Haunted Wood Slumming it with the poor.

JSYK - he is on the borders and noticed the scent markers.

He is on-edge. The shifting of his eyes is one clue of this, and the tense manner of his posture. His tail is low, his head bowed over the earth to gather those scents, studying the multitude. No illness here that he is familiar with, which is a good sign. The forest trembles, and the boy lifts his eyes - then his snout - to observe the way the silvered branches overhead shake; there comes a more direct sound a moment later, and he watches a hulking dark thing emerge. They remind him of a bear. 

When they speak it is like listening to an oak tree split in two. Komet does not notice the inflection of the voice as a question, nor the accent, but the tone sounds friendly enough. He lingers merely for that reason - assuming a slouched posture as if to wordlessly prove his subservience. Komet was too young and hungry to be a threat.