“I’m fine. Thanks. And it’s this way.”

  Waking from my stupor, I loosened the two girl's grip on me as I accelerated to lead the way to the ford. Sarra had dragged us off the correct orientation while I had zoned out. We ran silently a little longer till the ford came into view, and although we had lost sight of the Milling Air, the occasional glance the two sent backwards suggested that they couldn’t shrug off the feeling of being hunted. Well the magic circle was leaking a sinister aura, and this whole summoning shenanigan just gave me a bad feeling. The type of queasy feeling that sticks to you in the depths of your gut. Speaking of the deathly though…hmmm, it would be right next to the path we were planning to take…so I guess…I should go pay my respects…ah, I can’t take any more morbid thoughts. I pinched the sides of my face, refocusing on the current issues. 1*

  Wading past the last of the exotic undergrowth, I rushed to the edge of the riverbank, glancing along the stream whilst the other two made their way to where I was. Taking out the cooling fish from my cloth pack, I took a few chomps on it and assessed the river crossing. The river was crystal clear and under the river surface, I could see a relatively stationary school of tiny flying flea-fish lying in wait near the ford to ambush river crossers. However that shouldn’t present a problem if we spread the smell of flying piranha that we recently cooked, the school will mostly likely warily watch us pass. The fish had been trained to run from the smell by the nature gods themselves. *2

  Blanching a bit at the characteristic undercooked fishy taste, I heard snapping branches behind. Shiara, was probably breaking her way through more shrubbery. Would it kill her to save some energy and take a more open and less direct path?

  “So Vixen, are we going to follow the river till we reach the ford from here?

  “Uh Sarra, hate to break it to you but this is the ford?”

  “Wait a minute. We are crossing HERE?!”

  “-Yea-“

  “-But the river’s still very deep here.”

  “….chest height for us probably.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “-Shiara…is there no better way across?” Sarra made a pitiful face at me, but I ignored it. There weren’t any better places to cross, and nothing I could do would change that.

  “If you two are really against it, you can try finding another way across. Maybe knock down a giant tree or try to swing across on some vines. I’ll be going on ahead.” And with that, I stepped into the river, my pack in one hand held above me, the fish in the other. The river water near the bank was at a mild temperature with patches of colder water, covered by the shade of overhanging branches. The mid day sun was right above the river, so it was lukewarm, but wherever the current flowed rapidly, and whenever the wind above the surface picked up, a chill could be felt that sent a shiver down to my lower back. In fact, I could feel a disparity between the temperature of my upper and lower body.

  As I fought against the current, searching for footing, I head two distinct splashes followed by spluttering from behind. Though my back was faced towards them, I was pretty sure the two must have silently communicated their agreement with eye contact before diving in. I wasn’t quite sure if they were worried about getting wet and catching a cold, getting washed away, or getting attacked. Speaking of getting attacked…

  “You two, dip your fishes into the water when you see the school of fish over there coming for you.”

  Damn, my throat hurts. I took a sip of the river water as I continued towards the centre of the river.

  “OK! But why?- AH, I get it!”

  “Well I don’t.” I barely picked up the mutter from Shiara. Feeling obliged, I added an extra sentence.

  “Shiara, use your brain a bit. What do Flying-Piranhas normally eat?” She could easily figure out the rest. Time to focus. I shifted my foot around a bit before placing it on the next bit of riverbed. The bed was sandy and it was easy to kick up loose sand and gravel. Which was why I paid extra attention to check that my footing would be stable before lifting my other leg up against the water and plonking it down. The current splashed the water against me, as it rose just above my stomach. Finally reaching a third of the way across the river, I stopped to turn around and check on the other two.

  Shiara was as expected, leading the way, with her being a quarter of the way across the river. A strained smile was sketched on her face as she occasionally chuckled somewhat madly. Her dishevelled hair only made her seem wilder. She almost seemed exhilarated, the excitement rushing to her head. Meanwhile, Sarratina was following her, trying to copy Shiara’s wading path while glancing around. Her teeth were chattering noisily and she seemed to be shivering. I couldn’t tell if it was out of fear, nervousness and anxiety, or the cold. Either way I was gradually regretting my choice of companions; a no brain thrill seeker, and a sheltered protection target. *3

  Looking back, I also realised that Sarra was reasonably taller than Shiara, or me. It just wasn’t normally obvious as we spent lots of time stooped. Shiara was also slightly shorter than me, but with how she carried herself, she seemed taller. As for ages, although we were all roughly the same age, Shiara should be the youngest, and Sarra the oldest- the exact opposite of our heights.

  SPLASH!

  “Hey, the fish are approaching!” Turning towards the noise, I notice Sarra plonk her fish into the water. A little too forcefully. Shiara quickly pulled the Flying-Piranhas’ body out of her mouth and similarly plonked it into the water

  The school’s approach abruptly stopped. And they waited…and waited…and waited….

  We were at a temporary stand off. They were like an underwater locus swarm, constantly swimming back and forth in confusion on what to do next, but I couldn’t help feel the school’s leaders were just observing our next actions to see if we would chase them or run; if we were the predator, or prey. And we needed to decide fast, because those fishes would soon lose their smell, or be washed off their sticks down river, and once that happened, we wouldn’t stand a chance of getting out of the river alive.

  Did you know that the word shenanigans just mysteriously popped out sometime during the 20th century like near 1940 ish and it’s origins are unknown. A real recent word – according to google.

  Deadly vs deathly vs death

  Character’s fancy way of saying piranha’s are flea-fish natural predator. Also, mystery delicacy meat quite often is described like or with chicken. I will deny that here.

  3. Yes, Vixen is a childish person with prominent personality sticking out here. Yes, you are allowed to hate her. To be hated upon and forgiven for childish mistakes is part of growing up. And no, she will not stay forever a childish person. And if you are fine with her or somewhere between, all is well. People like different cups of tea. I don't like tea unless certain conditions are met. Yes, I'm in good condition. Good, this is enough said.

  For those who have a long memory and really care about the series: Btw, I originally was planning for the gender thing to pop up later as a plot twist, but then I thought that was a bit predictible and cliche as well making all the other characters look like complete idiots and make the story filled with holes, not to mention how annoying it would be to keep it a secret from everyone whilst writing in 1st person. So I just decided to rip up the idea, and get it over with which kind of ruined it in my opinion but yeah, for those who are curious about the abruptness of it.

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