Fire and Ice

[Soot]

It was the worst idea ever.

The shock of the impact almost made Soot inhale as the water engulfed his body, but he made himself a rock and waited. The slough was not terribly deep; he had to ball himself up in order to keep his head under, but he managed. And as he waited, he got a sense, some deep and instinctual sense, that Ash was experiencing the same deep and biting cold. They were clutchmates. Some things, they were destined for.

He waited until his lungs could not take any more, until his body screamed its protest at him, and he pulled himself up and out of the icy water. His extremities hurt as though he had been pierced by millions of knives, but at the least he didn't see the skinwalkers. Not that they were gone, entirely; he doubted they would give up the chase so easily, not when they were still alive.

It was hard to think as he lay on the ground, shivering, trying to use the power of his shift to warm himself up. It took energy to transform his body in such a significant way, but the release of that energy was warming and drying both. He would need to eat, and soon, but he was able to work himself out of hypothermia and back to some state of normalcy. After resting, he became a raven once more and started fluttering through the trees. He did not dare fly too high. He did, however, flit from tree to tree, cautious and slow, making his way back towards where he'd left Ash. Stupid girl. She was in trouble, he knew it, and he needed to rescue her.

Too much time had passed when he found her on the shore, pale and limp. Panic rose up inside him, and he changed back into his human form as he dashed forward, sliding one arm under her and the other patting at her cheek, hard. "Ay, ay, wake up," he hissed at her. She was so cold. Too cold. "You need to change, you stupid brat!"