Page 22 of Ash

His bear's brow raised, and his midnight eyes stared right into Ash's eyes.

When it comes, human.

Ash listened intently.

Don't make a mess of it.

Ash wanted to cuff his bear on the shoulder, but he knew that wasn't going to work in so many ways.

If we were somehow in the same place at the same time...

That's right, his bear grumbled deep in his chest,it would be thelastthing you do.

Did you forget that we... are one and the same?

His bear turned onto his other side, looking into the darkness beyond the space of their consciousness.I never forget a thing.

Chapter

Five

When the morning arrived and the sun warmed his face through the large window of his room, Ash woke up to find the world was different from the day before.

The air in his small home was clear and sharp.

His sense of his bear felt as if the massive bear was just beneath the surface of his skin.

And along with it, came the push and control of that beast.

Beast? His bear snarled the word, but there wasn't much bite to it.

Before he could ruminate over it, Ash was up on his feet and headed to the river behind his home.

He could have used the shower in the house, but he wanted the rushing power of the water waking up from it's winter slumber.

It was one of the benefits to not wearing anything when he slept.

All he had to do was open the back door and step outside, jog down the steps and cross the twenty feet or so to the river at its closest to the house, and splash into the water.

The water was cold, bracingly so, but it felt like life.

His bear roared up inside of him.

Ash smiled as he hadn't smiled in years and with that smile he gave himself over to the bear inside of him.

That earlier roar became a real one, loud enough to shake the trees around them.

Inside the bear, Ash laughed out loud and felt like a child of sorts.

You are always a child, his bear chided him as he splashed around in the icy water.

I had forgotten how much fun this could be.

The bear leapt from one large rock to a smaller one, but instead of landing securely, they slipped and the water splashed up into the air and covered them with showers of droplets that looked like diamonds in the clear morning air.

A wren's call churred and chattered in the air above their heads and the bear sat back hard on his haunches in the river.

Together they lifted the bear's large head and looked up into the trees.

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