Sea Lion Shores just don’t know if i can roll into the sea again,

Still she said nothing, though her body spoke for her. Bat cocked her head, thoughts swirling, then reached forward to sniff noses with her fellow she-wolf. Thus acquainted by scent, she withdrew a little and pondered the ongoing silence. Was she simply taciturn or was it something more? Perhaps she was mute? Or maybe she was—

"Deaf?" Bat blurted, then repeated herself with the ptero sign, -"Deaf?"- Even as she signed, it occurred to her that if she was deaf, that didn't mean the stranger would know sign language. But Towhee could read lips, so there was still hope that she'd understood.