Gage flew for a while, circling around sometimes so Asha was in front of him and he could keep track of the other. It wasn't like he needed to drop back so he could see Asha, but there as something about the hearing sounds from all angles that he liked. Even if the panther moved as silently as possible, he could still hear paws and branches, leaves crunching on the forest floor, or an acorn dropping to the ground, dislodged by the panther's movements. He'd be able to locate Asha without echolocation, but he loved the way the panther looked and moved under that kind of vision too.

Finally, Gage reached the stream that ran through the woods. It was more of a ditch really, something that rain water flowed into during the spring, but turned into a trickle otherwise. Nothing bigger than a minnow lived in there, no doubt choked out by the human debris that got carried in after the most recent rain. He caught a branch with his feet and swung down, waiting for Asha to stop with him.