Spirit had been on Branch's mind all day, he was lying in his bed trying to hold back his tears. He thought about the photos of her on his wall and remembered when he and Spirit were young. Specifically, their first meeting.

15 years earlier

It had been about three days since Spirit was born and Branch thought it was time to finally meet her properly. Since Spirit was so young, she had been staying really close to her mother, Kayla. Branch had been seeing her swim around in the water alongside Kayla, showing her determination in everything she did. That spirit was what gave her her name. Branch climbed up onto the lagoon edge and cautiously approached the sandy nest that Kayla was in. She was curled up with Spirit nuzzled in the curve of her mother's tail. Her mate, Kotar was just outside of the nest playing with their first-born son, Storm. Kayla perked up her head and started growling when she heard Branch's footsteps, causing him to jump back a few steps, but her expression relaxed when she recognized the young gray troll. Branch started to walk closer to Kayla and placed a hand on her nose, then they both looked down at the tiny baby lykar calf curled up in Kayla's tail. Spirit was barely bigger than Branch, when stood up on all fours she would only be a few inches taller than him. Spirit rose her head and looked around confusingly, her big blue eyes were wide as she took a look at Branch and sniffed at him. She started to climb up onto Kayla's tail to get a closer look at him, Branch tried to place his hand on her head, but she backed her head away, her ears flattening. She was on top of her mother's tail and fell off into the sand. Branch gasped, hoping she was okay. Spirit shook her head and perked up her ears, trying to get back onto her feet. Being so young, her legs were still a little unstable. Branch smiled at her, trying to keep in his laughter. Kayla nudged Spirit from behind to help stand her upright, once on her feet, she got closer to Branch, curious about him. Branch knelt down in the sand and let Spirit come to him, she was now face to face with him, sniffing him and started to nibble his ear. Branch laughed as it tickled him.

"Hi Spirit," Branch said calmly. Spirit let out a small bark in return, her tail wagging rapidly as she nuzzled her head into Branch's. The two were face to face, looking deep into each other's blue eyes. Branch hugged Spirit's head as she stumbled onto his lap. He never felt happier.

Ever since that day, Branch knew his friendship with Spirit would grow and blossom into something truly beautiful. And it did. They had a bond that could never be broken, no matter how far apart away they were. Branch would have given anything for Spirit to come back to him. He burrowed his face into his pillow and sniffed, trying so hard not to cry. He had his lykar fluke-shaped pendant clutched in his hand, keeping it close to his heart so it felt like Spirit was still with him.

"Please come back to me, girl," Branch pleaded, tearfully.

***

Spirit heard muffled voices ring in her ears, she couldn't find the strength to move or even open her eyes. She was exhausted, all the lykars were. She forced her eye open ever so slightly and the bright sunlight immediately closed it again. She opened her eye again and saw a shadow in front of her, blocking out the light. It was the silhouette of a sea lykar.

"One's awake!" The sea lykar called out. Spirit shook her head and squinted up at the lykar, trying to lift her head off of the ground. She looked around and saw that she was in some kind of cave, the brown rock shining in the golden sunlight. Spirit and her friends were curled up together on the mossy ground, the others started to wake up as they felt Spirit move. "You're lucky we got to you in time," the strange lykar spoke. She had sand-colored fur with amber flippers and flukes. "Those eels could have done great harm to you."

"I don't think I'm going to be eating eels for a long while," Askar groaned as he looked at the scars and bruises on his body from the eels.

"My name is Amber," the lykar said. "And you're with the clan now." Spirit and her friends all looked at each other, confused.

"Clan?" Ula asked. Amber nodded. Behind Amber, another lykar came into the cave. He had dark fur with blue fins and had a huge scar down his face. The lykars gulped, slightly intimidated by this new lykar.

"You're all awake, that's a relief," he spoke. "My name is Shadow, the leader of this clan." The lykars relaxed when they heard Shadow's reassuring words.

"Thank you for saving us, Shadow," Spirit began, "but could you tell us about this clan you're talking about?" Shadow smiled.

"Follow me," Shadow replied as he turned. When they walked out of the cave, the lykars were wide-eyed. They were on an enormous island inhabited by sea lykars of all sizes, ages, colors and species. There were huge pools of water embedded into the golden rock with lykars relaxing, playing and socializing. "For decades, our clan has been a safe sanctuary for all lykars separated from their pods," Shadow explained. "We take them in, care for them and they become part of our family."

"This place is incredible!" Ali exclaimed. The others agreed.

"Indeed it is," Shadow said, "you all must be hungry." They nodded rapidly.

"Amber will lead you to the fruit trees," Shadow said as he pointed his snout to Amber.

"Right this way," Amber directed. Askar, Corkscrew, Ali and Ula followed, but Spirit stayed with Shadow.

"You're not from around here, are you?" Shadow asked Spirit. "You were separated, weren't you?" Spirit nodded.

"We're just trying to get home," Spirit stated, Shadow nodded slowly.

"What do they call you Kid?" Shadow asked the young lykar.

"Spirit," she replied.

"Well Spirit, know that you are protected under the clan," Shadow smiled. "Now, you should go join your friends." Spirit obeyed and followed.

The five lykars happily ate the fruit as they relaxed in the sun. They spent the rest of the day playing in the water, interacting with other lykars and recovering from their injuries. They all gathered around to watch the sunset.

"This is paradise," Corkscrew sighed happily. Amber and Shadow both laughed.

"We're happy to have you part of the clan," Shadow smiled. Spirit perked up her head, confused.

"Part of the clan?" Spirit repeated. This time, Shadow was the one who was confused.

"Well, we would like to join the clan," Shadow explained, "you'll be safe here, much safer than out there in the ocean." Spirit sighed as she looked down at the ground.

"Shadow, I appreciate the offer but we have to find our family and get back home," Spirit responded.

"Spirit, I know you want to go home, we all do," Ula started, "but the ocean isn't small, it goes on forever. Finding our family may not be as easy as you think." Spirit thought for a moment, Ula did have a point. This island had everything they needed to be happy and safe, the last thing she wanted was to put her friends in danger. But, that would mean that she would never see her parents, her brother or even Branch ever again.

"No," Spirit finally spoke. "I had my family, my pod and my friends stolen away from me when I was a calf, and I'm not gonna let that happen again. Not to me, not to any of you!" The lykars smiled back at her with determination. Spirit turned to Shadow. "I'm sorry Shadow, but a lykar's family is where they belong." She expected Shadow to be disappointed but was the opposite, he smiled down at her.

"I can see why they call you 'Spirit'," he said. "Just remember, that you are always welcome here in the clan."

"Thank you, Shadow," Spirit thanked, lowering her head in respect.

"We wish you the best, and please stay safe. Both in the ocean and at your home," Amber added.

"Don't worry about us," Spirit assured. "The trolls will help keep us safe." The relaxed look on Shadow and Amber's faces soon turned into a surprised look.

"Trolls?" One lykar stepped forward and asked. Spirit and her friends nodded. "As in the two-legged's?" Spirit tilted her head, puzzled.

"They haven't tried to harm you?" Amber questioned. At this point, Spirit had no idea what they were talking about.

"What do you mean?" Spirit asked, nervously.

"Two-leggeds, such as trolls cannot be trusted!" Shadow said sternly. "They have done things that we could never forgive!"

"What? But they helped us," Askar tried to explain.

"They DON'T help us! They only think about themselves!" Shadow barked.

"They are the reason Askar and I are here," Spirit said. "They set us free!"

"We trust them," Askar said firmly. Shadow's face soon relaxed and he sighed.

"I hope that you're right, be careful around them," Shadow warned. Spirit nodded. "You are more than welcome to stay with us for the night to avoid the night hunters."

"Thank you, we appreciate," Spirit thanked. The five lykars were walking down to the shore, they wanted to leave early in the morning and didn't want to wake up any of the clan. On their way, Ali and Corkscrew looked strangely at a large rock near the top of the shore, it looked like it had something engraved into it. They walked over to investigate and their jaws dropped when they saw.

"Uh...guys, I think we found something," Corkscrew hesitated. Spirit, Askar and Ula caught up with them.

"What are you looking at-" Askar's words trailed off when he looked up at the rock. "Whoa!" On the rocks, there were drawings engraved into them. Drawings of what looked like sea lykars and stick figure troll-like creatures.

"These must be thousands of years old," Ula inspected the drawings. "Our ancestors, the trolls' ancestors." As they walked down the length of the rocks, they could see that there were more and more rocks with drawings in them too. Spirit noticed one particular group of drawings which made her heart sink. They were lykars, being chased away by trolls with spears like the rivered trolls had, and trolls whipping their long hair at the lykars.

"This...This is what Shadow was talking about," Spirit said shakily. There were more and more drawings of trolls and lykars attacking each other.

"They...hunted us," Ali gasped. The lykars just stood in silence with their eyes fixed on the rocks. They couldn't believe what they were seeing, it made their stomachs turn. Spirit was breath-taken, she didn't know what to think. The bond she and Branch had was incredible and after seeing these drawings, she questioned their relationship.

"Y-you don't think..." Corkscrew couldn't finish his sentence. "They wouldn't-..."

"No, they would never do anything to hurt us," Spirit butted in. "Our tribes have grown since then...right?" They took one last look at the rocks. "Come on guys, we have a long journey in the morning." They left the rocks and dug nests in the sand to rest. Spirit couldn't get the thought of the drawings off of her mind. She just closed her eyes and wished for the thought of them to go away.