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"They copied you."

Likely.

"That makes it your fault."

I pushed my muzzle against her shoulder.

She stumbled sideways and caught herself this time. "I am beginning to understand why Alex argues with you."

Alex argued with everyone. It was how he confirmed he wasn't alone.

Jade waded after the nearest kit. It waited until she was almost close enough to touch, then dived between her feet and surfaced behind her. She turned too slowly. The second kit slapped water at her from the bank, and the third vanished beneath my chest before climbing onto my tail.

I flicked it into the pool.

Jade gasped. "That was rude."

The kit surfaced and launched itself at my face.

I let it miss, then followed as all three darted toward the far side. Jade tried to keep up along the shallower edge, slipping twice and recovering without help. Each time she laughed instead of becoming angry with herself.

The adult remained beyond the waterfall, watching.

Her body loosened further when the kits returned to her between each attack on us. She checked them with quick touches of her nose, received three excited chirrups in reply and allowed them to throw themselves back into the pool.

Jade noticed. "She's letting them."

I moved beside her.

"She knows we won't hurt them."

The certainty in Jade's voice changed the shape of the words. At the trap site, she had stood with her hands at her sides while one kit lingered beside her boot, afraid that wanting to touch it was reason enough not to. Now the adult had watched her sit, wait and get dragged into the water by three healthy young animals. Trust had not arrived because Jade could heal them. Healing had only brought them back to the point where they could choose what happened next.

One of the kits placed both paws against Jade's leg.

She crouched slowly and held out her hand.

It pressed its pale muzzle into her palm.

Jade's fingers moved over the rounded ear and down the sleek fur at its neck. She did not close her eyes or reach beneath skin with magic. She felt only what her hand could tell her.

"Soft," she said.

The kit climbed into her arms.

Her expression became almost alarmed, but she supported its long body against her chest. Water ran from its fur down the front of her black shirt. It touched its nose to her jaw, whiskers brushing her skin, then settled as though Jade had been placed in the grotto for this exact purpose.

The other two objected.

They climbed her from either side, one using the cargo pocket on her pants as a step. Jade tried to keep all three from falling while refusing to put any of them down.

I left the pool and settled beside her on the bank.

She leaned back against my shoulder without asking.

The contact was light at first, more balance than choice, but she didn't move away when my weight steadied behind her. One kit stretched across her lap. Another sat between her boots and cleaned water from its paws. The third climbed onto my foreleg and curled into a ball there.

For a while, none of us did anything useful.