Badar breathed out a relieved sigh when her father stepped back, seemingly giving her permission to continue with whatever plan she had half-formed. Then, she had to breathe that sigh right back in as a small hiccup of surprise when she turned back to the bridge and saw the Diveen boy beginning to cross. She hadn’t meant for him to come so soon! Shouldn’t they have waited for a few moments, testing the strength of the bridge before trying to cross? She had planned to stand atop the area closest to the shoreline to garner a better understanding of how the logs moved, and how to adjust accordingly and to...Well, all her plans didn’t matter anymore, did they? He had already started, and he had already made some errors that had caused Badar to jerk and grit her teeth in anticipation of seeing him tumble right off the logs. Of course, he didn’t. At least, not yet.

She gave one last look to both Eira and Eden, flattened ears and sheepish grin, before she hoisted herself up the first tier of logs. She scrambled at first, swaying uneasily as the logs adjusted to her weight, but she did not look back. Instead, she crouched for a moment, repositioned her paws, frowned deeply and gave herself a stout, reaffirming nod. It wasn’t so bad! It took her a moment to get a proper feel for it but as the boy scrambled on his belly, Badar finally began her own trek across the top of the bridge. She kept low – though, not on her belly for her own pride’s sake – as if hunting as she carefully watched her own paws. She placed them slowly and deliberately, swaying in time with the logs and pausing completely any time she felt the vibrations and accompanying groan that accompanied a large shift beneath the water.

Throughout her trek, she couldn’t help but smile. She ignored everything but her immediate task, but she was truly in awe of it all! It wasn’t until she had gotten closer to the boy that she had really been able to appreciate the sheer strength of the water and logs beneath them; she could feel and hear the rocks below as they slid across the bottom of the river, and the roar of the water took on a different sound as she neared the middle. At the edges of the bridge, the roars were accompanied with hisses and howls as the water met solid earth but in the open, it was like a continuous thunder, and yet it did not seem nearly as loud. It was calming, she thought, as she rose up suddenly in order to encourage the other wolf towards her. She waved her tail and then dropped suddenly to her own belly as the logs moved ever so slightly beneath them once more – so, she had to admit there was a little fear in her, huh? Rather, caution. Her father would have called it caution.

She motioned towards the other, as silent as ever though her mouth moved to imply a bark. With her muzzle though, she swept it towards her flank as she slowly began to pivot, crouched once more. If they took the journey back together, she’d be able to show the boy some of the easier sections to pass over. Besides, she had to admit that after the first half of the journey, it might be nice to have some company – to feel another living body nearby. Despite the excitement of it all, the awareness of the river’s real strength had made her legs feel just a little cold and wobbly.

Of course, she had some manners. So, even if the boy took his position at her side, she’d allow him the honors of leading – or at least, feeling like her was leading. In truth, Badar was ever subtly poking her muzzle towards certain logs and branches and ensuring her paws always pointed the right way. Without a voice, she had to learn to be subtle in different ways. She just hoped he’d not notice and be...bothered - offended, even! - seeing as how young he was. Badar remembered that. Boys his age had such tender, fragile egos!