Silver Creek here we stand

The boy was scarred - his poor face melted down partly and his reddened eye partially obscured through the tissue. It must have been painful, Lio thought as they regarded him. But he was tall, like their family back home. Slender and elegant, in a way that Lio had never been. Would never be. 

Not intruding. Lio understood that much. They had crossed no borders, taken no food. Had not even fished from the creek they so enjoyed. 

"Your family?" they questioned, offering the other yearling a small smile. "Have you been looking for them?" It must be nice, if he'd been searching for them. Perhaps that was what the first part of his statement had meant - no, but I will be.

The smudged youth angled their ears forward a bit and took a few steps into the shallow water of the creek, approaching him politely. "Our eyes," they began, tail swishing back and forth in slow semicircles behind them. "They are very similar in color." Red for him, pink for Lio. Much closer than most eye colors came to their own. Even within their own family they had not seen reddish eyes - Lio had been told that it likely came from their father's side.