Haunted Wood see no [more] evil

"Try to calm down," he was told, but the boy shook his head. He felt as though he could not calm down. But what the wolf said next caught his attention and his ears lifted, falling still for the first time in a while. He was as big as a bear? Swift took comfort in this, even more so than the relief he felt that his guardian knew his mother. In his mind, a wolf that was as big as a bear was surely capable of protecting him against them. "Okay," he said, swallowing as he did as he was bid. He took deep breaths and slowly regained some of his composure.

The wolf gave him a choice along with his own suggestion, and Swift was quiet and still as he considered his options. In the end, it was his nervousness about trying to go anywhere that lead him to choose howling. "You can call her," he said softly, as he desperately hoped she would hear, and come to them.