Blackfeather Woods I felt your shadow on the way home.

The fire of her rage subsided quickly but not in its entirety; there was a moment of realization and she looked at him like he wasn't of this earth, perhaps as if he were himself a hellish beast. It would explain why so many recoiled from him. Why hatred flowed from strangers so readily. Why his life had been a tumult of loathing and bad luck. But there was recognition too - she saw the band and seemed to know it.

When she spoke he listened aptly, and she recounted an experience that mirrored his own - which surprised him more than anything. Here he was, having avoided his beloved and his home for months, only to learn that his experience wasn't a singular thing, nor that unique! But she explained that her own band had been removed at some point; perhaps his avoidance of the shadow prevented that? But why would the beast descend and take him in the first place? Why give this marker only to take it back? It left him with questions and confusion.

H-how long have you had it? she asks finally, and his face is inscrutable; he stares at the dirt, frowning, until the expression melts from him and he is suddenly a frenzy of action again: he draws his blunt claws against the forest floor and after a few scratches there is a left in the dirt. Sun. Sunlight -- summer? Is that enough to explain?