Stone Circle will the darkness fall upon me when the air is growing thin?

The stranger's voice settled ice through his bones, and Merrit jerked his paw to his face and tried to wipe any sign of tears away. But his frustration only seemed to thicken with the questions she raised and he turned his head away from her, giving her an answer of neither yes nor no. He simply kept his paw pressed over the bridge of his snout and peered down at the slick river rocks as he tried to wrestle his emotions back down into what they'd been before, until he just squeezed his eyes against the heat in his face and offered her a defensive shake of his head.

"I was just looking for rocks," he finally said, and shrugged. "One of them cut me." And while he kept his head turned away, he lifted his paw for her to look. He was okay, he had to believe that, and so did everyone else. Mother couldn't know - she just couldn't - and he could carry this. He knew he could, he was okay, even as the autumn air sagged with a heaviness that pulled at his body, and showed in every way that he wasn't.