Hi, I thought I would extend some scenes that I thought deserved some more emotional content from the COAD series! I'm not sure how many of these I do but they won't be in any order. Please enjoy!

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Bale looked preoccupied as he scoured the cooking-skin with sand. He opened his mouth to say something, then shook his head and frowned. It wasn't like him to hesitate, so it must be important. Torak twisted a frond of oarweed in his fingers and waited.

'When you go back to the Forest,' said Bale without meeting his eyes, 'I'm going to ask Renn to stay here. With me. I want to know what you think about that.'

Torak went very still.

'Torak?'

Torak placed the oarweed on the fire and watched the flames around it turn purple. He felt as if he'd reached the edge of a cliff without knowing it was there. 'Renn can do what she likes,' he said at last.

'But you. What do you think?'

Torak sprang to his feet. Anger made his skin prickle and his heart bump unpleasantly in his chest. He stared down at Bale, who was handsome, older and part of a clan. He knew that if he stayed, they would fight, and this time it would be for real.

The pale-haired hunter looked up at him, meeting his eyes. They were as blue and steady as the depths of the ocean, silently waiting for his reply.

'I think that Renn can do what she likes,' he repeated at length, the tension in the air easing a fraction.

Bale gave him a look that said he wasn't convinced. 'You're sure don't mind?'

'Why would I mind?' Torak shrugged his shoulders, feigning nonchalance. He sat back down next to the fire, quickly deciding that running off would make him look like a child. Torak also knew that if he fled, Bale might suspect there was something between him and Renn.

'It's just that you and Renn...well you seem close. I didn't want to disrupt anything.'

'There's nothing to disrupt.' Torak said bitterly, thinking of Renn in this conversation made his heart quicken, but he knew that she could never return the feelings he had for her. She deserved someone who could give her a full, normal life. With him, she'd be clanless. He felt sick, but knew he had to stay.

Bale studied his face for a second, then went back to flinging oarweed on the fire. The driftwood hissed and crackled, casting their faces in pale washes of flickering light.

'She probably won't even accept me anyway.'

'She might. You're handsome, strong, and you've got respect in your clan.' Torak reflected miserably on his own absences as Bale's face brightened a little.

'Thanks Torak, I hope she will. But I can see her missing the forest, and you. And wolf.'

'You can always visit.' Torak couldn't believe what he was saying, but he felt numb and oddly detached from the conversation, as if it wasn't really happening. The reality of Renn not being at his side was incomprehensible.

'Yeah, we could,' he said thoughtfully. 'She's so beautiful isn't she?'

Torak nodded dumbly in agreement. The flickering fire reminded him wistfully of her long, flowing hair. He must have been stupid to think that no other men saw her beauty. To think that Bale noticed it especially made him feel unexplainably protective.

'I thought you would have noticed. That's what I thought when I first saw her. But she's so bossy and feisty as well. I like that, though not all men do. I think out here you need a girl who's tough.' Bale smiled to himself, no doubt imagining him and Renn's future together.

'When will you ask her?' Torak asked, his voice sounding strange, as if he were speaking from a great distance.

'Tomorrow after our watch is over. I was thinking of making her a shell necklace beforehand, and maybe bringing her some forest flowers. Do you think I should?'

'I'm not sure she's the flower type.'

'Have you ever given her any?'

'...No.'

'Then how do you know?' he grinned. 'All girls like flowers.'

In his mind, Torak saw her beaming at the gifts and blushing when he asked her to be his mate. He envisioned them embracing and smiling. His stomach flipped unpleasantly, again he felt like getting up and leaving, but he remained.

'Maybe she will like them then, with Renn it's hard to tell sometimes.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, she can be hard to read sometimes.'

'I think all women are like that.' He laughed a little and they lapsed back into thoughtful silence. Torak wished he could congratulate him whole-heartedly. With a sudden rush, he realised that by this time tomorrow he would be congratulating them together on their decision. Bale's family would be there, smiling and welcoming Renn to their family. Fin-Kedinn would be proud, hugging her goodbye and promising to be there for the joining ceremony.

Torak could see Renn telling him that they'd still see each other, and Bale insisting they would stay friends forever, but he knew that it would never be the same, he would be separate. He felt that as of tomorrow, he would be once again an outcast.

'I'm off' he said.

'Back to camp?' said Bale, studiedly calm.

'No.'

'Then where?'

'Just off.'

'What about keeping watch?'

'You do it.'

'Torak. Don't be -'

'I said, you do it!'

'Right. Right.' Bale stared at the fire.

Torak turned on his heel and ran to his boat.