Fox's Glade Bass

ope edited for bjarna :D

the yellowsun gaze was contemplative over the boy shardik but otherwise closed.

"i did someone a great wrong more than once. i seek him to make it right. his name is crowfeather." it had been so long since he had said the name. now fennec had held it, now this young questioner had heard it as well.

he felt as if his chest were a lightning-split oak and both their names were charred by his own selfishness.

"we have a fine healer in mereo." his throat constricted. "how far did you wander from home before you found the bear?"

a gambit. an assumption. germanicus knew nothing, only that shardik was young, that his eyes carried the weight of a much older man, that he had been struck hard enough to leave a permanent stamp of ursine wrath upon him.

once a boy came through his first battle, he would hold that look in his pupils forever. long after his flesh healed would that expression belong: the hard stare of one who has seen an impossible enemy approach and still did not comprehend how he still lived.

the sense of watchfulness sparkled around him. germanicus moved at once to his feet and gave a sharp look into the foliage. "show yourself."