The Sentinels Boarfish

Great, he’d yelled at his deaf grandmother.

She asked him to repeat it, speaking directly at her. Swordfish struggled with eye contact. He’d never done well at looking someone in the face and speaking. The young wolf steadied himself, hoping he could recover from his fumbling efforts to communicate with his grandma. He knew concern on her voice. He knew it from memories of his mother.

There’s this guy, Swordfish swung his snout toward the beach and then forced himself to face her, who’s real messed up. Lost his daughter an’ I found him blubberin’ in the water.

The irony was not lost on him. He had been a lost child, after all. Would Towhee accept this as a reason not to follow her? She hadn’t seen Lestan. She hadn’t seen the way he scrambled about, unzipping his frantic little mind into the sand.

He needs help. And… I ain’t gonna leave him without tryin’.

How long their efforts would go, he could not say.