As of late, the sightless boy was spending less and less time deep within the pack territory and more and more time nearer to the territory borders. He knew that it was dangerous for him to do, but since he had such superior hearing due to his lack of vision, he figured he was safe enough. Surely the day would end up coming that something would end up happening, but until then, he was content with doing what he was doing. He was trying to be a little more independent, though he had yet to attempt to hunt on his own since coming here purely because he didn’t trust himself to not end up running into a tree or stepping in a hole. He was still trying to learn the lay of the land within the pack borders, though it was still quite slow going.

Hanging out near the borders, his ears were in constant motion, listening to the various sounds all around him. Rarely did those sounds change, but when they did, he was the first to hear them. He’d been trying so hard to stop thinking about his parents and how much he missed them, but it seemed to only work when he was in the company of others, though not in the company of his beloved sister because she was in the same depressive funk that he was in. Believe it or not but being in the company of complete strangers seemed to be the only thing that managed to get his mind off of his depression, off of his sadness.

Hanging out under a shade tree, it wasn’t really overly hot that afternoon but it felt good out of the sun’s rays that were coming down through the tree tops. The light breeze that was blowing ruffled his fur every so often as it reached him from around the trees. That was when a sound reached his ears causing him to thrust them forward, turning his head in the direction the sound was coming from. Milky colored eyes stared, unblinking, unmoving, unseeing. But it wasn’t with his eyes that he was able to locate things. “Who’s there?”

Along with the sound of movement, he could smell the scent of blood, though he wasn’t entirely sure of just how fresh it was. He’d called out because it sounded like whoever was there was closer to the pack borders than they needed to be, especially because whoever was there didn’t smell as though they belonged to the pack. He’d called out, basically, to warn them of being closer than they needed to be. Yildun just hoped that it wouldn’t end up being a terrible mistake on his part. He would try to hide the fact that he was blind for as long as possible, but he knew that one look at his eyes would absolutely give him away.

Remaining where he was, he hoped that his face wasn’t visible to the stranger as he listened to the stranger’s movement turning in his direction. “Yildun, Delta of Dragonwatchers,” he responded. “You are quite close to our borders, Vilocity.” He used her name purely because she had given it when he had called out asking who was there. The sightless young male could only hope that this didn’t turn into some sort of confrontation. If it did, he hoped that he’d be able to call out and someone in the pack would be able to respond quickly enough to prevent him from being injured.

He had hoped that by remaining behind the bushes and brush that he would be able to keep his face hidden from the stranger, but when he heard the female moving to the side, that hope crumbled. It was only a matter of her getting into the right position to be able to clearly see him. This was not sitting all that well with him and he couldn’t help but begin to feel worry creeping into the very core of his being. Yildun felt himself tensing up, ready to run at any given moment if things were to go wrong, as well as ready to cry out for whatever pack member just happened to be closest. He knew his way through the trees well enough that he didn’t worry too much about running into one of them if he had to run for his life or something.

She asked if she could come closer and this put him on even higher alert than he already was. But there was something in her voice that told him that perhaps she wasn’t lying. His ears slicked back against his head for a moment while he tried to think about what to say at that point before pushing them forward again. This was not a fun predicament to be caught in, that’s for sure, but he knew that he needed to try to make the best of it, to try to not let his fear get the better of him. Until his parents had died, he had been pretty fearless. That wasn’t so much the case anymore. He felt vulnerable more often than not, and it wasn’t a very comfortable feeling.

“Very well,” the young male finally answered. “But you should know that my pack mates, including my Alpha, are not that far away.” It wasn’t entirely a lie, and he was able to keep his voice steady to be able to pull it off. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad after all. Maybe, just maybe, he could possibly help recruit someone new into the pack. There were so many maybes, though. “Is there something I can help you with? Or were you trying to just pass by?” he inquired, curiously, turning his head fully toward the female as he listened to her moving.

It didn’t matter how slow she moved, Yildun was already on the defense. Being blind, and meeting a stranger, automatically put him on the defense. His body was tense and ready to run at any given moment, as well as ready to call for help if that need so arose. It wasn’t the same here as it had been where he had been born. Most of the wolves he interacted with at least knew of him because of his father. So it was taking a lot of adjusting to being somewhere that not only did others not know his father, but knew nothing about the blind young male as well.

His ears were pushed forward as he listened to her stopping a little bit away from him and sitting. Every movement she made, he was fully aware of regardless of the fact that he couldn’t actually see her movements. She spoke of having eaten and it caused a slight stirring within his own stomach. The young male was still only eating just enough to sustain him and not nearly enough to keep him healthy looking. He was thin, far too thin, and it was his own doing. He just couldn’t seem to get himself to eat much of anything regardless of how hungry he was at the time of the meals. His depression caused him to just not care.

“It is called Dragonwatchers and is led by Koontz,” he told her, flicking an ear to listen to the sounds around him as well as focusing on Vilocity. “What would you like to know about the pack?” He wasn’t entirely sure what to tell her about the pack without knowing more of what she was interested in hearing about.

She seemed to fall silent after he’d asked his question. Yildun wanted to give answers, but he needed specifics first before he could give her the answers that she sought. And then they came. She asked three questions right in a row. The sightless young male would have no problem with answering the direct questions that she asked. Before he could begin to answer, though, she spoke of the remains of her meal being not that far off. If this would have been someone he knew, he might consider crossing out of the pack territory to go have a bite or two, but since she was a stranger, he didn’t think it was a good idea. “No thank you, I’m not hungry,” was the best he could answer in that regard.

With that mostly out of the way, he could focus on the questions she asked in him regards to the pack. “We are simply wolves,” he began to answer. “We look out for each other, help each other, support each other, and take care of each other. There is no belief system other than we are wolves, and we are family.” He really hoped that what he was saying made sense to her. Having been born into a pack that followed the stars, it was different for him being here in this pack, but he was adjusting, though slowly. One day, things would hopefully be not so tough for him.

Her second question was just as easy to answer as the first, really. “Koontz is a good leader,” he began. “She is fair and easy to talk to. She seems to really care about the members of her pack, and is usually readily available to those who need her for whatever reason.” He liked the woman well enough, though he was still adjusting to being under someone other than family. It wasn’t such a bad thing, though, and he really did think of Koontz as a right and fair leader.

It was her third question that wasn’t the easiest to answer, and he fell silent while he thought about just how to answer it. Truthfully, there was really only one way to answer the question, and that was with the absolute truth in how he came to being accepted. “I came here with a group of others from our former home,” he began. “My older sister, my littermate brother, and a small handful of others. I was part of the package deal, really. My older sister had already assured me, before we came here, that if I was turned away, she would not stay either. But we were all accepted. All of us. Me included.” Which he really was grateful for because, face it, who wanted to readily take on a blind wolf?

Actually, he wasn’t really all that insecure about his blindness. Quite the opposite, really, but coming to an entirely new place had been terribly hard for him. However, Koontz was more accepting of him than he had originally thought she would be. He had found himself able to open up to her, to actually be able to smile again, which was something he hadn’t done in months, not since the death of his parents. Not a day went by that he didn’t miss his father the most. His father had been his rock, his guardian, his protector, his best friend.

He tensed a little when he heard her step closer, but she didn’t seem to move very far forward so made himself remain sitting where he was. Yildun pushed his ears entirely forward when she spoke of wanting to meet his Alpha, but before he could lift his muzzle to call for her, Vilocity asked him about his blindness. Her question took him a little by surprise, really, because he hadn’t expected something so blunt, thus he was speechless for a few minutes. “I have been blind since birth,” he responded. “I haven’t known any other way but blindness.” To him, it wasn’t entirely a bad thing. There were things he could do that others could not, like hear so much clearer.

“I’ll call for Koontz,” he said, tilting his muzzle toward the sky and let forth a howl, calling for her, letting her know that there was someone at the border that wanted to speak with her. “It shouldn’t take long for her to respond.”

He could sense the change in the air around the female, could smell her nervousness rising, and heard her taking a couple steps away from him. He couldn’t help but wonder what was suddenly wrong. “It’s okay,” he told Vilocity. “You’ll be alright. Koontz isn’t going to try to eat your face or something.” He was trying to lighten the air before the Alpha arrived. He was no longer as tense as he had initially been, especially when he heard the return call from Koontz letting him know that she was on her way.

He heard her coming, heard the difference in the way her steps sounded, and knew that she was displaying her rank upon arrival. It was because of the more authorative sound of her movements that the sightless young male slicked his ears back and lowered his head a little. But that didn’t stop him from swaying his tail behind him and allowing a small smile to grace his silvery muzzle. Feeling her come up alongside of him, touching her nose to his cheek, the blind Delta allowed his smile to widen a little. He felt just at ease with her as she seemed to with him. Yildun knew, though, that there was business at hand.

“Hi Koontz,” he greeted in return, happy that she’d answered his call so quickly. “This is Vilocity. She asked me a couple questions about the pack and then requested to be able to speak to you herself.”

Ever listening to everything around him, he was mostly focused on any sounds of movement from Vilocity. He was very aware of what different movements sounded like and paid particular attention to listening for her to offer polite submission to Koontz when she arrived. Yildun was disappointed to not hear that from her, though. But that wasn’t what ended up bringing a deep frown to his silvery face.

As he listened to the remarks coming from the female that he’d been speaking with, and had called Koontz to speak with, his frown deepened, considerably. Not only was he quite unhappy about the comments, but he was quite offended, to be honest. Did she think that just because he was blind he didn’t know what he was talking about? That she could question things about him in front of him as if he wasn’t even present? Was she for real? If he would have known these were the things she was going to bring up, he would not have called for Koontz to come to the borders to speak to Vilocity.

Not one to get upset like most, he actually felt himself bristling a bit and rose to his paws. The only thing that seemed to keep him from showing just how upset he was feeling was the feel of the woman beside him, the feel of her fur brushing against his. “Are you serious?” he finally managed to say. “Are you really going to sit there and ask my Alpha about me as if I’m not even here? What does it matter why she did or didn’t accept me? Would you be asking the same if I weren’t blind?” He bristled a second time, feeling so very offended at that moment. He hadn’t felt so insulted in all his life thus far.

“Exactly,” he grumbled. “You already asked me. There is no point in turning right around and asking my Leader the very same question. I’m blind, not slow or stupid. I can hold my own. I’m not a charity case for you or anyone else to feel sorry for. Who or what gives you the damn right to ask why I was or wasn’t accepted into the pack?” Yildun had never felt anger before. It was strange and kind of scary. One thing was for certain, he very much did not like this feeling, at all.

As the anger coursed through him, he found himself not wanting to be standing there anymore. If he did, he was going to end up saying something that could very well get him in trouble or something. “I’m done here,” he growled, turning away from the female that he had been so nice to. “I think you should leave now.” He didn’t have to be facing her direction to address her in the way that he just did. Granted, it wasn’t entirely his place to be telling someone they needed to be leaving or not since Koontz was there, but he hadn’t even thought about that. He was too upset.

If he’d been angry before, listening to the garbage she spewed forth intensified that feeling. Yildun did not like this feeling in the least. It was definitely not something he ever wanted to feel again if he could help it. It was only because of the feel of Koontz’s nose against his neck that he didn’t fully fly off the handle, not that he would have been able to do much since he had zero “training” in fighting. Would he have been able to attack if pushed far enough? Honestly, with as angry as he was feeling, it was quite likely. He knew the pack territory inside and out and, well, navigated it absolutely blind. Hell, he probably knew it better than most of the others that had their sight because it was the small not really noticeable things that Yildun had to take notice of.

He didn’t say a word when he suddenly felt Koontz rushing away from his side. The sightless young male wheeled around with ears thrust forward, listening to her going after Vilocity. A growl actually escaped from him as he took a stiff step forward. He was on high alert, listening closely to every single sound of movement. Though he clearly had an absolute disadvantage, he wouldn’t hesitate to do whatever he had to do, even if it meant having to step up and assist Koontz as needed. It didn’t matter if the other female was or wasn’t bigger than him, he had a very legit advantage over her and that was his hearing.