Greatwater Lake I spend my night dancing with my own shadow

The boy had done his best to ignore any thoughts of the family he left behind - of the war - but it was all there, filling his mind now. Things he had forced himself beyond without facing. He cannot handle her enthusiasm right now - maybe that wasn't the right thing, enthusiasm, but he finds her interest makes him recoil mentally.

But her offer makes his ears shoot forwards, his dull gaze to alight again. Talk to his family? They're probably all dead, came his defeatist drone, They -- they were going to war with Blackfeather. I was supposed to be there... Back flipped those ears again, and he frowns, sighs, wants to be anywhere else but here with her. Pathetic.

It's better I stay away. If they think I'm dead -- whatever problems he'd created between the packs, they were resolved now. Let them think he was dead and gone. Look, Cass, none of this matters anymore. This is... All of this is fine. I can't go back and everything has changed, and there's nothing we can do.

Screech was at his limit. After saying his piece he ducked away from her, and while he desired to be by her side he had too much other shit to deal with; his mind was abuzz, and he didn't have the patience for her versions of truth, justice, or goodness. Without a word he slunk off, and soon she would be alone with her good intentions.