Chapter 8: 8. Uncharted Waters

As I drifted awake I became aware of a few things, and almost all of them were soft and warm.

There was a warm gentle weight along my legs, something warm but not quite as soft as a pillow that my head was nestled against, and another gentle weight draped across my waist. There were also two more soft warm things that were much more pillow-like, pressing gently against the top of my chest. And come to think of it, there was something soft and warm under my right hand too.

In fact apart from the slightly lumpy feeling of the pine mattress beneath my left side, pretty much everything else was soft and warm.

I opened my eyes and a little shock of... something fluttered through my system.

Me and Soneya had fallen asleep with our backs to each other, pretty much as far apart as you could get while laying atop the open sleeping bag. Then apparently we'd both rolled over in our sleep and now we were laying in each other's arms.

My head was resting on her right upper arm and my face nuzzled into her right shoulder. Her chin was practically ontop of my head, and she had her left arm draped over me almost protectively, with her wrist at my waist and her hand just above my behind. My right hand was resting on her left hip, and her boobs were gently pressed against me just below my neck and chin. Mine were resting against her firm sculpted abs.

And finally Lia was stretched out ontop of the blanket in the very slight gap between my legs and Soneya's. Our small fox friend had her chin on my hip, and her eyes were open as she watched me and the wolf-kin sleep.

For just a few seconds my brain was blank and I had no idea what to do. Should I try to pull away? Or should I pull closer? Should I just close my eyes and pretend to sleep, in hopes Soneya will wake and make the decision for me?

My heart raced, but at the same time there was a gentle whup-whup-whup sound from behind me. It only took a moment to realize I'd been betrayed by my own treacherous tail. While I was still trying to figure out what to do or think it was wagging happily, and bumping against the shelter floor every half second.

Then there was a sharp intake of breath, and I felt all Soneya's muscles suddenly tense. She'd just woken up and made the same awkward discovery as me.

For the next few seconds we both lay there still and silent, frozen in an anxious gay panic. And the whup-whup-whup of my wagging tail was accompanied by the soft thump-thump-thump of hers hitting the floor behind her.

Then as if by mutual agreement the two of us both started moving at once. I pulled my head back from her shoulder and lifted my hand off her hip, she took her arm from my waist and we both sort of rolled in opposite directions. Lia was left all alone on the blanket as me and Soneya sat up facing in opposite directions. I couldn't speak for her, but my face was almost on fire while my heart continued to pound and a swarm of gay disaster butterflies danced drunkenly around my stomach.

It was another minute or two before either of us composed ourselves enough to function, then the wolf-kin excused herself and stumbled outside to freshen up. I followed a half minute later, and found some convenient trees and bushes to hide behind while I took care of business. That went a lot easier than it did yesterday morning, now that I'd had time to get more accustomed to my new body and my tail.

By the time we'd both got over that disaster of a wake-up, Soneya had her quiet stoic thing going on again. She suggested, "Why don't you get started on breakfast, while I pack up the bed and stuff?"

"And uh," she blushed as she averted her eyes, "Maybe you could put your shorts back on or something?"

I was still bottomless, and my tee wasn't quite big enough that I could get away with going commando.

"Sure," I replied, but I couldn't hide my grin. I didn't want to make her uncomfortable but damn I was still pretty euphoric about what I saw down there.

We were quiet again as we both got to work, I got a full pot of water heating up on the stove then pulled on my cut-offs. I also brought in the clothes we'd left out to dry.

Meanwhile Soneya used her belt knife to cut a dozen or so centimetres off of her pant legs. She also followed my lead and cut a slit in the back for her tail, then pulled them on and did up the belt. After that she got started loading things into my backpack.

By the time the water was boiling she had most of the packing done. I'd boiled more water than we needed, and before mixing up breakfast I poured off the excess into my mug and made up a big old cup of camp coffee.

With just the one mug it was another awkward thing, but I offered to share it with Soneya and she accepted.

We passed it back and forth between us while I stirred the reconstituted eggs and bacon, and when the food was ready I divided it up. Half to the wolfgirl, a third for me, and a sixth for my fox friend.

Soneya pulled out her map as we all ate, and we made our plans for the day over breakfast.

"According to the map, once we leave here there's no easy access to water until we reach the campsite at Ruisseau Bascon. According to the distance table that's just under eleven miles from here. Or seventeen kilometres, in Canadian numbers."

She paused for a gulp of coffee then continued, "Looking at the map we'll be going up the side of Mount Louis-Marie Lalonde first, then we're pretty much staying at altitude as we head along a ridge from there to Mount Dodge and Mount Logan? Then we leave the park boundaries and go over Mount Fortin, and after that it should be mostly downhill to that camp at Bascon."

After a mouthful of eggs and bacon she stated, "Without any sure source of water along that stretch we have to make it to Ruisseau Bascon by the end of today. It shouldn't be that hard, according to the tables we're only talking about seven and a half, maybe eight hours? And I'm positive we're past the worst of the quake damage, so we should be able to keep up that pace."

"Sounds good," I nodded. "That's still less than the fifteen miles a day you wanted though right?"

Soneya agreed, "Yeah. If we make good time to Bascon and we're good to keep going, there's actually a motel about three miles past that. It's about a half mile off the trail, but it might be worth it. I don't know what amenities they have, but the notes say there's a restaurant."

My eyes lit up and my tail started wagging again, "A motel? Like with a bed and a toilet and a shower? Maybe even a bath? And a restaurant, with real food?"

She laughed, "That's what the map says. I've got a credit card and ID on me, but uh, obviously my ID won't match anymore."

"Yeah same," I grinned. "My wallet's in my pack. Anyways let's hurry up and get moving, there's a soft comfy bed waiting for us tonight!"

She smiled at my enthusiasm, but as we finished eating she cautioned "I'm sure you noticed the weather this morning?"

"Yeah," I grimaced.

It was overcast, a lot of low grey clouds filled the sky. It was still warm for late September, but the smell of rain was in the air. Neither of us said anything, but I was sure she felt the same as me. We both hoped the weather wouldn't turn against us. I didn't want to be hiking in the middle of a downpour, and a storm would be even worse.

After breakfast we gathered everything up and headed down to the river. I washed the kitchen gear again while Soneya filled up all our water containers. Then we quickly finished packing up.

"Something wrong with the boots?" I asked as I noticed she was still barefoot. "Did your feet shrink again?"

She flashed me a grin and lifted up one foot to show me, "Got some toe-beans of my own last night!"

My eyes widened and my jaw dropped, then I smiled "Cool!"

Both sets of boots were tied to the back of the pack, and like yesterday she insisted on carrying it. I had a feeling at least part of that was some kind of chivalry thing, like she was bigger and probably stronger and didn't think a tiny girl like me could last all day under the big heavy pack.

I also had a feeling some of it was maybe a dominant alpha-wolf thing. Like she was the hiking and survival expert, and maybe she didn't trust a sneaky little fox like me to look after all the gear we needed to stay alive.

Oddly enough I was fine with that. I didn't mind letting her take charge, and I was happy to follow along and do the cooking and stuff like that.

"I'm glad there's a bridge here," Lia commented as we crossed it then started our hike. "It was embarrassing when you carried me across the other water."

I gave her a friendly smile, "Aww. You don't like getting wet?"

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"It's not that," she replied as she walked along next to me. "All the water here has changed. That's why I don't want to go in it. We still have to drink it though."

I stopped mid-step and stared down at her as a cold feeling settled in my stomach, and several thoughts crossed through my mind.

Lia wouldn't wade through the creek or the pond, either that first night or yesterday morning. I walked through them both, in both directions. And my instant foxgirl transition happened shortly after I waded through that creek the first time.

Soneya started changing yesterday morning just before she reached the parking lot, possibly when she went by that pond. And the rest of her changes sort of happened all at once after she waded through the stream yesterday. And we'd been drinking that water all day yesterday, and I used it to cook last night and this morning.

The wolf-kin noticed I'd stopped moving, so she stopped as well and looked back at me. "What's wrong? You look kind of freaked out about something."

I sighed, "It's the water. Lia says all the water around here's changed? Probably because of that mountain. And we've been walking through it, drinking it, cooking with it. Bathing in it..."

Her eyes widened slightly as she stared at me, then her eyes flicked back to the bridge and the river we'd just crossed.

I looked back to Lia again and asked, "Is it dangerous?"

"Not dangerous," she responded. "Just different, and I don't know yet if I trust it."

I relayed that to our wolf-kin friend, then the three of us stood there for another half minute as these latest revelations sank in.

Soneya finally shook her head, "We can't do anything about it. There'll be water at Ruisseau Bascon, hopefully it'll be safe. But we've got to get there, and in the meantime there's nothing else to drink. So let's just keep moving, ok?"

"Right," I nodded. "You're right. Let's go."

We all got started again, and before long we were heading up the east side of Mont Louis-Marie Lalonde. That was probably going to be the toughest part of the day, but I was glad we were getting it over with early. Especially if the weather was going to turn later.

It didn't take long to leave the trees behind, half a kilometre away from the river we'd already gained a hundred meters of altitude. Fortunately Soneya was right about the quake-damaged terrain being behind us, and we made pretty good time considering we were basically climbing another mountain. The peak was some five hundred meters above the river, and despite the low clouds this morning the views were beautiful.

We were probably only a few hundred meters away from the top of Mont LML when we found an unexpected obstacle in our path.

A large pond had completely swamped the trail. It extended over a hundred meters left to right, and probably covered sixty or seventy meters of the trail. I could see small streams coming off it on either side, one running down the north side of the mountain and the other draining to the south.

The strange thing was the pond had no obvious source feeding it, unless it was an underground spring. That felt wrong though, considering it was nearly at the top of the mountain.

"The stream on the south side looks smaller," Soneya commented as she took a few steps off the trail to the left. "That's probably the best bet for getting around it?"

"Yeah," I frowned as I stared at it, but I didn't make any move to follow her or Lia.

They both stopped after a couple meters and looked back at me. The wolf-kin asked "What's wrong Tori?"

I shook my head, "I don't know? Lia said the water wasn't dangerous, just different. And uh, something's telling me to just wade right in. Like... I can't put it into words? I just think it's not a bad thing."

Soneya and Lia looked at each other, then they both looked back at me. My eyes stayed on the large pond though. It didn't look all that deep, though it was hard to tell considering how wide it was. And step by step I started moving forward, till my feet were in it.

Like all the other water we'd found so far, it was warmer than it ought to have been. It felt nice, and somewhere in the back of my mind an idea popped up.

It was magic. The water was magic, and the more contact we had with it, the more that magic would affect us. The more magic we'd absorb.

Lac Thibault was dangerous because the magic there was too concentrated. That's why it wasn't safe to approach. But away from that impossible mountain the water was safe. Better than safe, it was good for us.

I somehow convinced myself of that fact as I stood waist-deep in the middle of the pond. My cutoffs were submerged, along with the lower half of my hoodie. Even the blanket I had rolled up and tied across my back was half soaked.

"So, magic huh?" Soneya asked. "Makes as much sense as anything else."

I turned and discovered she was standing next to me. She'd had the presence of mind to take her jeans off before wading in, the water came up past her strong shapely thighs. She was holding her pants rolled up under her arm.

"I didn't realize I said that out loud," I replied with a cringe and blush.

Then I looked over my shoulder, and found Lia sniffing at the edge of the water. She tentatively touched it with a paw, but she seemed uncertain.

In the end my little fox friend didn't take the plunge, but she did get all four of her feet wet. She waded along the edge of the pond as she slowly made her way around to the far side where the trail emerged from the water.

Soneya and I wasted another ten minutes standing there soaking before she finally stated, "We need to keep moving."

"Yeah," I nodded. "You're right."

The two of us walked together through the water till we caught up with Lia on the opposite side. After a brief hesitation Soneya ended up putting her belt on over her jacket with her knife hanging by her bare hip, then stuffed her jeans into the pack rather than put them on while her legs were still wet.

The trail ahead was relatively straight and had a gentle slope upwards to the peak of the mountain. As we continued making our way west Soneya commented, "Those cabins should be on the other side of the peak. From there it's only seven and a half miles to Ruisseau Bascon."

"We'll be following the ridge till we pass Mount Fortin," she continued. "Then it's pretty much all downhill into another valley."

Once we crested the top of Mont LML we could see the peak of Mont Dodge ahead, and beyond that to the right was Mont Logan. I could even make out the trail as it crossed both of those peaks. And sure enough, two cabins were visible a few hundred meters ahead of us just to the left of the trail.

Soneya suggested as we approached the first one, "We should have a look inside these cabins. There might be something useful we can scavenge."

Before I could reply all three of us heard footsteps from the nearest cabin. The door swung open and a man stepped out, then started limping towards us. I wasn't really paying attention to him though, my eyes were fixed on the rifle he was cradling in his arms.

"Well well," he said in a grating voice that set my nerves on edge. "Looks like my luck's finally turned around. You pretty young girls got any food in that backpack?"

As if the situation weren't desperate enough, the clouds picked that moment to open up. The tense silence was replaced with the steady patter of rain.