Unsure what to say, I turned my fish over. I truth was, so did I. If I didn't win this fight, I'd be screwed, my parents would kick me out of the house. After a few more minutes of thought, I decided it was worth it. Sara deserved this fight, she had faced more challenges then I had. I had gotten here without deserving it.

Right as I was about to speak, she rushed on. "I mean, you don't have to. You've worked just as hard for this fight as I have. You deserve this just as much as I do. You just asked, and well...I had to be honest."

"I was actually about to say that you deserve it more then I do. You should win." I said. "Though we'd have to be careful make it seem far."

"Yeah, you're right." She said, her eyes unfocused and lost in thought.

We started strategizing a way to get her to win, while convincing the crowd it was fair. We decided to train fighting right now while we still had some light from the fire. After much sparring and rolling around, fighting for dominance, we finally grew tired and the fire had almost completely been extinguished.

"I'll take first shift, you rest up. I'll wake you up at first light." I told her, even though I was planning to stay up the whole night.

She muttered a quick "okay" and was off into a deep sleep with a quiet light snore, letting me know she was still there. To keep me awake I kept my mind rolling and my paws busy, whether it was cutting off pieces of bark and branches to build a fire or fishing, I was going to stay up. I wanted to give her an honest edge on tomorrow's fight.

At first light I started another fire, this time I also made a few spits. I wanted to make sure that she would have plenty to eat whenever she woke up. As I skinned and cut up the first few trout, she woke up, wiggling her nose at the smell of food.

"Hungry?" I asked with a smile.

She gave a little laugh "Yeah."

"Good, these can be yours." I gave her the ones I had just cut.

"Thanks." Then after stuffing her face full of food. "Did you get any sleep in?"

"Nah, I'm okay though." Then with a laugh I said my favorite phrase my grandfather used to say all the time. "Sticks and stones can't break these bones, they have tried and failed way too many times."

She laughed. It was a cute kind of laugh, the kind that just made everyone's day brighter. "We'll see about that today."

I felt butterflies in my stomach. I don't know why, but I did, I'd never felt like this before.

"How did you learn to fish and build a fire?" She asked.

"My grandfather taught me when I was just a kitten." My voice cracked, I hope she didn't notice.

"He must have been a good man to teach his grandson how to live in the wild." She said.

I looked her in the eyes, I felt calm, and warm inside, as if I just ate one of grandmother's gooey chocolate chip cookies fresh from the oven. I don't know what it was about her eyes, but they seemed to just make everything better. "Yeah, he was."

"Do you know what time it is?" She asked. I was grateful for the change in topic.

"Um, yeah, it's looks like it's about 7:30, give or take a half hour." I said looking at the sun.

"How do you know?" She asked, really confused.

"Well, if you look at the sun it'll tell you. These days the sun has been coming up around 6:45, give or take 5 minutes. Since it is now at about 35o above the horizon it should be around 7:30, give or take a half hour." I explained.

"Wow, that's much more complicated then just looking at a watch." She said with a little laugh.

I laughed too. "Yeah, well there are no watches in the woods."

"Fair enough." She was finishing her third fish. Females can eat a lot when they're hungry.

After a few moments of silence, I told her. "I miss the good old days."

She stopped eating and glanced at the pond, her eyes unfocused, while a smile tugged on the corner of her mouth. After a few minutes she spoke, making me realize I had stared to zone out thinking about the good times as well. "Yeah, it was fun, we had no real care in the world, we were free to do whatever we wanted...I miss it as well."

"Yeah, I wish we could go back, I have so many things I wish I could change." I said after a moment of thought.

"Me too." She agreed in a sad tone, making her voice twice as low as it once was so long ago. I can still hear her voice when she would call my name as I was leaving, she'd give me this smile that just lit up my entire world, making even my worst days, the days I smiled the most. After her father died, I don't think I ever truly smiled again until now, because once her father died, I never saw her again.

I glanced up at the sun once more, guessing it's around 9. "We better start heading back before people start asking questions."

"Yeah, you're right." She said halfheartedly.