Little Crow had only tracked a little further north – the fog seemed to clear up a little, but the exchange was hardly a good one. Visibility was exchanged for a limited range of motion, rushing water beneath. Fishing was one thing, she could wade through the water that wasn’t moving, looking for little flashes of silver or bronze, but this? This would require swimming. Like actual swimming. Like practice at swimming and holding your breath and knowing what you were doing.

It meant the loner was paying a little more attention than she had been before, to where her feet were, what was in front of her nose. It meant, when someone yelled, Namir didn’t go jumping straight out of her skin and into the river.

The wolf broke into a lope, hurrying up the bend before spying a tangle of legs and limbs in the churn of water and air. For a moment, Little Crow froze. What was she supposed to do? She damn well couldn’t swim – why should she risk herself for a total stranger?

But if she didn’t, would this lady drown?

Maybe if she did, the lady would owe her one.

Yeah, she’d go with that, ignoring the uncomfortable squirm in her chest as she leaned as far as she dare. “Hey! Hey lady! Y’want any help?”

Of course the lady wanted help – want a dumb question to ask. Little Crow gave herself a little mental kick, eyes flicking back and forth as she looked for something, anything to help get the woman out of the whirling waters. Her tail lashed as she followed the other wolf, making sure she didn’t lose sight of her – it wasn’t moving super fast, but enough that she didn’t wanna leave long enough to lose the stranger altogether.

The wolf huffed softly, unable to find anything like a bridge, or some stones; it was only sheer luck the tawny young female found a very large stick on the banks. Little Crow raced forward, pausing only long enough to shout at the soaked loner in the water. “Grab hold an’ ‘ll pull, okay?!” With no other instruction, the young wolf grabbed hold of the large branch, she shuffled sideways, awkwardly, shoving the large stick out into the middle of the open water.

Would the other wolf be able to grab it, maneuver herself enough in the current to aim? Namir wasn’t going to be able to get it out much further without falling in herself.

But what else could she do?

Come on, grab it, lady!

She might have rolled her eyes when the older wolf agreed, but Little Crow was far too focused on making sure she didn’t let go to be sarcastic or snappy. The stick, which didn’t feel that heavy at first, seemed to weigh more and more as time dragged on, each little breeze tugging on her and straining her neck. Her tail whipping behind her furiously, as if it might help keep her upright. Ugh! Her neck hurt! She clenched her jaw harder, about to pull back and look for another option when the other wolf finally caught the stick and hung on.

Namir almost tumbled right into the water after her. The older wolf wasn’t that much bigger (she might not have been bigger at all!), but it was still a surprise. Wheezing through her nose, the bandit slowly started to back up, each slipping step slow and painstaking before she pulled the pack wolf close enough to the shore that her feet might touch the bottom. Still, she didn’t let go until Water Wolf was able to actually get to shore (it’d be stupid to let go and let all her hard work go to waste) and she did with a heavy sigh, whiskers pricking forward as she eyed the older wolf.

“Y’okay now?”

“Oh, well, that’s real good. Don’t blame ya. Ain’t never gone swimmin’, m’self. Seems like a weird place t’try, though.” Namir’s face slid into a wry grin as she took a step back, allowing the strange woman some space – it wasn’t like it was cold or nothing, but she didn’t really want to get splashed down with river water, neither. She might have asked why, or how, but it didn’t matter much, now that she was out, and solid.

Or something.

“Oi, now stop that, ma’am. I ain’t sayin’ nothin’ of th’ sort.” Oh heck no, none of this. She wouldn’t get paid back if this little lady started on with this self-depreciation bullshit! And Little Crow wasn’t real interested in doing good just for doing good (even if she really couldn’t stomach the idea of letting someone die just a few moments earlier). “Yer jes’ lil’. Like me. ‘er a lil’, uh, what did Mama call ‘em? Anna bird? Anna hummin’bird? Them Anna birds, yeah. Real lil’, zippin’ all over th’ place, but that didn’ make ‘em bad – just fit in places where them big birds didn’t. Like me. Like you.” She hummed, lifting her brows as she took a few more steps, waiting for the other wolf to follow her away from the water. “Why don’tcha tell me why yer out here anyways, Anna Bird? It ain’t real nice in these parts.”

Now, come to think, she was real pretty, like them Anna birds, too.