Cedar Sweep we’ll find one another in that big somewhere out there

Maybe @Auburn? Other tags are for reference. This is open to anyone! :)

Ma and Da tried not to discuss it too much in front of him and @Otter, though young Skipjack had sharp ears. He picked up on this talk of a long-lost brother, one who even looked like him. Skip didn’t really understand that bit, though he could sense his parents’ sadness. Grandma seemed down too, so he asked Towhee about it. She gave him the abridged version.

Presently, he sat inside his hideout in Seal’s Nook, pondering it all. He was only a little boy, so there wasn’t much he could do to help—or was there? Skip poked his head out of the hollow tree, then padded up the nearby incline: @Njord’s Craigh. He couldn’t appreciate the views, though he tipped his face into the breeze before carefully navigating down the other side to Fish’s Loch.

He dipped a toe in the water, swirling it thoughtfully. His eyes gazed vaguely toward the woods over yonder, to the south. Skipjack wasn’t as familiar with this part of the copse. He hesitated to venture any further, particularly without a guide. But he couldn’t stop thinking of this older brother he’d never met and the sorrow he could hear in the Laird’s and Lady’s voices lately…

What if he went out into the world and brought this Swordfish back? He could be meek at times, though Skip’s chest puffed out as he walked around the lake. Very carefully, he picked his way toward the border. It smelled so heavily of Ma and Da, he almost tucked tail and scurried back to the safety of their arms. He did hesitate, but then he took a deep breath and kept going.

Auburn had had to find ways to keep herself occupied in the Sweep. Meerkat came to visit with food, enough to keep her fed, but other than that, she was left alone here. She'd taken to studying the plant and animal life, and spent hours with her nose to the ground, sniffing at the soil, the loam, studying the intricate details of leaves and insects, her ears swiveling on her head at the sound of birdsong in the canopy.

Today, she was so engrossed with a colony of pill bugs that she'd found under a rock that she barely heard Skipjack's approach. Some small sound gave him away, and Auburn spun to face him with a gasp. Then she blew out her breath in a great sigh of relief and flopped down onto the ground. You scared me!

He proceeded slowly, every footstep taken with great care as he navigated into the uncharted wilderness. Often he paused to swipe a foreleg through the air, feeling for any obstacles in his path, and then he would go still, breathing and listening. Skipjack felt overwhelmed by the sheer unfamiliarity of everything, though he thought of how happy his parents would be should he find this Swordfish and bring him home. He kept going.

Every muscle in his little body went rigid at the sound of a gasp. His eyes flicked in its direction, ears thrust forward and quivering at the subsequent sound of what could only be called a sigh of relief. Skip remained frozen and tense, only his tail moving as it slowly dipped. Grandma Towhee had spent an entire afternoon posing him and explaining what each posture meant. Instinct corroborated that a lowered tail demonstrated goodwill.

Now a body hit the ground before a voice spoke. Skipjack’s ears pulled back as he tried to place it. Oh, yes, it belonged to the stranger he’d helped to feed not too long ago! The very tip of his tail began to twitch tentatively, a shy smile creeping across his face. What was her name again? Ma and Da had mentioned it a few times since then…

Auburn? he questioned in a clear, soft voice.

Auburn had not yet realized that Skipjack was blind. She'd barely been conscious when they'd first met, and then he'd immediately left to bring get her food. Then, of course, Meerkat had ushered him off away from her when her food-aggression had scared the woman... Auburn frowned at the memory not for the first time and flushed in embarrassment.

Yes, it's me, she said in a resigned tone, her voice light and floaty as always, as if she'd be blown away by a strong breeze. So at odds with her aggressive behavior around food. But he was smiling, so that was something. Perhaps she hadn't scared him. Have you come to say hello?

His head canted ever so slightly at her tone. Why did she sound so forlorn? Skipjack took a tentative step in the direction of her voice, nose wiggling as he further familiarized himself with her scent. His mother had cautioned him about her, mentioning that he should approach carefully if at all. She’d said something about food too, which he couldn’t quite recall at present.

I’m lookin’ for Fish, Skip told her truthfully. He’s my older brot’er—brother, he corrected his enunciation, his tongue evidently eager to roll his litter mate’s name in there. I never met him before, he admitted before getting around to the million dollar question: Have ya’ seen him?

Fish? Auburn wondered if he was looking to go fishing, and was halfway between offering to show him the nearest stream and running away with her tail between her legs because fish was food, but then the boy clarified. Fish was his brother. She tilted her head, trying to think if she'd met any wolves named Fish on her way here, but she was fairly certain she'd purposefully avoided any contact with her own kind until she'd showed up on the Copse's borders, starving to death.

I'm sorry, she said, I've never met a wolf by that name. What does he look like? Maybe I can keep an eye out... It would be the least she could do, considering all this pack had done for her so far, especially given her strange violence around food. Now that someone had explained how unusual that behavior was, eating had become an entire affair. She was slowly attempting to retrain herself, to stop her body from reacting automatically, but it was difficult. However, as she looked upon the boy, she vowed silently to do her best to change her ways. The thought of hurting him, even on accident, abhorred her.

She can follow him, if she would! Otherwise, away he goes! :)

He of course didn’t know what Swordfish—or anyone else, for that matter—looked like. But Skipjack pondered what he’d overheard about his wayward elder brother. Evidently he looked a lot like him.

He looks like me, I think, the little lad chirped.

Was there anything else he could tell her to expedite the recovery of his missing sibling? Skip pondered that for a moment. Auburn had mentioned she would keep an eye out, which he understood to mean she would report it if Swordfish happened across her path somehow.

Okay, well, I gotta keep going, he said after a moment, drawing in a deep breath and trapping it in his chest. See ya’ later, Auburn, the Bairn added, using a familiar phrase without realizing some might find it “punny.”

He stepped away from her, performing a quick assessment to orient himself in his surroundings. With the same great care as before, Skipjack then began trundling deeper into Cedar Sweep.

Auburn blinked in surprise at the suddenness with which the boy said goodbye. She opened her mouth to say something, then closed it again when she saw him orient himself, then begin to carefully, slowly pick his way across the forest floor, as if he were blind. She blinked several times, watching him as he moved past her one cautious step at a time. Her head turned at a snail's pace to watch him go. Once again, she opened her mouth, this time to ask him what was wrong with him.

But something stopped her. She wasn't sure what--maybe a sense that, just as she had not liked to be picked on by her bigger siblings, she was sure Skipjack wouldn't like having his... whatever was wrong with him... pointed out, as if it weren't obvious to him already. She rose from the ground and instead asked, Where are you going? Can I come? Some tiny, niggling instinct, one that had been nearly squashed by her first year of life and all its hardships, made her wonder if he should even be out here. Where were Meerkat and Njord? Did they know he'd come here?

Auburn called out to him, prompting Skipjack to freeze in his tracks. He turned toward her, his pale eyes staring off into space as he processed her question. His brow scrunched a little, wondering if there had been some kind of misunderstanding.

I’m going to find Fish, he reminded her.

He pondered the latter half of her inquiry for a moment. On one hand, it might be nice to have some company, not to mention a sighted guide. On the other, he had decided to do this on his own. It was a daunting task, to be sure, but he wanted to bring his older brother home all by himself. Besides, Meerkat had warned him to steer clear of this one…

You stay here and keep an eye out. I gotta go by myself, he told her with a decisive little bob of his snout.

Uh-- Auburn made a small sound in the back of her throat at his words, and watched helplessly as he began to walk away again. Surely he was too young to go off by himself (not to mention that there was clearly something wrong with him). She opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again, then sat down, her brow furrowed, and watched him go. Demanding that he go back home right now would probably just result in a fight, or he'd laugh at her. No. She wait until he was farther away, and then call for Meerkat and let her know that her son had wandered off on his own. It was something she wished her own parents would've cared about, though she knew they didn't: the fact that she'd run away from home as a yearling. But she didn't want to think about them. Not ever again.

[End? We can assume that Auburn told Meerkat off-screen, or have a new thread about it, but she would definitely tell someone.]

Perfect! :)

Auburn made a hesitant sound and he remained very still, waiting to see if anything else might follow it. When she did not speak, Skip nodded to himself once more and then pivoted to resume his search—a misadventure so single-minded, it would not even occur to him until much later that he did not know how to properly feed or shelter himself, among other things.

Although the time of day made no difference whatsoever to the blind boy, he certainly felt weary as late afternoon crept closer to evening. He was very hungry and desperately thirsty by the time he seated himself against against a tree. Skip’s paws ached. As he licked at them, he heard voices calling from far away.

He knew his Ma and Da would be disappointed, though Skipjack raised his voice in a croaky howl to let them know where to find him. He slumped to the ground as he waited to be collected, relieved despite his failure. He couldn’t wait to go home. He didn’t think he’d ever leave the copse again. Then at least his parents would never have to worry about losing another son to the wilderness.