, I felt my body trying to rise back toward the surface but I held to Midnight who anchored us both down.

Several seconds passed before I started to feel the desire to take a fresh breath but for the sake of winning I had to ignore that desire until the last possible moment.

With my lungs starting to burn, I cracked my eyes open. I only had to hold on to Midnight until I stole the ring so hopefully I could get it soon and go backup for air.

The wolf had curled up though, seemingly to protect the ring and there was no chance for me to steal it back. I would not be able to hold my breath for much longer.

Closing my eyes again, I held onto Midnight tight just waiting for him to push us back up so we both could get fresh air. The aching in my lungs began to overwhelm though that I had to at least let some air out. Slowly, I exhaled sending bubbles back toward the surface and it slightly relieved the ache in my lungs.

I felt Midnight start to twitch slightly as he was reaching his lung capacity. Finally the wolf reacted by suddenly pushing his hindpaws to the lake floor and springing off. In that moment that he rushed toward the surface, I opened my eyes and saw the ring still held in his paw. I let go of the wolf finally, and grabbed hold of the ring, taking it from Midnight's grip. The wolf didn't even fight as he was desperate to get fresh air.

Now with victory in my paws, I also pushed off the floor of the lake. I hadn't realized that we drifted toward the deeper areas of the lake so that not even Midnight could stand on the floor.

I broke the surface and sucked in as much fresh air as I could on one breath. The bright sunlight seemed much brighter than before now that we had been under the water for nearly a minute.

"I did--" I didn't have a chance to celebrate my victory when Midnight had dove down on me, sending us both back beneath the waves. I saw his toothy grin the moment before we were submerged, as Midnight was not at all deterred.

I protected the ring by holding it close to my chest, and brought my hindpaws up to brace them against Midnight. I pushed off of him, managing to shake loose and headed directly for the shore. Running through the water the moment I felt my hindpaws touched solid ground.

With the sun high in the sky above us, I turned to see the soaked wolf standing in the water thigh-deep, staring at me with a look of determination to win this little game.

I could not help but to giggle as he stared at me, bracing to charge while I braced to flee.

"Come get it!" I dared the wolf. Provoked, the wolf did not hesitate to charge and I reacted at the same moment to flee.

Slowly the sun sailed across the sky while Midnight and I splashed, laughed and played. Everything that I had once worried about seemed to be not big of an issue when I could have fun, for the first time in my life, in this tiny part of the world. Here, away from the cities, away from the adults, away from the reptilians was a precious life.