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­­ Nothing had ever hurt more in Elin's life than the moment when the fox's claws dug into his eyes. Everything turned to a sickening red. It may have been blood or it may have been his mind trying to visualize or cope with the agonizing pain. However, in that moment Elin didn't care whether he could or couldn't see. All he wanted was for the pain to end. He would have given his hearing, his taste, or even his voice just to end the suffering.

The otter fell to his side, the rocky path scratching his pelt as he writhed and shook. He screamed and pawed at his eyes in futile hope that he could somehow lessen the agony burning through his face. But nothing worked. Blood dripped down his cheeks from open, mutilated eyes. It stained his dull brown fur and matted the thin strands together in ugly crimson clumps.

Around him boards thunked and crates shattered. The horse, a big brute of a feral, whinnied and stomped about, flicking its ears in distrust of the newcomers. However, no one paid it any attention. The horse would be too dangerous to sell. Feral pack animals were highly regulated and carefully indexed. Therefore, after tearing apart the crates of goods and smashing the cart itself, the highwaymen took off with everything of value.

And the sad thing was that none of the goods even belonged to Elin.

Having only just come of age, the small clawed otter had overheard his father talking about his difficulties finding a horse driver to take the Otterporium's trade goods all the way to Southbank. Coming from the Emerald Moors, this was no easy feat. Of course, the Emerald Moors was only on the south eastern edge of the vast and dangerous steppe expanse, but every child was still warned against traveling alone.

Elin had always been a hotheaded otter. His father had never been proud of him. Elin saw that harsh reality every time the two otters locked eyes. And yet he still suffered from a burning desire to please his dad. He wanted his dad to feel pride when he looked at his offspring. After Elin's mother passed away in childbirth, his father was all he had left.

So Elin stole the cart. He didn't consider it stealing - he was going to come back with all the profits. In fact, he knew that when he returned his father would see him as a family hero! Elin took the saddle and stirrup, a fine piece of leather working custom tailored for small clawed otters, and drove the horse down the rocky path that connected the town of Green's End to the kingdom proper. However barely a single week passed before disaster struck.

The hills had begun to roll higher and higher. The trees grew more and more plentiful as the steppe plains transitioned into forested hills. The young otter knew that the path to Fenbury was long, but he never imagined that it was this far away. He had figured that it would take him a day to reach the forest. From the tales he had heard from other merchants and travelers he had barely passed the muzzle on a path from nose to tail tip.

He considered turning back to the wrath of his father, but the desperate otter was even more terrified of his father's fury than the long and arduous road ahead of him. However, because of his gross error in guessing the length of the trip, the provisions dried up by the fifth day. On the sixth, he managed to scour a few small fish from a pond after hours of effort. He had always been a sorry excuse of an otter where fishing was concerned. On the eighth day - the day his life went to hell - Elin was starving.

As he writhed around on the sharp stones of the pathway, blood spilling out of his torn eyeballs, all he wanted was for the pain to end. An hour later he hadn't moved from the teardrops of crusted blood strewn around him. He was unable to control the urge to blink and reignite the burning pain of his injuries, yet unwilling to hold his eyes shut in acceptance of the darkness that he couldn't escape. Elin didn't know whether he wanted to die; he didn't know if his life was worth living without sight and without his father.

The otter did know one thing for certain. He did not want his father to find him in this pitiful state.

Elin pulled himself to his shaky paws, wobbling even on all fours. He started walking in a circle, trying to find the edge of the stone path. He bumped nose-first into a splintered crate and scurried back with a small yelp. The otter boy continued to step slowly back. At least he knew where the cart was.

The grass tickled his rear paw like a soft brush. Elin held his hind leg down against the soft earth, almost afraid to lose it. Slowly he turned around until his forepaws also met the gentle tickling of the short grass. When Elin was sure that he was facing away from the pathway, he began to walk. At first, afraid of running into a tree, he ducked his head with each step. However, he grew bolder as he walked. There was very little chance that he was going to survive anyway. He could live with occasional bops on his nose as chastisement for his stupidity.

However jovially he tried to phrase the situation, Elin couldn't escape the hard truths of his reality. Every blink brought a racket of pain shooting through his nervous system and with every step his body growled in hunger and exhaustion. In truth, the small otter had made his choice. Instead of waiting along the road, broken and starving for his father to find - reaffirming the disappointment he harbored for his son - Elin decided to leave and find somewhere to die in peace.

He walked for hours before collapsing onto his side. Just as bad as his physical pain was the pain of not knowing where he was, what time of day it was, where the next gods forsaken tree that he was going to run head first into was. He felt helpless and hopeless. He tilted his head up towards the heavens and pretended that the blackness that he saw was really just the night sky. He tried to imagine stars dotting the impenetrable void, but he just couldn't. Nothing came to his mind but the cursed darkness.

Waking up brought a pang to his heart. He could see in his dream. It was like the previous day had never happened. But instead of the fuzzy, undefined dream world giving way to the sharp, well-defined colors of real life, they were sucked away into pure unrelenting blackness. The only way he knew to make the depressing realizations go away was by walking. He had to distract himself.

Elin tried not to think, but then he felt the pain. He tried to focus his thoughts on the wind, a gently breeze, something peaceful, but they always drifted back to his father or his blindness. The otter was so caught up in his own mind, so encompassed in his self-loathing that he almost missed the thud of an arrow burying itself into a tree next to him.

Elin yelped, scuttling backwards on his short paws. Instinctually, he turned around his head to where the sound came from. Nothing stood before his eyes but a solid wall of darkness. The otter's body trembled; this was where he was going to die. Not to the slow throes of hunger and blood loss, but a painful death by the paws of some other animal. And yet, as death stared him in his unseeing eyes, Elin was too scared to submit.

He dropped to his belly, quivering like a terrified pup. "Please don't hurt me!" he begged, "I've got nothing! You already took everything!"

The bushes rustled and the otter smelled another scent nearby. He could barely tell what it was. He never learned to identify other animals based on their smell - it was such an archaic and useless skill! Now Elin wished that he had spent more time refining his senses. Were they a male or a female? What was their species? What was their age?

"Scat on a stick, what in the world happened to you?" The incredulous voice was tomboyish, but clearly female.

"Bandits," Elin muttered.

"Your eyes, Bleyen's mercy that looks bad." A nose sniffed up against his furred cheekbone.

"Can you see?" she asked. Elin shook his head no. He quivered. Every reminder that he would never be able to see again was a piercing wound in his heart.

"Hey, are you," she paused, "are you crying? That can't be good with your eyes torn up like that." She sounded unsure of herself more than anything. Elin didn't answer. He hadn't been about to cry, but when she asked him if he was he felt a lump fill up his throat. His eyes stung even worse as salty tears mixed with his wounds. The other animal didn't speak for a moment. Elin, in his depression, wondered if she had left. He could still smell the scent of another animal, but for all he knew it could have lingered with her passing. He was no expert.

A tongue brushed tentatively against his cheek, catching his tears and the coppery taste of dried blood. Elin stiffened.

"What are you-"

"I was just trying to make you feel better, okay!" she snapped. "I've never had to do something like this before."

"Something like what?"

"Comforting an idiot who nearly got himself killed by bandits."

"That's not fair! They jumped me when I wasn't ready!" Elin protested.

She laughed, but then her tone grew serious. "So what happened to your guards? Are there any other survivors?"

"I... I didn't have any," he mumbled.

"You were alone?" Elin nodded. "Gods, you really are stupid."

"I don't see any guards with you!"

"That's because I actually know how to fight, pup."

"I can fight! And you're just as old as I am; don't call me 'pup'!" Elin had no idea if she actually was his age, but her voice sounded about right. Fortunately, she didn't know that he was so bad at identifying scents.

The female hesitated. "Whatever, we should get you back to my den before night."

"What time is it?"

"Mid-morning."

Elin balked. It would take that long? "How far away is your den?"

She tapped him on the nose and chuckled. "I'm sorry; I almost forgot you're an imbecile. It's a full day's walk from here." Elin's checks burned with embarrassment. She sounded just like his father.

"Hey, It was only a joke!" The female tripped over herself talking. She must have seen the expression on his face, "Not about the den, I mean. It's pretty far, but I guess anything's better than staying here, right? You look like you could use a meal and I'm the only person you'll find in a half week's walk!" The grass crunched as the female stood up. "You coming?"

"Yeah." Elin quickly pulled himself to his feet. He stumbled and then caught himself.

"Hey... You, " she paused. "Need help?" She asked.

"Uh-huh." He glumly traced his paw in the leaf covered ground.

He found the other animal's shoulder soon pressed against his own. She was a similar height to the otter. Her fur was long and smooth with a soft pelt underneath. He couldn't remember where he recognized the feeling from. A wooden pole bumped into his back. He guessed that it was her bow.

"Oh, sorry, let me fix that." She shuffled and then pushed her shoulder back against his. "So what's your name?" she asked as she began to lead him forward.

"Elin."

"I'm Caudi."

"I- I'm sorry, but what are you?" Caudi stopped, her fur bristling. Elin felt goosebumps under his fur. He didn't expect her to be so offended by his question.

"What do you mean?" she asked coldly.

"What species are you?" he muttered quickly.

"Are you serious? How the hell do you need to ask that? I'm literally right next to you! Did you get mud stuffed up your nose or something?"

"No," Elin whimpered.

"Well then use that stupid sniffer of yours." She certainly smelled familiar. He couldn't quite place the scent, though.

"I never learned anything about scents." The otter's face was flushed with embarrassment.

"Bleyen's mane, you really are useless. Take your nose out of your ass and smell me again. I'm an otter too, beebrain."

"Oh." Elin's eyes began to water again. He didn't want to cry again, but she was right. He was useless - even with his sight. Caudi must have noticed. Her fur bristled anxiously.

"Come on, don't be that way! I'm only teasing." She said with concern. Her tail bumped into Elin's. "Listen, there's a nice little pond near here. Let's clean you up. You look like you walked right out of a kit's nightmare."

Walking was hard. Every rock or root that found itself in Elin's path sent the otter stumbling. Before long, Caudi began to call out every obstacle that came in front of the blind otter. Elin hated it. He had completely lost control. He didn't know where he was, he didn't know where he was going, and he couldn't even walk there without complete reliance on the other otter.

Caudi, on the other hand, seemed to find a strange enjoyment in her new responsibility. Elin found himself stepping over many more rocks than he had ever encountered in the wilds around Green's End. He knew that hills had a lot more stones and rocky outcroppings than the steppe plains that he was so used to, but he hadn't expected to run into so many.

After an hour of travel, they arrived at the pond. Elin was exhausted. It wasn't a physical exhaustion. He was fit and had no problem walking, even for a full day. However, he had to think about every single step. So many choices were done unconsciously when he had sight. Was the ground sloping up or was it sloping down? There were dozens of small drops in the land that set his heart pounding like he was about to fall off of a cliff. After only an hour he wanted to rest. He wanted to do something light that didn't require him to anticipate and dread each drop of his paw onto the forest floor.

"Wait! Don't go any farther. If you dip your nose down you can feel the water." Elin did just that. He lowered his muzzle until the pond's still surface touched the tip of his nose with a cold finger of water. His throat was parched. He lapped at the water and then pulled back, staring at the rippling surface with empty eyes. He could imagine the small waves of crystal clear blue spreading slowly out from his tongue. He could see the reflection of his face with bright blue eyes looking up at him. No blood. No pain.

"C'mon now. You've gotta get in there and clean up that face of yours. You look like you're trying to pass for a fox with all that red around your eyes!" Caudi guided him into the shallows where he dipped his face into the cool water. He brushed his paw along his cheek, scrubbing away the matted blood. The hard clumped fur gave way and loosened, releasing a small cloud of red into the clear pond. Elin wished that he could see it.

He ducked his whole face in. The water had always been refreshing to him. It was an escape from life where he could be free. Now it was dangerous and foreboding. His blood spilled into the pond alongside his hopes for a normal life.

"You've gotta open your eyes, Elin. It can't be good for the blood to fill up in there, right? But scat, I wouldn't know. I'm definitely no healer."

He opened his eyes. It stung, but not quite as bad as he was expecting it to. He held them open for half a minute before he pulled his head out of the water with a gasp.

"Don't tell me you can't hold your breath longer than that."

"Oh shut up!" Elin said in exasperation, "I'm still an otter! I can hold my breath for plenty longer!"

"Can you?" Caudi bumped his shoulder playfully.

"Longer than you, that's for sure!"

"That sounds like a challenge!"

Elin, smiling for the first time since he was attacked, sucked in a deep breath. His cheeks bulged and his head arched up in the air. He heard a splash next to him, so he guessed that Caudi was doing the same. He thrust his head underwater and held it still. A minute passed. And then another. He could normally last a whole eight minutes, a respectable length for an otter, but the pain that crept through his eyes and into the back of his skull broke his concentration. Air slipped out of his muzzle.

Bubbles trickled up from underneath him. A nose bumped into his own. The blind otter smiled through the pain at Caudi, upside down beneath him. He finally pulled back up for oxygen. He gasped for air and then broke down laughing. She splashed up next to him and the charming chitter of her own laughter joined him.

"I win! But," she paused, "you weren't bad for a beebrain."

"Thanks," Elin said dryly. He sucked up a mouthful of water and spat it at her.

"Oh no! The blind otter's gonna get me!" She mocked.

"You make it easy!"

He spat again. This time, the water splashed right back into his face.

"You're right," Caudi teased. He could feel her hot breath on his nose." Maybe I am making it too easy." She ducked back into the water and popped up next to him. "Next time I'll try a little harder."

"Next time?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Elin's spirits were lifted as Caudi led him away from the pond. He was still in a small amount of pain and still hadn't quite come to terms with his blindness, but playing in the water had never failed to cheer up an otter. Caudi was also in a better mood. Noticeably less rocks and sticks found their way into Elin's path, confirming the blind otter's prior suspicions. They talked about inane things like food and flowers. Caudi liked salmon better than trout and Elin thought the opposite.

Nine hours later, Caudi finally stopped. Elin was nearly falling asleep as he walked. The constant blackness convinced his body that nighttime had come and the blind otter was struggling to keep himself awake.

"Right down here," the female muttered, leading him into a sloped pathway. The pine needles and twigs under his paws gave way to cool dirt. Caudi left his side and he heard the thumping and scraping of wooden boards being pulled into place.

"There's a string back here that you can pull to close the entrance behind you, okay?" Elin nodded, but Caudi turned him around and guided his nose to the twine anyway. He gripped it with his paw. It was coarse and thick, with small sharp strands of fiber jutting out all around the three wound yarns. His paw slowly slid down the rope, feeling how the grooves and strands of the twine wound together.

"Where'd you get this?" He asked.

"It's hemp fibre. I brought it with me when I left Fenbury." Elin wanted to ask why she left. From his prior estimates, they were still at least two month's travel from the city. However, he remembered how her fur bristled when he asked who she was. Caudi didn't seem to like personal questions. No matter how curious he was, Elin did not want to be kicked out into the forest, blind and alone. It was a blessing of Bleyen the Lion that Caudi had even found him.

"I'm sorry if it's not up to your standards," the female otter said as they walked into her den. Surprisingly, Elin couldn't hear the expected sarcasm in her voice. Yet, the blind otter understood what she meant. The ground was soft and uneven. This was not the work of a professional digger.

"Did you dig this yourself?"

"Do these claws look like," she corrected herself, "feel like they can dig?" She swatted him playfully.

Elin followed her again for a few more steps. "The bedding's to the right here. On the left is all my stuff. Be careful not to break anything." Elin blushed. Was she implying that they would sleep on the same bedding? She seemed to be living alone, so it made sense that there was only one spot of bedding. Everything said and done, he was grateful that she had offered him shelter, let alone her bed. However, he was too proud to thank her.

"Is it dark yet?"

"No. Soon, though."

"I'm very tired." She led him up to the den's dirt wall. Soft felts and fabrics replaced the cold dirt under his paws. "Where do you want me to lie down? I wanna leave you room."

"You're fine where you are. Don't you want something to eat?" Elin slowly let himself down onto the soft bedding, not bothering to respond. He was starving, but his exhausted mind just wanted to rest. He felt her warm body next to him. Elin blushed. He was used to sleeping alone. His father hadn't been much of a family otter. Unlike many families who snuggled together before going to sleep, Elin usually curled up alone. It felt odd having the soft fur of the other otter pushed up against him. He could feel the soft beating of her heart and the fiery warmth of her body.

"Are you awake?" Caudi whispered. Elin nodded yes. He didn't know if he had been awake before she spoke to him. The blind otter dreamt nothing over the previous night. It felt like he had only laid down moments ago. Caudi hadn't moved. She was still pushed up against him in the same way that they had fallen asleep the night before.

"Is it morning?" he asked.

"Yeah, you want some food?" Elin nodded. Caudi laboriously stretched before standing up and walking over to the other half of the den. She pushed open a wooden chest and rooted around inside. Elin smelled the distinctive scent of fish. He couldn't identify many smells, but an otter would be hard pressed to not recognize fish.

"I don't have much in here," she said, "but I'll go out and catch some more later." He was happy for the food. He had barely eaten the day before. The fish was smoked and dried to ensure that it would keep. Even so, the meat tasted somewhat stale. He didn't complain. The hungry otter devoured the meal in barely any time.

"I'm gonna go shoot some scat, want to come?" Elin looked up, surprised.

"With what?"

"My bow, stupid."

"Oh, right." Heat rushed to the blind otter's face. He had forgotten that she knew how to shoot a bow. Everything was blending together in his mind.

She led him out of the den. The air was cooler outside. "Is it still dark? It feels so cool out here."

"Look at you! You're learning!" Caudi exclaimed, "It's colder outside when it's dark!" She playfully bumped into him. "Next, you can sniff my ass and tell me what otters smell like."

Elin laughed. "But how're you gonna see where to shoot?"

"Don't worry about me!" She teased. Suddenly, she darted from his side and bounded ahead. "Come on, it's flat here. You won't trip!" He grinned and ran after her. Caudi led him with her voice, weaving in and out of trees, calling out warnings whenever Elin was about to run into something. However, she didn't bother warning him when they got to the river. Caudi watched laughing like a hyena as the male splashed into the river. She set aside her bow and quiver and dove in after him.

The two otters played in the water. Caudi carefully put herself between Elin and the edges of the wide body of water whenever he grew too close. They splashed and dove; they swam circles and bounced off of each other. Eventually, Caudi guided Elin back to the shore and they climbed out. Grinning, the blind otter shook the water from his fur.

"I thought you wanted to practice your archery."

"Yeah, and I'll use you as a target if you aren't careful."

"There can't be much sport in shooting a blind otter," Elin teased.

"It'd be a waste of an arrow." She nipped at his ear. Leaves rustled around her paws and wood clanked into the stone under her feet. An arrow distantly thunked into a tree.

"Was that a cool shot?"

"I just pinned a leaf to a tree a hundred tail lengths away." Arrows clacked in her quiver, the bowstring snapped forward, and a light breeze galloped past Elin. "You wanna try?"

"I thought you didn't want to waste arrows!"

"That's not what I said," she said slyly.

Elin stood on his hind legs in silent agreement. The long bow was placed into his right paw and a moment later an arrow was set in his other paw. "Okay now, put your paws together like this." Caudi's guided his arms together until the arrow was above the hand holding the bow. "Now use your paw as leverage there to fit the notch at the back of the arrow into the bowstring." Elin's nimble fingers traced the feathers as his paw was led back towards the base of the arrow. He then set it carefully against the string.

"Give me a moment," Caudi muttered. She left his side and Elin was left balancing on his hind legs with an arrow notched in her bow. She returned after a moment and slipped a soft leaf between his bow paw. The arrow balanced above it. "Keep you from gettin' a burn. Alright, now slowly draw it back." He did as he was told.

The string was tight and hard to move. Elin barely pulled it the length of his ear before his paw began to shake and he couldn't pull it any farther. Caudi adjusted the aim of the bow in his paw and then tapped his quivering arm. "Go ahead." The arrow sprung from the string, whipping past his paws and away from the confines of the bow. He heard a light thunk and then a second, lighter sound.

"Well, you hit the tree!" Caudi laughed. "I just wish I had a training bow for you, I've got a lot of weight on that drawstring."

"How far can you pull that thing?" Elin exclaimed. She grabbed the bow from his paws. He heard the distinctive sound of an arrow being knocked.

"Go ahead and see for yourself," she said through strained teeth. Paws grasped in the direction of the female's voice. First, he felt the soft fur over tense, prominent shoulder muscles. He followed the otter's short forelimb down to her paw, as stiff and still as a tree branch. It tightly gripped the base of the arrow shaft, squeezing it against the taut bowstring. He followed the long wooden shaft of the arrow, brushing past the feathers, until he felt the cold metal arrowhead pressed against the long wooden shaft. She had drawn the bow out to the full length of the long arrow.

Elin imagined the figure of the muscular female holding the bow. How long was that arrow? It had been painfully hard for him to pull the sting back at all. Stretching the arrow to its fullest length on the sturdy bow would have seemed impossible if the blind otter didn't have the proof standing in front of him.

"How'd you learn to shoot like that?" Elin asked as they walked back. Caudi had spent upwards of two hours shooting her bow and playing with the blind otter before they decided to go back to her den.

"I trained in Fenbury ever since I was a little pup."

Elin asked the question that has been weighing on his mind. "So why'd you leave and come all the way out here?" Caudi stiffened like she did when Elin asked her who she was.

"I didn't want to be in the military." she said stiffly. Elin didn't entirely believe her. The otter girl didn't seem to be a very good liar. However, he chose not to push her.

That afternoon, Caudi left to fish while Elin stayed at her den. It hurt to be alone. He had struggled to live under his father. Growing up without love or companionship had been a pitiful existence. Elin had done everything that he could to please his father, but nothing had ever earned even a simple smile or a congratulations. Yet, his struggles of youth paled next to the sheer helplessness he felt when trying to survive alone in a world of total darkness. He explored the den, walking circles around the small enclosed area. Paws felt at every groove and object in the room as he tried to recreate the exact layout of the room in his mind. However, he didn't venture outside. The thought of being lost and blind in the forest was terrifying.

His sense of smell seemed sharper after only a day with no sight. When Caudi came back, he smelled her first. A deep earthy aroma wafted into the room, followed by soft padded footsteps. She brought fresh fish, much more than either of them needed. After a quick meal, Caudi smoked the rest of the fish for later.

Over the next few days, Caudi pushed Elin to be more adventurous. She refused to guide him by her shoulder when she brought him along on her errands. She convinced him to explore the forest around her den whenever he stayed back. Within the week, Elin had navigated the space directly outside the den. Within a fortnight, Elin had learned his way to the nearby river where Caudi practiced her archery.

Luckily, he was near the den when the bandits came. Even more luckily, he was downwind. He began to run as soon as he smelled the faint mix of unwashed fur and dried blood. He stopped, a cold sweat spreading across his body. The den was slightly southeast from where he was standing, but there was a big tree almost directly to the east that he could orient himself with. Elin slowly turned, carefully stepping at right angles to keep his sense of direction. He darted to the landmark as fast as he could.

He nearly rammed into the tree, but he slowed down in time. There was a knot in the tree that faced Caudi's den. He ran his paw along the rough bark until he found it. He flipped himself around and ran again.

"That's the otter over there!" someone shouted.

Elin stumbled into the den, scurrying to the back. Caudi kept a knife for skinning leather somewhere in her pile of clutter. He tripped over her bow.

"Scat!" he swore. He grabbed the weapon and slung the quiver over his body. The blind otter knew that he had no chance of fighting anyone. His only hope was to find Caudi. He slipped out of the den entrance, praying that he hadn't made a mistake.

"There she is!" a different, gruffer voice called. They were close. A crossbow bolt whizzed past his head and buried itself into the ground. "Teach you to fuggin steal from us you little piece of scat!"

Elin turned to run, but then stopped. He could smell someone from that direction too. "Hey, that ain't the girl! It's that stupid boy from the cart!"

"No shit!" the gruff voice called back, "Thought he'd hitch a ride after we did'm!"

"He'll be dead out here anyway when we bag the bitch. Put the pitiful fuck outta his misery." A crossbow twanged.

"Elin!" Caudi screamed.

A massive gust slammed into his side. It lifted Elin into the air and hurled him across the forest floor. He crashed into the roots of a tree.

"Gods above! What in the stars was that?" one of the attackers shouted.

He heard a thud, and then a scream. "It hurts! Otoc! Help!"

"Sweet Melur!" a throaty voice swore. "Yer fucked! She's a damned witch, run!"

Caudi was next to Elin. He could smell her earthy scent. The bow slipped from his side and two arrows were drawn from the quiver slung across his back. The twang of the bowstring was familiar. The agonized scream that followed wasn't. The sound of the firing bow reverberated in Elin's ears again. He didn't hear another voice join the howls of pain, but he heard, even from a distance, the sound of flesh being parted.

The quiver rustled again. Three more voices joined the choir of agony as Caudi fired three more times. Then the bow clattered to the ground. The pattering of paw steps moved away. A faint clinking echoed out of the den. Caudi came back. She didn't walk back to Elin. She walked to the closest moaning and writhing animal.

"No! Please, no!" The animal was silenced. Some of the other bandits howled louder. Some pleaded for their lives. One grew completely silent and tried to drag himself away despite the excruciating pain of the arrow lodged between his shoulder blades. Despite the clever bandit's composure, he too was reduced to crying and begging as Caudi made her rounds. Suddenly, everything was silent. The clanking of her dropped metal knife sounded like a thunderclap.

Caudi's light paw pads descended back into her den. Wood scraped; she pulled the makeshift plank door over the entrance.

Elin was stunned. He wandered towards the nearest corpse in a daze. It wasn't hard to find with the strong acrid scent of blood. He fumbled over the crossbow, fallen from the animal's paws and then placed a paw on its face. A hyena. It figured, hyenas had a harder time standing on two legs, so it fired a crossbow from all fours. His stomach lurched as he felt the neck. Blood still pooled out of a long incision. The blind otter turned away. He didn't want to strengthen the disturbing image of the bloody hyena's limp body in his mind.

He pulled the planks off of the den entrance. Caudi's scent led him to the bedding. She was curled up in a tight ball. The blind otter curled around her.

"Do you know what they do to witches in Fenbury?" she whispered.

"No."

"They nail you to a board, stretched out and belly up. They start with your toes. Each one is slowly cut off and then," she hesitated, "the open wounds are sealed with white hot tongs. Then they begin to tear you apart, piece by piece. The tongs dig into your skin and burn it to where it can be pulled off like a leaf from a branch. "

The otter girl quivered. Elin wanted to say something, but he couldn't find words. Caudi continued, "At first they only take small bits at a time, from your arms, legs, tail, stomach. Your insides start to fall out of the holes they tear from you. But you're awake the whole time. If you pass out, they use smelling salts. When they say you're ready to die, they take a poker from the fire and slowly drive it into you like a spit."

Elin shuddered at the description. There had never been a real witch hunt in the Emerald Moors. However, he had been taught of the hell worship that gave them powers and the vile punishments for such actions. Yet he had never heard of one in such detail.

"You've seen this?"

"Yes," she choked out, "they did that to a dog as the entertainment for a kingdom-wide archery contest. We were all cheering... Gods damn it, I couldn't let any of them get away! I don't want to die like that!" Caudi's voice quivered, "I'm not a devil, Elin, I swear. I don't worship the hells. I pray to the emperor and Bleyen and Melur and all the other gods! I can't control it when that happens..."

"The wind?"

"Yeah. It's like an emotional reaction, completely natural - like trying to hold back a cough. I can't stop it. That's why I ran. I guess I got so emotionally connected to my archery my arrows started to carry my hell-wind with them. I couldn't hold it back and it was just getting stronger. So I grabbed as much as I could. Bow, arrows, rope, knife, all the essentials, you know? I got as far out as this, but I needed to stay near the road. I had to get supplies still; I can't actually keep going all by myself. So I traded with people going by and I found this den here - I think it was made by some feral. But I ran out of things to trade. I stole from the bandits. It's all my fault Elin, I'm so sorry! Please don't hate me."

Both otters were quiet for a long time. Elin wanted to be careful about what he said. "I could never hate you after what you did for me."

"You're such an idiot." She couldn't help but laugh, but her voice quickly fell again. "You should be terrified of me."

"I'm stupid, but loyal. I guess I should've been born a dog, right?" Caudi laughed again.

"Beebrain."

The next day, Elin helped Caudi move the corpses. It was disgusting, but necessary work. The bodies burned in a pyre as Caudi whispered a prayer for them to find their path among the stars. Elin didn't understand. She must have realized that these were the same bandits who took Elin's sight and ransacked his cart. Still, he bowed his head respectfully to her prayer.

For the rest of the week, Caudi left Elin at the den as she made the two day trek to and from the bandit encampment to cart back anything useful they had. Before long, life seemed almost normal.

"Hey Caudi?"

"Yeah?"

"What do you look like?"

She giggled. "Did you forget my name too, dummy?"

Elin sputtered, "It's not like that! I mean, I have a bit of a picture of you in my mind, but I want to really know!"

"Is that picture cute?" She asked slyly. Heat rushed to the blind otter's face.

"Yeah, you are," he muttered.

"What a flatterer!" She laughed. "I don't know if I can live up to your imagination." Elin was too embarrassed to respond. A paw tapped at his nose. "Maybe you could find out for yourself."

"What do you mean?" Elin asked, confused.

Wordlessly, Caudi led Elin's paw to her cheek. "Use your paw, beebrain." She cooed the pet-name. Short stiff fur bristled as he moved against the grain and felt around her muzzle. It was short and slim, typical for an otter, but he could feel the precise shape and form. His paw kept moving along the curves of her jawbones and the barely perceptible ridge above her eyes. He tried to picture her face. The soft rounded ears and the wide firm neck. Her eyes.

"What color are your eyes?"

"Hazel."

"And your fur?"

"Put your finger on my nose," she said. Her voice was quiet, nearly a whisper. "Draw it down to the right - no, that's too far! Back a little. There, now go up until you're almost at my eye. My white coat touches my left eye right near its end. It comes back down at the back tip of my eye. Slowly. Now, it goes back behind my shoulder a little bit, like it missed its mark, but it curves back up and around my shoulder and under my chest." Elin had been following her instructions and tracing the blurred line of white and brown fur, but he hesitated as he drew his paw back around her shoulder.

"Go ahead," Caudi whispered. She slowly rolled to the side. Elin's heart beat like a drum. He traced his fingers through the stiff strands of waterproof fur below her neck and between her sturdy forelimbs. "The white here blends into brown fur as you go lower. It starts to change right there where your paw is." He felt the beating of her heart. She sounded so sure of herself, but the pounding in her chest betrayed her.

"Keep going."

His paw slowly descended. Elin had to readjust himself as his short arm couldn't reach as far as she wanted him to. "Right there... there's no more white fur past that spot." She shuddered.

"Keep going."

Elin's face flushed with heat. He smelled a second faint scent mingling with Caudi's. His paw dragged through the smooth brown coat hesitantly. He expected her to tell him to stop, that he had gone too far, but she stayed quiet. His finger brushed over a small nub of skin. Caudi shivered. Elin froze.

"Was that-?"

She cut him off. "Shut up, don't stop." Her soft fur thinned. He felt her smooth warm skin. A second firm nipple slipped under his paw. This time he stopped to feel it, to get a real image of it in his mind. He grasped the small nub carefully between his fingers, slipping one on top the feel the tiny concave indent on the smooth surface. Caudi's tail audibly thrashed back and forth along the den's dirt floor. Elin let go and quickly brushed his paw on to the otter girl's last row of nipples, spaced close enough together that he could almost touch both at once with a single paw. He held his paw between them, on the warm, soft skin, before dragging his fingers up. He traced circles around both sensitive nubs, brushing over them or squeezing one periodically. Elin's mind was almost in a haze. He was so absorbed in Caudi's soft body that the barely noticed the breeze blowing against his fur.

He moved again towards the female's tail. The leathery otter paw wettened against damp, aromatic fur. A finger slipped down, over a small bump, before sliding between two soft wet folds. Caudi gasped, stretching underneath him. Elin blushed a deep crimson. He had never been with a mate before - he had never seen past the fur under a female's tail. The blind otter had no choice but to see with his paws.

His finger drew out from between the soft lips. Caudi rustled, as if in protest, but stopped when he cupped his paw over the length of her slit. The middle digit of his paw poked against the bump again. A squeak escaped from the otter girl. His paw slipped up over her wet fur and he pressed his finger gently against her clit. She moaned.

"Gods Elin, I didn't expect you'd be good at this."

He blushed again. "You're okay with this?"

"If I wasn't, your paw'd be bitten off you idiot - ohh!" She cut herself off as Elin spread her folds. He leaned in and sniffed. Caudi had a strong, musky smell. He could feel the contours of her soft opening, wet and inviting. A wandering finger found her entrance. She gasped as he pressed the leathery digit to her tight hole. And then he drew back. He let her folds pull back together and traced a line down her thin slit.

"Hey! What're you doing?" He held his paw to his muzzle and licked the runny liquid. It didn't taste good, but it wasn't bad either. She was salty and slightly bitter, but there was a hint of sweetness. He leaned in again, guided only by his sense of smell, and licked her damp fur. "You missed, idiot, That's my leg!"

"Well maybe I wanted to start at your leg!" he said through his stuck-out tongue.

"You know you didn't!" Caudi curled around the blind otter, nuzzling her cheek to the stiff fur along his side. "I like that idea though."

Elin grinned. He could taste a stronger musky flavor as he dragged his tongue up to the otter girl's prize. Her folds almost snuck up on him. He knew they were coming, but suddenly they were just there, in front of his short muzzle. He dragged open her sensitive lips as his tongue ran up across them. He could really taste her. It was the same flavor, but it was so overbearingly her, so uniquely Caudi in a way that Elin couldn't explain.

A harsh gasp escaped her lips when he spread her slit with his tongue. He barely gave her time to react before his tongue slipped into her tight passage.

"Gods, Elin!" she groaned. Her hips quivered and her teeth nipped at his side. His fur stiffened in the cool wind, but Caudi, wrapped around his body, was warm and cozy. He pushed his muzzle against her wet folds, his tongue flicking back and forth, up and down. The fur around his mouth dripped with her fluids. Her taste was overwhelming, but he didn't stop. He dug his tongue in and out of her slit. It slipped into her tight passage where her muscles squeezed and begged for more.

Caudi gasped and moaned, arching her back and pushing her pussy hard against Elin's maw. He didn't stop; he kept licking and slurping her wet, squeezing folds. The otter girl's body shook, she nipped again at his back, but he paid no heed. And the she relaxed, slumping to the side.

Suddenly, the supple skin under his tongue pulled away. His sopping wet muzzle felt cold in the breeze.

"Elin?"

"Yeah?"

"You know," she paused, "I've only ever caused wind like that when I shot my bow. I never got a lot of love when I grew up, so I think that I started loving archery. Bleyen's floofy fuckin' tail plume, this is all scattered... I'm not good at this. When I said the wind's like an emotional thing, I really mean that it happens when I feel love. So, yeah." The lips of her muzzle pressed against his own. Elin didn't resist. Her tongue snaked between his lips. He pushed back, tilting his head to better lock their muzzles. Caudi broke the kiss and drew away. Elin was left sitting on the bedding, his senses overwhelmed by Caudi's taste and scent.

"Get on your back, you sexy otter." Elin wasted no time complying. The wind picked up and Elin was suddenly very aware of the cold air against his cock, already half extended from its warm sheath. The warm damp mist of Caudi's breath ticked his skin. The touch of her tongue to his twitching member was electrifying. It was torture to feel the wet surface slide up to the top as Elin throbbed in need, his sheath pushing his sensitive flesh out farther with every gasp and moan that escaped his mouth. She wrapped her lips around the tip of his cock. He groaned. The warm, tight, wet feeling spread, slowly enveloping his cock, already fully erect for the otter girl.

She suckled his hard member. Her long wet tongue curled around his length as Elin's tail thrashed and slammed against the dirt floor. She slid farther down his cock. Her paws gripped his furred balls. She squeezed.

Elin cried out. "Be careful with those!"

"Oh shut up, you can take it." Her paws kneaded his sack like she was the blind otter and not Elin. He moaned, arching his long back. Caudi's spit had grown slimier with the precum dripping into her muzzle. She sucked and slurped, dragging her muzzle up and down his spit-soaked shaft, but she didn't swallow.

Her muzzle slid off of his throbbing cock and he was once again exposed to the blowing winds.

"Caudi," he whined. She didn't answer. A paw pressed into his belly, and another followed. The female climbed up onto him, squeezing his slick member between their coats where it stained their fur with spit and pre. She dragged herself forward until he felt her cold wet nose poking his. Her lips brushed against his. Elin opened his maw to her kiss. He tasted the saltiness of his own fluids and the slight bitterness of Caudi's. He barely noticed when his cock found itself pushing against the soaking wet fur around her slit. His shaft slipped between her two folds. Caudi arched her back, sliding up and down along the slick length.

Then, she pulled far forward, the tip of Elin's member nestled at the very base of her dripping cunt. She stood on her hind legs, paws digging into Elin's chest. His shaft rose with her, eager for more. He slid inside of her as her hips dropped down. Caudi yelped as Elin moaned. She was so tight and warm. The soft walls of her passage massaged his throbbing cock.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I've - I've never done this before," Caudi gasped, "didn't expect it to hurt like that!" Elin, concerned, tried to wiggle out from under her. "No! I'm fine. This kinda pain is nothing." She playfully bit at the male's ear.

"Ow!" She tenderly licked his nose, and then dropped her hind quarters. Elin moaned into Caudi's chin. Her insides gripped him in a gentle, but firm, vice. Pleasure spread through his body, setting his nerves on fire as icy wind buffeted his fur. He wrapped his paws around the warm otter girl and buried his muzzle into her muscular neck. She raised her hips, exposing the lower half of his stiffness to the buffeting gale. Yet the movement felt incredible.

She thrust back down, spearing herself with his throbbing shaft. "Elin," she groaned, "scat, you feel so good!" She thrust, wind blowing between the two otters as they moaned in ecstasy. The otter girl rode him, her tight cunt squeezing and milking his cock.

Caudi steadily built her pace, sliding up and down his long slick member. Her head arched back. Elin squeezed his forepaws around her. It took everything he had not to move, not to do something in response to the feeling rocking his body as the otter girl slammed her hips down against his, over and over.

"I'm almost there!" She gasped. Her rhythm increased. Wind blasted around the small den. Tools fell off shelves and clattered into metal pans strewn about the floor. The chest of dried food creaked and groaned. The planks drawn over the doorway whistled as the gust blew between them. Elin didn't pay attention to any of it. His whole world was on top of him, the neck whose fur his face was buried into. The tight wet passage wrapped around his cock.

Caudi cried out. She slammed her hips down, swallowing his shaft. Her pussy convulsed around him. Her body shuddered and shook. A tempest billowed around them, but the cold sting of the buffeting wind only made everything else feel that much more incredible. The wonderful warmth and tightness of her clenched pussy. He couldn't hold back anymore. He scrunched up his face and squeezed the otter girl against him. His cock throbbed; bursts of hot seed rocketed into her tight passage which clamped around his member and refused to let go. Elin felt incredible. His groaned into Caudi's fur. His nerves burned with pure bliss. Every wave of cum that shot into her tight squeezing body brought with it a wave of rapture.

They held each other, panting. The billowing gusts had died down to a gentle breeze. Their fur was matted with a mix of fluids. The strong scent drifted throughout the den. The scent of their union, their mating. Caudi nuzzled Elin's cheek. He licked her nose.

"I love you, Caudi."

"I love you too, beebrain."

Epilogue:

Caudi and Elin made a home for themselves in the small den, but it was never to last. Despite their distance from Fenbury, the stirrings of war reached even them. When Caudi first heard soldiers within a distance of a day's walk, she decided that they couldn't stay. She took Elin and fled south towards Southbank where they hoped to find a ship to take them to the eastern wilds.