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Water struck her again.

I remained in the pool where she could see only my head and the top of my shoulders. The Veylith form liked deep water. Magic lifted through the webbing between my paws, turning the drag of my size into something closer to balance. I could feel every movement the kits made through small changes in the current.

Jade wiped water from her face.

"Fine."

She pulled off her boots.

That was more commitment than I expected.

Ashter wanted no part of it. Smoke slipped from beneath Jade's sleeve, flowed over her shoulder and gathered on the highest dry stone beside her knives. Two red eyes opened within the dark coil.

Jade glanced at him. "Coward."

His eyes narrowed, but he didn't move any closer to the pool.

She set both knives beside the route card, rolled her pants to mid-calf and stepped into the shallows. The stones shifted under her first step. She corrected quickly, arms lifting as the smallest kit swam around her ankles.

"If I fall, none of you are allowed to react."

I looked toward the adult beyond the waterfall.

"Especially you."

The kit bumped the back of her leg.

Jade windmilled once and landed in the pool.

The water was shallow enough that she caught herself on both hands, but the fall soaked her from shoulder to knee. Her braid slid over one side and struck the surface like a rope.

For one breath, everything stopped.

Then a kit climbed onto her back.

Jade looked over her shoulder.

Another scrambled across her forearm. The third seized the end of her braid and pulled.

She began laughing so hard she couldn't get upright.

There was no restraint left in it. No quick glance toward the passage to see who had heard, no hand raised to hide her mouth, no irritation used to cover the fact that she was enjoying herself. She tried to tell the kit to release her hair, but the words collapsed into another laugh when it pulled her backwards through the water.

I moved closer before she hit the deeper shelf, and let myself have exactly one moment before I did anything useful with it.

Wanting to hear that sound again wasn't new. Wanting it enough to notice myself wanting it, standing chest-deep in a Rift pool while she nearly drowned laughing at a kit half her size, was.

Not today. Not by pushing for it. Whatever grew between us could take as long as it needed.

She caught one hand in the fur along my neck and used me to stand. The kit released her braid, only to climb onto my back with the others. Jade kept her hand where it was after she found her balance.

"You did that."

I had been several paces away.

"You walked into the pool."

True.