"Sure," he agreed easily, and smiled, "I'd like that."

It was a good thought, though somehow strange that he didn't feel jealous over it. The thought of the riverbed empty make him feel like baring his teeth and clutching what little he possessed close. In fact that was the feeling— possessiveness. Thinking about people living by, drinking from, dangling their feet in his river felt that it should have made him unhappy somehow, in much the same way.

But it didn't. Haku tilted his head to one side and the dangling angle of his hair followed, shading one eye more than the other, and teased, "I don't know if I can stay at the Outsider's headquarters anymore, but I hope I won't be unwelcome."