Zedekiah walked towards the stream with a net in his hand. He walked forward in sheer determinism with slight hint of arrogance, loaded with narcissism.

"You fish!" He proclaimed. The vanity in his voice echoed dully off of the leaves. The leaves gave no applause. Neither did the wind huffed a chortle, even in sympathy at the squirrel. Even the water below seemed to mock him, allowing no counsel to plop its surface.

"I will have you. And then eat you." The river kept flowing. "You mock me?You shall be on my spit this night, tonight!"

Zedekiah tasted sourness in his mouth suddenly. He grimaced. "I don't remember eating my grandmother's stewed cucumbers."

Zedekiah waded into the shallow river. His pants were rolled up over his knees, but the water came up past his knees and soaked his thighs. He cursed and spat into the water. A few fish gathered around his spittle and nibbled. Zedekiah was rather rash at moments, especially in the face of a lack of dignity, but he had experience as a ranger and tracker. Given the boundaries of the newly formed Kingdom, there was much to be had by the expert. At least at that given moment in time, he considered himself an expert.

Zedekiah remembered the fish. He raised his net over the place swiftly but quietly. In a quick jerking motion, he sent the net down, around, and up wards. It was way too easy. Water splashed everywhere and got on his silk jerkin. It was threaded with pure gold. He paused for a moment in wonder. "Why am I wearing my best jerkin?"

He glanced down. His pants were, too, of similar quality. "My pants! They're… grand!"

Zedekiah looked up at his net. A head of a ferret was in it. He gasped, and it started to laugh and mumble something in a foreign tongue. Its mouth opened up wide and fish sprung out like bees from a hive. They ripped through the net, causing Zedekiah to drop it in shock. Zedekiah was instantly knocked over as the blast continued, and he fell back wards into a deep part of the apparently shallow river. Deceptive! He thought.

Zedekiah sought to stand up but he could not. Cords were wrapped around his feet. When he attempted to reach down to untie them, he found his hands were bound as well. As for the ferret's head, it bounded right next to his face and opened its mouth.

"I said, stopmocking me and speaking weird things!"

The dream faded rather quickly. Zedekiah realized, in a sudden flash of insight, that those words were not his. At least, the second time they were not. The water surrounding him turned into buckets of rain and the dark silt, dusk. Everything molded, fused, shifted, and melded from the bottom of a river to the edge of a clearing. He jerked his head and spat out the contents of his mouth. It was a rotten apple.

"Gosh dang it! Why'd your bitty head have to get caught in my net!"

Zedekiah's words stopped him short. He turned his head slightly to the left and squinted. He let out a quick, "What?"

Zedekiah gathered his composure quickly. "The very least you could have done is have a fresh apple, ferret! Don't you know anything?"

The ferret blinked. Zedekiah stared at him for a few seconds, unwavering in his fierce some gaze. The rain continued, peltering both. Zedekiah snapped suddenly. "Fetch me… a fresh apple!" The ferret hesitated, and pointed to a nearby tree. Its branches were heavy with the fresh, sweet fruit. "Now, dumb-face!"

The ferret did as he was commanded. At least, he fulfilled part until a neighboring apple on the same bough he chose from let loose two apples. One clocked his raised snout, causing him to hack and chortle. The second followed, knocking him out cold. He fell forward, with his arm still outstretched. The apple he managed to grasp rolled from his hand until it met the rock border of the fire pit. Zedekiah sighed an exasperated, vain sigh.

"What it takes for a beast to get his apple."

Thunder cracked overhead.