Kael was out of the water before the roar finished echoing.
He snatched his loincloth off the moss and knotted it at his hip in one rough jerk. Water streamed from his hair down his back. He didn't seem to notice.
Ren scrambled up the bank after him. "Kael. Wait."
"He is hurt."
"I know. I heard." She grabbed her dress and yanked it over her wet head. "We said tomorrow."
"He did not sound like that yesterday." Kael's ears were turned toward the trees and didn't move.
Far off, softer now, came a second sound. A low, broken groan that cut off halfway.
Then nothing.
Ren looked at the black wall of the forest. Then she looked at Kael's hands. They were shaking.
'Okay. Tomorrow is cancelled.'
"Fine," she said. "But we do this my way. You don't charge in. You don't yell his name. And we bring food."
"There is no food. You fed the village."
Ren opened her inventory and scrolled, just to be sure. Tubers. Greens. Honey. Two Sun-Burst Melons. Not one scrap of meat.
