Arizium

Chapter 12

They used the river for drinking and washing, but never at the same exact time. Wolf had to bathe apart from the rest of them for obvious reasons, which he didn't mind. If they respected him, he respected them. Luckily the river winded dramatically here and there, the curves made it easier for them to bath at the same time and still maintain privacy. He watched as the river lugged lazily along in the moonlight and shivered unconsciously, knowing that the water would be numbingly cold.

He took a deep breath and stripped down. The breeze was colder than it had seemed moments before. He waded towards the middle of the water, the current churning around him slowly, tugging ever so slightly. The river wasn't very wide, maybe fifty feet, the deepest being in the middle, and it only went up to his chin there. His teeth chattered together slightly as he willed his body to accept the sudden change in temperature. He dove under the surface and swam around, hoping to warm up his blood.

Swimming is a similar feeling to flying, maybe as close to flying as a human can get, but instead of cutting through air, you cut through water. I wish that I had an aquatic animal that shared my soul; I want to experience their thoughts and emotions. Fish brains must be extremely diverse from those of mammals. Why do none of us resonated with an underwater creature? Maybe it has something to do with drastic habitat differences. He pondered. Is it possible to change your soul resonance, to completely change your essence and become a different person? People change all the time, but does their soul change with that as well? Or does your soul depict what you were, are, and will be? His head started throbbing. There are too many unanswered questions, and no way to find the answers.

My whole existence is based around my wolf and me, it's as if we have always been one being. He could feel her, her heart beating, her urge to hunt and kill, her smell of the forest, her loyalty, everything. I'm almost certain that the feeling is mutual, as I never have to call out to her when I'm angry, she always came to my aid at the slightest inkling of unhappiness. A personal bodyguard....

Wolf's lungs burned and spots of black dotted his vision suddenly, he hadn't realized that he had been underwater this entire time. He immediately broke through the surface and gasped for air. Maybe it's good that I'm not linked with a fish, I'd never be able to get close to them.

"I was beginning to think that you had drowned." A voice made him jump and look around for the source, Phoenix was sitting on a boulder next to the river.

Wolf blushed heavily "Uhm, a little privacy, please?"

"Oh please, it's nothing I haven't seen before." She responded casually as a smile tugged at her mouth.

Wolf's invisibility activated without him even realizing it as he said abashed "You... you... what?!"

"Never mind that," Phoenix said "I came here to check on you, and then I find you half drowned, I was on the verge of pulling you out of there myself."

Wolf hesitantly took down his field, knowing that it was probably too dark for her to see anything anyway. He sent a silent "thank you" up to the heavens that he had snapped out of his thoughts before Phoenix could... intervene.

"It was just my thoughts taking over." He explained.

She crossed her arms and asked "Why do you think so much, anyway?"

Wolf shrugged and replied "I'm not sure. There's a certain sanctity of my thoughts that makes me feel safe, I suppose. I don't know." he rubbed the water onto his arms. It was still freezing cold, but he had become at least slightly numb to it at this point. A silence stretched between them as he scooped water over his jet black hair and gave it a ruffle.

After a while, he blushed yet again and said shyly "Um, would you mind heading back to camp now?" Phoenix opened her mouth to protest, but then realized his motives for asking. She nodded, hopped off of the boulder, and strolled back towards the camp. He breathed out heavily and waded back to shore, stepping out was just as bad as getting in, he reflected as the cold night breeze chilled the cold water droplets that clung to his skin and hair. His teeth chattered loudly as he shakily got dressed. It was difficult to lace up since his fingers were still numb and refused to respond, after a while though, they finally obeyed.

He looked around for his shirt that he had had lying next to all his other clothes when he got in, but it was nowhere to be found. He shivered, hugged himself, and frowned, the wind was really, really cold. Phoenix must have snatched it when she came looking for me. He sighed, what happened to respect? I don't steal their clothes when they need them, I think.

He activated his field and walked back up the hill towards the camp. With any luck, his shirt would be away from Lynx so he could easily just grab it and go. Lynx seemed to have the sharpest ears, especially with her lynx, Cutie, to listen through. They seemed to be discussing how to deal with the strangers, since they were sitting around the fire and surrounding the bodies. The fire seemed so welcome in Wolf's cold state, but he couldn't risk getting too close. He had to think tactfully, intelligently.

Thankfully he had entered far away from where Cutie was sleeping curled up on Lynx's lap, now he just had to stay out of sight. The fire light could reflect off of his field by a mischance, so shadows seemed to be a better option than sneaking directly in front of their noses. He slid from shadow to shadow, which wasn't that difficult with the giant light source only a couple feet away to cast plenty of them.

Somehow he managed to make it to Phoenix's home without being spotted or detected by anyone, he let out the breath that he hadn't realized he had been holding as he skimmed the room.

It had to be somewhere in there. He searched through the trunk at the foot of the bed, and found nothing.

The dresser? Nothing.

Maybe it's under the bed. Nothing there either.

He sighed and sat on the edge of the bed thinking about other pla- "Looking for this?" A voice said from the door.

Wolf gasped and immediately went to activate his field, but soon realized that it was already active. He cocked his eyebrow cautiously, Phoenix must be bluffing, she surely didn't know that he was there completely. She was leaning against the door frame, twirling his green wool shirt in her hand.

Wolf got up slowly and stepped carefully towards her, careful not to make a single sound. As soon as he was inches from her, he snatched the shirt and ducked under her arm to run away. She smiled and chased after the sound of his footsteps, there was no way she would let him get away that easily. It was still really, really cold outside, and Wolf was completely numb. You could probably chop off my hand and I wouldn't feel it. He wagered.

He made it to the river and pulled the shirt over his head, deactivating his field as he did so. Phoenix finally caught up to him and grinned "I knew you were in that room. Good tactics, I must admit. Could have been better, though."

Wolf nodded at her and went to walk back towards the camp. Phoenix ran in front of him, stopping him in his tracks, a smile tugged at her lips ever so slightly when he yelped. "Woah woah woah, where are you going so fast there?" She asked and poked his chest.

Wolf realized with a start that she was getting uncomfortably closer to him. Her orange eyes glittered in the moonlight as she gazed at him with... love? "You know," She breathed "I kind of like you better shirtless." She went to close the gap between them, but Wolf pushed her back sharply as instincts kicked in, she fell on her back with a dull thud and looked up at him with hurt in her eyes.

No no no no no no. He thought. Confusion and sadness whirled through his head as he bolted away from her and into the forest.

(A/N: Awww poor Wolfie, he hates that girls fall all over him.)