Silvertip Mountain Let's trade shoes, just to see what it'd be like

He heard her snort, straining to hear any sound as he was doing. The soft sound of derision cut him to the quick, and he felt hurt well like blood in the recesses of his soul.  She padded away without a further movement towards him. Mason shuddered, curled in his awkward ball. Carefully he glanced over his shoulder, in time to see her agouti-patterned rear disappear from sight.

 

She was gone. She had hurt him, scolded him, bitten him, and now she was gone.

 

For the first time in a long time, Mason felt an unusual sensation coming over him. It took him a couple of quiet minutes to determine what it was. He felt lighter, and happier. His heart pounded more quietly and pleasantly. The pain in his paw throbbed, but in a way that reminded him what it was like to be unhurt, and to remind him to get better.

 

When Zaria had snapped at him, it appeared she had snipped the cord that linked them in Mason’s mind. The boy finally located the name behind the feeling flooding his body – relief.

 

With a smile, he got up and hobbled away in the opposite direction to the woman who had unintentionally caused a world of hurt.