He stepped lightly, nervously ahead. In the distance, Alex's ears caught the sound of hoofbeats that sounded like they were headed rapidly downhill, a...pretty reckless endeavor unless the rider was damn sure of his trail. Easing around a bend in the trail, Alex saw a dark lump lying in the dust of the trail next to a ground-hitched horse.The horse lifted her head and whinnied at Buck, then, satisfied that the two of them meant her no harm, went back to cropping the meager tufts of grass. Can't be without him."She held David's hand for a few seconds before the voice said, "There may be a way to save him."Nicole was about to ask how when she heard David whisper, "I thought you said you couldn't..." I cannot, but if I had an avatar, a mortal representative of my power, then you would be saved."Nicole blurted out, "I'll be your avatar!" Alone you cannot. Alone he cannot. Neither of you alone has enough love for me to fill with my essence. But together you have enough love to spare.. We just need to hunt it down. I vote we pan all we can get before the cold weather hits while we scout for the source. Then when it gets too cold to be in the water, we start diggin’.”Zeke allowed as how that would be a fine idea so the next day we started the systematic exploration of the stream. We started at the point I found the pebble and worked our way downstream until gold started gettin’ scarce. It took a week, but by the end of that time we had what we estimated to be at least five. " Damn it." 18 cursed in her mind, not expecting this kind of resistance from the old man. The woman could force him physically, but that would be admitting that she can only use violence to solve her problems.That would hurt her pride."All right, time for plan B." The blonde decided while she's thinking about what the hell her backup plan would actually be. "Shit, I don't have another idea." The woman was really surprised, and not in a good way, that Roshi was so difficult to convince. "What.