「Four days later.」
The weather was perfect.
The sky, washed clean by the storm, was a dazzling blue. Hot sunlight spilled down, drawing a warm, steamy scent of earth and water vapor from the banks of the Reed River.
Summer was announcing its arrival with its brilliant color palette.
Along the banks of the Reed River, the current was still swift, carrying the unique turbidity of the post-storm floodwaters as it battered the reeds leaning askew on the shore.
The old beaver, "Kenk-kenk," sat motionless on the damp mudflats, its back to the warm sun. Its once glossy, brownish-tan fur was now plastered wetly to its body, its small figure exuding a listless air.
Its precious dam… was gone.
It had been easily washed away in the earth-shattering storm a few days prior, torn apart by the surging floodwaters from upstream as easily as a naughty child rips up a piece of scrap paper.
