How wonderful it is to spend time with my brother. He always knows the best way to calm me down. I don't think he knows that I know what he is doing but while I might be timid I was very observant. I understood that the things he did were meant to distract me and they often worked. I was grateful for him for that. I heard that my older siblings were close but I didn't think anyone could be as close as me and Thor. Even if we had older siblings he was MY sibling before all else. I loved him in much the same way as mother and father and perhaps more because we spent more time together. Playing, exploring (not far until now), and joking. I didn't care if I was silly with him because he always thought I was funny and was never mean to me except in jest. I think if something ever serious was to happen to Thor I would be lost. I might throw myself in front of a bear - for father had told us the story about how the mighty bear in Asteraia had killed our uncles - just to save him because what would this world be without him? Then again I didn't know just how big a bear was.

Thor tries to throw off my fear with his own jests. Just because he said he wouldn't go under didn't mean that he wouldn't. I knew that wolves said things even if they didn't mean them just like when mom said we were safe, would always be safe, because I remembered the story daddy had told us and I bet they had thought it was safe. So I nodded, played along, but kept an ever vigilant watch on the world around us. I shook my head almost violently at his words, dismissing them before they even stuck. No way was I gonna encourage him to go into that water. What if there were fish with big mouths that could swallow him whole if he got sucked under? Then I would NEVER be able to save him.

"No, come look Thor," I encourage him as I race away, sighing in relief then I glance back to see him running after me. No doubt he knew what I had planned but he seemed truly entranced and it eased some of my tensions so that my black tipped tail could wave back and forth in excitement. When he trips I dart towards him in much the way a fox would, pausing with my nose touching his shoulder as he straightens and keeps going, not even giving a second thought to what could have happened. It ramps up my tension once more but I stick closer to him.

Suddenly he grins, that devilish grin that I love and hate because it means something probably equally devastating is about to happen, but I grin back because I can't help it. I see that flat tail and it looks huge. Like it could lift me up and toss me away but still I crouch down beside him as if I, too, will charge it, and I wiggle my butt so that my hips bump into Thor's. "I'll beat you," I say and squeal, my high pitched voice giving me away as I leap forward and the beaver freezes in panic. Even if I get to it before brother what the heck would I do with it? In my moment of sudden realization I trip, one paw beneath another and I toppled to the left so that I fall right in the path of my brother at the edge of the water.