Chapter 44: Thinking

"Come on," Rusty jumped around, "don't you think it'd be funny if Mystic Shore was a giant sea monster? And the undertow was its tongue?"
"Yeah, sure..." Crystal rolled her eyes.
The patrol was nearing the clouds. A wind buffeted Ash; he was carried off his paws, but then he dug his claws into the hill and climbed up.
"Are you okay?" Charlotte asked.
"Fine," Ash sighed.
Eclipse began to laugh. "Let's not start the whole hill episode all over again, Ash."
Ash flattened his ears against his head. Then, he suddenly got an idea. Eclipse is the Healer apprentice, Ash thought to himself, the Healer is supposed to be wise.
"Eclipse," Ash whispered.
"Yes?" Eclipse nodded.
Stone was near the front with Masang. Ash sighed with relief and continued. "Do you know about Stone's past?"
Eclipse thought a bit, then shook her head. "No," she said reluctantly. "All I know is that Feather told be Stone wasn't born at The Bending Tower."
That's kind of normal, Ash thought, lots of animals at The Bending Tower were born orphans.
As Ash thought more, he heard Dust talking to Charlotte.
"So the undertow is basically the waters pulling you into the middle of the river, lake or ocean?" Dust asked.
"Yes," Charlotte confirmed, "then you die out there after you get tired of swimming, because you drown underwater. Either that, or you get saved."
Ash shuddered with fear as he imagined the water sucking him deep into the water. He snapped back to reality. I'll worry about that later, he thought, I need to know Stone's past.
As Ash began thinking, he suddenly realized, since Eclipse said she wasn't born at The Bending Tower...maybe she did something at the place she used to live.


Author's Note:
What do you think about Stone's past? Ash is trying to figure things out, eh?