Rose watched him wince a bit, and made a mental note to check his wound when they stopped for the night. She matched his speed, not wanting him to try to push himself and reopen the injury. She would be quite annoyed if that happened and she knew he wouldn't want to stop and redress in. He was in a big hurry to get off this island and frankly so was she. She kept an eye on him still, however, one eye on him and one eye on the water. It was a pretty pleasent day for travel, sun was shining, gentle breeze blowing, not to hot not to cold. Yet anyway. It could change but she hoped it wouldn't. She enjoyed the feeling of cutting through the sparkling waves and didn't want it to go away.

Raven spotted Rose swimming through the water with ease and smiled. She definitely looked like she belonged out there. He kept running until around midday before his shoulder started to protest. He slowed to a trot before barking out to Rose to tell her they were stopping to rest. He walked up the shore before laying down next to a tree. He hated sand in his fur and salt water at that. After the swimming part was over, he probably would never go to a beach again. Although, that would also mean not seeing Rose, but she would want to get back to her pack after this trip so he supposed that would be okay.

Rose heard the barks and turned in towards the shore. She had been thinking as she swam, and she was going to do some scavenging after she checked Raven's wound. She pulled herself out of the water and up ont the beach, staggering a bit as she shook her pelt and sent salt water flying in all directions. Padding close to Raven, she gently laid down her shells and licked her dry nose and lips. "Let me see your shoulder." She suggested gently. "I may need to redress it before we continue. We also need to find some fresh water to drink. Sunlight reflecting off the water is very strong and can dehydrate one quickly." She wagged her tail gently at him before beginning to bite through the now-dried vines and pull them off to check his injury." How are you feeling?" She quired, voice still soft, perhaps from thirst. She didn't want to sound scratchy at all.

Raven looked up at Rose as she spoke before saying, "Follow me first. You can check my shoulder after we find some water." He got up, padding into the forest. He set his paws carefully advising Rose to do the same, "Watch out for thorns on the ground and roots that will trip you." He said, looking back at her before pausing a moment later. A deer path ran in front of him but that wasn't why he had stopped. He might come back to it later yes, but he could hear the sound of ducks. Ducks meant water. Padding forward again, he weaved the trees before they came out to a lazy stream. The water passed slowly, not like the waterfalls he had seen in the past. He smiled before dipping his muzzle into it, drinking his fill while occasionally looking up to scan the surroundings. Once done, he layed down next to the stream, laying his head on his paws.

Rose wagged her tail gratefully and picked up her shells once more. Time to put one of her ideas to the test. She was grateful for his warnings as she stepped along behind him, thankful that the long swim seemed to have eased the pain in her hind paws. She was naturally clumsy and had bad luck, so she didn;t doubt that she would trip over something at some point in their journey. She pricked her ears as she heard the ducks, and her tail waved harder. Maybe friends! She thought. Ducks always carried good gossip, and even though she wasn't once for ill meant stories about other creatures, they also inadvertantly carried some o the best news around. You could learn alot with one converstation with a duck. However, when they came across a slow stream, there were no ducks in sight, so she conteneded herself with gulping delicious mouthfuls of the clear cold water. Once she had drunken her fill, she dipped the clam shells into the water and closed them to fill them, then stuffed them into the mud to seal the cracks. This took several tries before one stuck, and she carefully laid it down on the mossy bank to dry before grabbing the next one to repeat.

Raven watched Rose and her shells for a couple of moments before figuring out what she was doing. Of course, you couldn't drink salt water which meant that you needed fresh water. And she was going to use the shells to carry the water she needed when she was swimming. Which came to another problem. How was she going to drink and hold onto them while swimming? Hmm. . .he had only seen a female do it once and that was to carry herbs but...it should work.

He got up, reaching high in the first tree finding nothing. Going to the next tree, he pulled down a long vine before dropping it back where he had been laying. Leaping over the stream, he snuffled in the tree roots before pulling out a wide root, tearing it gently through the center and stuffing some leaves in to get the juices out. Once that was done, he picked up the lightweight root and jumped back over the stream. "Hold still," He said around the root before wrapping the vine around her chest, securing the root nicely to her shoulder. He sat back, watching it for a moment before shrugging scratching an ear. "That should hold for a little bit. You can put your shells in there and get them out when you need them. That root, once drained of its juice, can be waterproof for a couple days at a time." He explained to her, shaking out his fur.

Rose inspected it once it was wrapped around her, and her tail, which had gone stiff while he worked, began to wave wildly. "Thank you!" She said, eyes sparkling, but then she paused. "Did you get one for yourself? These were meant ofr you as well." She cocked her head and looked at him. "Did you think I'd only store water for me?" She looked almost hurt, but not quite.

Raven looked over at her surprised before saying, "Out in the ocean, you don't have fresh water. If I just go a little ways inland every once in a while, I can stay near the river and drink my fill before returning to the beach. It only takes me a few moments." He cocked his head before blinking at her, "My mother taught me how to sniff out drinkable water while running. So that will help you more than it would me." He said, flicking his ears at her.

Rose's ears drooped and she turned back to the stream, looking uninterested at her former task. "Okay." She said softly, making a visable effort to not appear dissapointed. She foribly wagged her tail and whipped her head back around, eyes a bit dull but a pnting grin on her face. "You feel up to hunting then while i finish these?" Her body was stiff but she was trying hard to be happy. She felt kinda awful that he seemed to thinkk she had no survival skills in the woods. It wasn't his fault, he didn't know she had been on her own for most of her life and that she was often in the woods and meadows almost as often as she scavenged the beaches and swam in the sea. Almost being key. She wished she was better at communicating, it would make her life so much better. But she was so shy and scared she just couldn't find the courage to talk about herself. As these thoughts had been running in her head, her body had frozen up and her eyes unfocused, but she snapped out of it and shook her pelt. "Ahh, got lost in thought." She mumbled so low it was hard to hear.

Her ears drooped a little bit and he tilted his head. Did he say something? He knew that most Sea Wolves wouldn't come on shore just for water before going back out. Which made this idea great. Forest Wolves would simply lap up a couple of mouthfuls, taking a couple of seconds before running onwards. They only had to do it every 1-2 hours to keep up the pace, but that was also with practice.

Shaking his thoughts out of his head, he got up, "Yeah, I'm going to follow that deer trail back there. See what I can find. Will you be good?" He asked, dipping his head to meet her eyes. She looked lost in thought and she mumbled just that a moment later. "I will be back shortly. . .do you like deer?" He started heading back into the woods before tilting his head towards her, pausing.