Sheepeater Cliff we made our homes in different places

They fawned over him and covered him with kisses, or probably the wolf equivalent (and mostly those were from Liffey); they also lauded him with apologies and Screech resisted those, shaking his head more and more until there was only silence. He leaned in to both of them regardless, and finally came up with an answer.

It's pretty obvious isn't it? He withdrew as he spoke so that he could look at them owlishly, blinking his eyes - one sad looking eyelid wiggling only a bit. But he sighed too, deflating a little bit. They thought I killed someone. A sister, or something. And then they caught me and... This, it's... It's not so bad. That was a lie but he couldn't go back in time or anything, so why dwell on it? So far Screech had survived well enough with one eye. It would only get better from here.

He shrugs, his good eye misting over. I can't believe you lived with them. What was that like?