Little Goat Mountain the poem that took place of a mountain

The was silence in place of a reply towards his outrageous accusations, which had sent him through a loop. Did she not know how to respond? Did that mean that she hadn't been actively seeking him out? His mouth opened as if he'd had more words to throw her way, but there'd been no words to speak prior to its closing. He'd been wrong, it seemed, but never would he admit it aloud. There would always exist at least an ounce of suspicion, but, for now, it'd died down just enough for him to see through the haze of his own mind. She hadn't been following him, she hadn't intended to meet him, and that was that. It'd been by coincidence that they'd met yet again, the same direction having needed to be taken in order for them to reach whatever destinations they each had in mind.

Xan hadn't noticed the step back, the distance having been too little for him to realize. It didn't help, either, that he'd closed his eyes for a brief moment so as to ease the burning sensation. The stranger spoke, and he looked right back at her, pushing past the pain so that he could try and see her features better. The boy didn't possess the same ability to read others as his father did, but he'd picked up on enough of tricks to find out what was a lie and what wasn't—and what she'd said hadn't been a lie, as far as he'd been able to tell. Ears fell back when she whined, another one of his mistakes having been realized. A request was then made, followed by an attempt to leave; this time he'd seen her moving, and had turned his body to follow her motions.

"Wait," the boy had called, only to fall silent thereafter. What did he want to say? What should he say? The idea of conversing with a stranger didn't sit well with him, but when he thought about what it meant if he were to turn away from everyone, he'd brushed the feeling off the best that he could. "I–," he'd fumbled over what to say next, thinking an apology to be unnecessary. "Who are you?" Better than nothing, however awkward it sounded.