The young male rarely spoke, speaking only when directly spoken to. A smile hadn’t graced his young face since the day they had been leaving the only home he had ever known to faithfully follow his much loved sister, Julooke. He didn’t want to be away from her if he could help it, and that was why he had insisted on being allowed to leave with her and Ver. It was good that their brother had also wanted to come along and he did spend a good share of time tagging along with his brother. But it was Julooke that he stuck to the most, stuck to her like glue, though there were times that he did want to just be entirely by himself.

He had wandered away from the rest of the group because today had felt like one of those days. He didn’t know where they were, the lands, but as long as he was still able to find his way back to the others, it didn’t seem to matter all that much. During his wandering, he had managed to find his way to the base of a mountain, though he didn’t know it was a mountain since he couldn’t see it. What had stopped him from going further was that he had picked up fresh urine marking scents. Not knowing anyone outside the group he traveled with, the young male knew that he would be absolutely no match, at all, for others if he were to accidentally trespass. So he didn’t.

He was considering turning around to return to the rest of the group to let either Julooke or Verinne know about what he’d come across when the sound of her soft woofs reached his ears. Turning in the direction her voice was coming from, he returned her calls with a soft bark of his own. While he waited, he turned one ear toward the area behind him to listen closely for the sound of anyone coming from across where he’d stopped. Luckily, none seemed to be coming. Sniffing the air, her scent grew stronger and he moved forward, meeting her a short distance from the urine markings that he’d found. He gave a slight wave of his tail before it went limp behind him again.

“There’s markings behind me,” he quietly told her only when they were closer to each other. Stepping closer to her, he reached his head out to feel for her, searching, needing to feel the touch of his sister that he loved so very much. Although he was just as attached to his brother as he was to her, it was always her that he sought comfort from. Always. The thought of losing her scared him to death. He would be lost, without a doubt, if he lost her as they had lost their parents. He hadn’t slept well since their parents had died, and the evidence of that showed on his sightless face, showed in the way he carried himself, showed in how he ate only enough to sustain him. He was in a deep depression and couldn’t seem to pull himself out of it.

Her touch was comforting, and he relaxed a little, though remained wary because of the scent markings behind him. They’d been away from the security of a pack for a while now it seemed and it was hard to feel completely safe without that safety net of a pack. But he would never, ever leave his sister. For as long as she remained packless, wandering, he would follow her like a lost puppy. Though he was a young male, he sometimes felt like a lost puppy. It wasn’t a nice feeling, but it was a feeling that wasn’t going to be going away any time soon. It had hit him when their parents died, and would remain with him until he was finally able to move past that.

She confirmed his findings and he automatically moved closer to her. Being without sight did have some pretty harsh drawbacks, after all. He would not be able to defend himself if he were to be attacked. “Sure,” he replied, giving a slight nod of his head. “I… don’t want to stay here.” There was something about the scent markings he’d found that just didn’t quite sit well with him. There was something beyond the urine that his heightened sense of smell was able to easily pick up but he couldn’t put his paw on it. Whatever it was, it gave him chills down his spine and left him feeling terribly uncomfortable.

Part of what was causing Yildun to be unable to move past the death of their parents was that he hadn’t cried. He hadn’t allowed himself to really feel much of anything since their death. It was like, well, it was like he, himself, died inside. He wasn’t living. The young male was merely existing. Nothing more than that. It was definitely no way to live, but he couldn’t get himself to feel any other way.

Moving beside her, he kept his side touching hers. When she nudged his neck, he leaned into it. But then she nudged his neck again, and again, and again. Each time was a little more forcefully than the previous nudge. It seemed as though she were trying to get him to play, but was she really feeling like playing? They hadn’t played, at all, since the death of their parents.

Not really feeling the whole play thing, he lightly nipped at the side of her cheek. “Where do you think we’ll end up?” he asked after a moment. Usually he waited to speak until others spoke to him, but since it was just the two of them, he felt a little like opening up.

He felt bad for rejecting her invitation to play, but it just wasn’t in him right now, and he didn’t think it was with her, either. Yildun did appreciate her trying, though, and gave her a gentle nuzzle to the side of her neck. It was a silent apology for refusing her invitation to play, as well as an assurance of his care for her. With their parents gone, Julooke was pretty much his whole world. He knew that he absolutely could not lose her. Not right now. Not any time soon. He wouldn’t survive. On so many levels, he would not survive.

He gave a slight shake of his head when she asked her question. For the most part, he had avoided any and all contact with anyone that wasn’t part of their group. He had picked up scents here and there, and had done what he could to avoid them. With his blindness, he just hadn’t been willing to take the chance or the risk of someone trying to take advantage of his disability. “As long as I get to stay with you, I don’t care where we go,” he answered honestly, moving closer to her to touch his side against hers.

Together they moved away from the scent that marked the base of the mountain until they reached a clearer area. In silence, they remained in the company of each other for quite some time before they returned to the rest of the group. Yildun just wasn't yet ready to talk about his feelings with his sister.