It took a pretty extensive walk and the odd break to let the feet rest, but the long, winding trail eventually lead to the forest's river. It flows across the damp, mushy land, extending its stream through both ways, but there's not even a hint of a bridge to pass through it. Seems the only way to get past through it is to simply wade across.

With such an opportunity in front of them, though, how could you not just take a stop here and jump in? At least, that's what Luke thought as he started to disrobe in front of everyone.

"Ooh, now we're talkin'!" He yells, excited. "So which one of y'all is hoppin' in with me?"

As you'd expect, Ollie's the first one to answer the call, albeit a little embarrassed, considering the show taking place right in front of him. "I'm with you, Luke, but y-you don't have to take it all off in front of everyone! Jeez!"

While this spectacle takes place, Umbra keeps a low profile and mutters something to Claire. "I got an idea. Why don't we let the two lovebirds, ahem, do their thing and head upstream? Wouldn't hurt to have a little privacy for ourselves, too."

The jaguar and the bat slowly slinked out of view, leaving the other two creatures with plenty of space to indeed do their thing. As Luke sat down on the cleansing waters (lacking both worries and clothes) and let it run through his messy hair, Ollie approached him, wading through the flow, with nothing else but a wide smile and his sturdy pair of shorts.

"How's the water?" Ollie asks as he wobbles against the current, up to his chest.

Luke runs his hands through his increasingly wet hair as he answers. "Pretty damn good! You comin' over here, or what?"

"I'm... trying!" the bobcat speaks up, when suddenly, he feels like he's losing his footing, and yelps in surprise.

"Crap! Wait, I gotcha!" Luke hastily jumps towards him, and grabs his hand to keep Ollie safely above water. It's not very dangerous, considering they both know how to keep themselves afloat, but the thought alone caused the coyote to spring into action.

"Hate to say it, pal," Luke continues, "but you're a li'l too short to be walkin' straight into the river like that."

"I'll, um... should we stay a bit closer, then?" Ollie says, having found himself in a tight embrace again.

"Hope you don't mind." Luke responds, cradling his cheek and delivering a soft kiss. Ollie turns redder than a tomato, burying his face into Luke's chest once again.

While these two are busy kicking off the romantic side of their relationship, Claire and Umbra have found a comfortable spot to bathe upstream. Sitting on a rock and allowing Umbra to clean her fur, Claire watches the stream below her rush through the pebbles.

It seems there's a lot on her mind. "This trip turned out a lot better than we thought it would, huh?"

Umbra replies: "You can say that again. To be honest, though, I can't wait to see what that new village is like. And I think tomorrow'll be a good day to reach it, considering tonight is..."

Claire instantly realizes what she means. "Ah, that's right! It's a full moon tonight, isn't it? Don't worry about it, I already have everything ready. I brought the proper spell, the healing herbs, the... salmon?"

Turning her head down, Claire sees a lone salmon swimming past her, derailing her thoughts, and looking down the river, sees plenty more heading her way. The sight is a lucky break that already has her salivating.

Umbra notices right away. "Hey, isn't Ollie's favorite food...?"

Claire nods joyfully.

Umbra continues. "And, did we bring anything to catch these with us?"

Claire almost shakes her head in defeat, but a clever thought crosses her mind. If her ancestors managed to pull this off, she ponders, then it shouldn't be tough for someone with perfectly good hands and claws to do it as well... right?

With that in mind, she has a determined look in her eyes. "Say, Umbra, you mind helping me out with this? I think we found our dinner."

Umbra seems a bit puzzled. "Wouldn't it be way easier to use a spell for this?"

Claire seems to be very aware of this, but her smile is both persistent and contagious. "Ah, but we can totally try this first, can't we? It's gonna be real fun!"

Though the two spent a good while chasing after the fish with little success (but plenty of fun, for what it's worth), it ended up being kinda fruitless when Luke arrived at the scene carrying a fishing rod. Not to say he didn't try catching a salmon or two with his bare hands, too...

As the sun started setting again, the group feasted on their meal, cooked lovingly by Ollie, who could barely wait to try it out for himself.

The group set up camp not soon after. The night is young.