I made a mistake. In the last chapter, I called Reed's adoptive parents Kyle and Jayna. I should have called them Waterfall and Rapid. My mistake. Please ignore my typo. Their names are Waterfall and Rapid.

Chapter 8

Reed sat by the pond with Orca, the she-otter that had greeted her. She and Fingal had been here for a couple of days and, although she knew she had to keep going for Tide, she didn't want a reason to talk to Fingal. And this place was her heaven. It was beautiful, it was peaceful, and these otters were all like family to each other. She'd discovered that the females had red paint on their cheeks and the males had blue.

Orca had talked her into putting red on her face, though it really hadn't taken that much convincing. She loved everything about this place and the paint helped her feel part of it. Fingal had ever put paint on, probably for her. The things he was willing to do made her feel slightly bad for being angry but then she remembered that they'd been traveling together for months and he hadn't mentioned a thing. He let them lie.

"You could stay, you know," said Orca in her usual soft voice.

Reed looked away. "I know… I just… Mistmantle is my home…"

"Is it? Is that what you feel in your heart?"

Reed looked at her new friend and smiled. "No."

Fingal shook his fur, irritated. He thought Reed remembered what he told her when she was dying! He told her she was adopted! But no, of course she didn't remember! He kicked a rock angrily. If he lost her…

He sighed and looked at the river, staring at his reflection. The blue paint was on his cheeks. He did it for Reed. He'd do anything for Reed. He hesitated, thinking. Was that what love was? The willingness to sacrifice anything for someone?

"Fingal."

He jumped and spun around, hope flaring in him as he looked at Reed. For the first time in days, she was speaking to him. "Reed."

She hesitated. "We should go. I want to find that stone for Tide."

He smiled. "Thanks, Reed. Look, I'm sorry…"

"It's fine. Come on, let's get moving."

"I was worried you weren't going to come back home with me."

She looked at her paws. "Fingal… I'm not going back to Mistmantle."

His jaw dropped. "But…"

"They lied to me, Fingal. I don't blame you. You followed orders. But… I can't go back there and pretend everything's okay. It's not okay. It won't be okay. This place… I can learn about my mom, Fingal. And these otters… They really want me here. I feel something I've never felt before. I'm needed here…"

"You're needed back home," Fingal begged. He felt numb. Reed couldn't leave. Not now. Not now that he was realizing how he felt.

She smiled softly. "Not like this. Let's just find the stone. Tide's depending on us." She kissed his cheek and bounded off. He stared after her, feeling more alone than ever before.

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Next chapter, I'll have a snippet from Aaron and Padra's point of view. :)