Mist didn't tell about his new friend in the village. He liked being praised as such a skilled fisher too much to let them know it wasn't his catch. But he did head back to the river first thing in the next morning.

"Thalas!" he called out when he couldn't see the watersnake at the place where they had parted ways the previous day. Then he dropped on all fours at the riverbank and leaned as close to the water as he could. "Thaaalaaaas!"

His sharp ears picked up a faint sound of paws on dirt behind him and he quickly turned around. The fur on his tail and his hair instantly stood up at the sight of a large, spotted cat less than 20 feet from him.

The cat stared at him and licked its muzzle. The next instant it pounced at the treefox.

Mist was up the nearest tree before the beast hunting him even got close. "Stupid cat! Go away! I wasn't calling for you!"

The cat jumped, following him to the tree. Mist scampered higher and farther away from the trunk, to branches too thin to support such big creature. His fur was still standing up in an attempt to make himself look more threatening.

"Mist!" a worried, familiar voice called from below.

Mist smiled and hopped to the very end of the branch he was perched on, directly above the water. "Thalas! Did you bring me another fish?"

"Eh?" That was not exactly the response he had expected. "Shouldn't you be more worried about becoming breakfast than having one?"

Mist cast a brief glance at the cat still intently watching him but unable to come closer. "That thing? There's no way it will catch me."

Thalas wasn't that convinced. "That's nice, but...would you still come over here?"

"Sure. Ready to catch me?" Mist didn't even wait for an answer before jumping straight towards Thalas.

The watersnake sighed in relief as the small bundle landed safely on his arms. The cat that had lost its prey hopped down to the ground and stopped to growl at Thalas briefly before running away.

"First risking your life fishing when you can't swim yesterday, and now treating being hunted as a game. Do you even know what fear is?"

Mist just grinned. "Not really. But more importantly...the fish?"

Thalas laughed. "Alright, alright." He placed the little treefox securely on his tail. "Let's go for a swim and I'll see what I can catch."

It was really tranquil here in the middle of the river. Mist could still hear the sounds of the forest, but there was not so much...movement. Just the slow motions of the water.

He grabbed tighter on Thalas's tail, his little climbing claws sinking into the thick skin apparently going unnoticed, as the watersnake's upper body suddenly dove underwater and the part where Mist was sitting curved up to balance out his form. A moment later Thalas resurfaced, his skin and hair dripping water and a small fish held in his mouth.

Mist yipped in delight as Thalas gave him the fish and made short work of it, leaving only the bones.

Thalas watched him eat with a smile. "Another?"

"Yes, please!" Mist beamed. "Oh! I had something for you too!" He twisted his bag around his body to be able to dig into it and brought out two bright red fruits. "Here you go!"

Thalas took one of them. "Thank you, Mist."

"They grow high up in the trees, so I figured you can't reach them. You know, since you're a watersnake. That means you have to live in water, right?"

"Mostly, yes. I can go to ground for a while, but once my skin starts to dry up, it gets painful to move. Many watersnakes live in the wetlands near the lagoon for the freedom of movement and more varied diet than fish." He rolled the fruit around in his mouth for a while before swallowing it whole. A strange taste, sweet, but not unpleasant. "This is good."

Mist was puzzled. "What's a lagoon? Or wetlands?"

"A lagoon is a large body of water where this river flows. Wetlands are...a place that's very wet between it and the forest. There's more water than solid ground there."

"Do you live there too?"

Thalas shook his head. "No, I live mostly in the bottom of the river." He tapped Mist's nose with one finger. "It was a lucky chance that I was near the shore when you floated by."

Mist smiled. "I think so too." He dropped flat on the watersnake's tail, studying the surface of the water as closely as he could. "Hey...Do you think I could learn to swim too?"

"Really? You would want to?"

"Uh huh. I like fish and...I don't hate water. I just thought you had to be a fish to swim. But you're not and you can swim."

"Shall we get started then?" Thalas asked and lowered his tail just enough for Mist to keep his head above the surface as he quickly sat up.

"Not so fast!" Mist protested.

Thalas laughed. "The best way to learn to swim is to hop right in and do it."