Haunted Wood see no [more] evil

He frowned thoughtfully at the youngster's ominous remark. How had he fixed it? Did he want to know? Before Peregrine could come to a decision on that, the sound of swiftly approaching footfalls announced Bazi's arrival. He took a step back to stay out of her way as she exploded onto the scene, crouching over her son and looking at him in horror.

"He said bears did it," Peregrine offered a bit helplessly, still unaware that Swift had had two eyes just a few hours ago and that he'd extracted one himself (hence the screaming). "He's in pain. He mentioned some black sage," he added, aware that he was more or less rambling.

Swift was safe now, in his mother's hands, and Peregrine saw no reason to linger here. Although he had nothing against her in particular, he also had no interest in catching up with Bazi. He was glad her son was back under her watch and truthfully hoped he would recover. But he was no longer needed here.

"Take care, you two," he said quietly before turning and loping slowly back toward the caldera. Suddenly, the nearly nonexistent vision in his left eye didn't seem like as big of a hindrance anymore.