02

Kel dragged himself from the water and shook vigorously. His coat huge and shaggy under the moon, eyes wide and curious as they look at everything all at once. Meel stared at him.

"What?" he said.

"What's going on, Kel?" she said. She sounded mad, like he'd done something wrong again. Kel searched his memory for a clue, came up empty.

"You're not supposed to swim, Kelanbrod!"

His expression fell. He did do something wrong. Stupid dog. His brow worried up and he felt shame.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I didn't know. I won't do it again. Please don't be mad at me, please don't leave me here all alone."

"Leave you here all alone?"

"Please don't! I won't do it again, I promise. I've never done it before!"

The watercur was amazed that she had managed to keep a straight face up to that point. The poor, beautiful, stupid boy was too much.

"Tandolisi don't swim, Kel."

The warhound was more confused now. "Why not?" he asked.

"They don't like water. It terrifies them."

Kelambrod's eyes widened and he glanced nervously over his shoulder at the moonlight dancing on the surface of the lake.

"Why?" he whispered. "What's wrong with it?"

Meel couldn't contain herself any longer and burst out laughing. He had such an earnest look on his face. The Tandolisi smiled even though he didn't know what was going on. He just liked the sound of Meel's laugh. It made him happy, too.

"Come on, boy," she said. "Let's find somewhere safe to rest."