Swift ran the pack grounds, fur rippling in the winds as she took to the trees. She stalked the native people from above, watching as they went around their typical routines.

Kiri landed heavily beside her. "Hey Swift." He nuzzles down next to her, "Stuck on watcher duty again huh?"

"Definitely, though I'm beginning to enjoy watching them. They have a pack structure, some hunt, others gather." She points at one of the young ones, "They already know how to hunt, though it does take them months to learn. They may even be a type of intelligent life."

"Like us?" Kiri asks,

"Oh no, not like us, but smart in a stupid way. Watch." She points again, "That young one keeps trying to sneak away. She wants to bring back a meal for her family. "

"Is that safe?" Kiri asks, watching the child struggle to hold a spear.

"Not at all. Her family keeps telling her to wait, but her dad is not here today, and her mother is caring for a younger child right now." Swift begins to follow the child, "Take my watch for a few please Kiri."

She quickly slunk through the branches, nary a leaf falling as she tracked the child. The young girl came to a nearby river and crouched, spear overhead as she waited for fish by the fast flowing water.

Swift snaked her way down the branches, quick as a whip. She crouched on the opposite side of the water, slithering her way forward until she could slip under the water.

Swift grabbed a rock from the riverbed, holding it close to her chest and watched as the little girl attempted again and again to catch a fish. The child muttered under her breath as she attempted one last thrust into the water, a large branch catching her spear and dragging her in with a great splash.

Swift dropped the rock, bolting to the river overhang as the child struggled in the current. Quickly both child and spear were swept downriver towards open water.

Bladen nudged her mind, "Go get the kid, kitten, she won't live if you don't."

Swift sighed, "Won't she try to attack me?"

"I doubt it, she's as terrified as you were when you were washed away from the homeland. Wouldn't you have wanted someone to save you if that was an option back then?" Bladen paced in her mind, eyes focused on where the child had vanished, "We have to hurry Swift, please."

Swift nodded to herself and began to swim with the current, "Yes, I would've. Why must we hurry?"

"Never-mind that." Bladen points their eyes in the right direction, "There! Do you see her?"

"Yep I do,"

The girl squeaks, her cries desperate as she breaks the surface again. "Bladen, how do I grab her without hurting her?"

Bladen growls softly, shoving Swift aside in her mind. He wraps himself around the little child, holding her steady above the water.

Swift frowns at him, "Why are you so desperate to help her?"

"Swift, I was powerless to keep you safe when you were washed away. I am not letting this kit die while you prattle on with idle questions." Bladen snarls. He lashes their tail, small feet splayed wide as he strikes out for shore.

The girl clings desperately to their throat, soft sobs heartbreaking to their ears. Water swipes them further aside, bashing them against a rock. She is jarred aside, away from their grip.

Swift gasps, "Bladen! Give me control, please?"

Bladen fights the body, trying to reorient himself. He growls and steps back. "Fine."

Swift grabs control, shifting the body. She slips into an aquatic form, darting forward around the girl again. She shifts back, grabbing the girl by her shoulder, taking care not to break skin. She tightens her grip and dives.

"Swift, what-"

"Shhh."

Swift digs her feet into the rocky floor and launches herself straight up. Barely clearing the water she scrabbles to grab a branch above her.

Kiri catches her by the scruff, pulling her up onto the branch. "Miss me?"

"Kiri! Thank you." She scrambles to find her balance, dragging the child with her. "Can you help me get her to shore? Please?"

Kiri reaches for the girl but pauses when she flinches away with a whimper. "I don't think she'll let me."

Swift glances at the bank and bobs her head as she prepares to jump. "I don't think I can make this jump."

Bladen directs her eyes higher, "Go up. That branch should get you close enough."

"I don't want to hurt or drop the girl though." she murmers, "Or terrify her more then I already am. If I take her up she's going to think I'm taking her away to eat her."

"And if you don't you run the risk of falling in again Swift. Come on. Just get her to shore quickly."

Swift nods to herself, making the kid yelp in fear. She jumps upwards, accidentally hitting the girl off the branch and nearly falling off herself. She steadies them, the branch trembling as she carries them over the land. Two more quick jumps, jarring and unpleasantly landed, and she releases the girl with a gentle lap over her shoulder. She sits and watches the child.

"Do you think she's ok?" She asks Bladen.

The child rubs her shoulder with a shiver, she coughs up a great load of water, trembling fiercely.

Bladen tilts his head. "I think she'll be fine."

Swift stands again slowly. "Kiri, are you still here?"

"Yep."

"Is my patrol covered or am I going to be accused of deserting?" She approaches hesitantly, her movements slow but not in a predatory manner.

"Uhhh, I was patrolling over here?"

The little girl leans away from Swift, fear in her eyes.

"Can you go back please? I don't want to get in trouble. Again." Swift stops. She steps back and walks away.

"Are you seriously going to do this?" Bladen asks rather skeptically.

"If I said no, would you believe me?" She grins back at him, tail tip twitching as the

"Not a chance."

"Then yes. She was very brave and is still being brave. She deserves to make her people proud."

"You are a very sweet kit. Let me take your biped form." Bladen offers.

Swift stares at him in shock, "Wait what?"

Bladen laughs as he takes over the body seemlessly. They shift with ease, snapping a stick off a tree as they pass. "We can take any form we please Swift. This is the biped form you'll use."

He directs their eyes to the reflection forming in a small puddle nearby. A young girl, maybe 12 stares back. Her eyes a pale blue with raven black hair, she smiles at herself.

It's really pretty Bladen. But can we even catch a fish like this?" She tilts her head inside their mind, watching the body closely.

"Should be able to. If we fall in we can just shift to my form and try again." Bladen points out.

"Why can't we just catch it like that first?"

Bladen sits, wrapping his tail around his feet. "If we do that then the fish has animal marks on it. It could endanger us. We already have to check the girl for puncture marks when we return."

Swift jumps down into the shallows, stick held at the ready. "Bladen do you know how do you catch a fish like this?

"Nope! We're winging it Swift." He laughs.

"We are going to stab ourselves." They take aim and stab downward as a fish swims by.

She slips, feet sliding out from under her as they go under the water. She laughs madly as Bladen attempts to stand them up again. "Shut up child." He growls.

She laughs harder, gently nudging him aside. "I got this old man. Back up."

She stands again, watching the fish around her feet. She kneels, closing her eyes, her hands drifting with the current. A thin ribbon of ice trails away from her hands, spreading, branching and breaking with infinite finesse.

Bladen watches her with wide eyes. "Ice. Are-"

Swift silences him with a glance.

They swirl around her body, crossing and interlocking around the fish at her feet.

She laughs in joy, standing sharply. Fish flail in her woven nest of frost. She hops out onto the banks, "See! Told you I had a better way."

She grabs a new stick and quickly spears a fish before shifting back and trotting back to the little girl with it.

The girl hadn't moved, still shivering. She flicks her hands in rapid movements as Swift approaches.

Swift sets the fish down nearby. She tilts her head, "Is she trying to communicate?"

"I think so Swift."

"Well how do I communicate back?"

"I don't know. I can't even understand her."

Swift reaches out to the girl, gently brushing against her mind.

She reels back into her own. "She's so young Bladen! And scared."

"Reassure her then. We are no danger to her."

"How?" Swift asks, already reaching out to the girl again.

"You know how." Bladen replies

Swift traces the girl's mind with a sense of comfort and reassurance.

She collects the fish and stick again before approaching carefully. She chirps playfully at the girl.

The girl reaches out cautiously. She flinches away in fear before brushing a hand over Swift's ears. She let's out a shocked giggle and buries her hands against Swift's face.

Swift pulls back slightly, her ears flattening. "Uhh."

Bladen laughs. "This is her being excited by how soft and fluffy you are."

"Oh! Ok." Swift steps closer and leans against the girl. "She is very tiny. Maybe we should give her all the fish."

"Do not show her the ice." Bladen warns.

The girl laughs harder and buries her face into Swift's side. She murmurs something unintelligible into the fur.

Swift speaks directly into the girl's mind, "Hm? I don't quite understand you."

The girl pulls back to stare at Swift in shock. She pokes the big cat in the nose before twisting her hands in an intricate pattern in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand if you think it I can probably hear you." Swift suggests hopefully.

"I don't think she can understand you either Swift. I have a feeling we are thinking in a different language too." Bladen points out.

She heaves a sigh and drops the fish in the girls lap. She nudges it with her nose before nuzzling the girl's hands.

The girl looks between the fish and the big cat with a frown of puzzlement. She makes a gesture to go with her face.

Swift chirps again before nudging the fish and her hands.

The girl looks between the fish and Swift. She taps the fish and makes a gesture.

Swift taps the fish again and tilts her head.

The girl nods rapidly repeating the gesture happily. She then points at Swift.

"Me? She wants to know how I say fish?" Swift asks Bladen.

"Yep." He agrees.

"Fish." She whispers against the girl's mind.

Out loud she spoke, her words a soft growling rumble. "Fish." She places a paw on it.

The girl drags her close and hugs her. Swift leans back, her chest fluffed out. She starts gesturing again, repeating the fish sign and tapping it.

Swift pulls away completely, trotting aside to where she left her net. The now dead fish lay between melted ice. She scoops another one and returns to the girl, placing the fish down on her legs. "Fish."

She steps further back, ears flattening, "Bladen, someone approaches."

"Vanish Swift. Hide. Now!"

Swift bolts, vanishing up a tree. She stares down, hidden in the branches. Only her emerald eyes glinted through the branches.

Bipeds dart from the trees, a female grabbing the young female in a tight hug. Swift sighs. "Bladen, why couldn't my mother have done that for me instead of giving up?"

Bladen rubs against her, "I'm sure she does love you Swift. She's just the leader. She can't drop everything."

"Why not? Aren't I as important as her people? Couldn't she at least send her people to search?" Swift asks, voice cracking slightly as she watches the family below her.

"She did. They didn't think you could live through that. No other could've. They would've drowned and stayed dead."

"But I've reached for her Bladen! Why does she ignore me? Doesn't she want me back?"

Swift blinks back tears as she watches them scoop the girl. The fish are dropped and left in the dirt.

"Let's go back to patrol Bladen." She sighs.

Bladen refuses to let them move. He watches the clearing hopefully, begging the little girl to come back.

The male steps back into the clearing, older but definitely not adult. The one who'd been charged with watching the girl. He glances around, his eyes brushing over Swift's hiding place. His eyes meet hers, quickly brushing past before snapping back.

She glanced up, Shylo hovering above them, drool pooling around his teeth. He smiled down at the male.

The male, Brother she decided, bolted away with a gasp, crashing through the woods with little stealth as screams filled the air.