Jade Fern Grove they all ran after the farmer's wife

anyone!

He had hidden from the world, afraid to move on, afraid to try; but now it was time. He had laid facing the entrance to his den for an hour, perhaps more, as he channeled what little courage he had. Slowly, he rose to his paws. His cheek was pressed to the earthen wall to guide him, and he followed it out and around the corner until he was completely outside the den.  

He felt like a mouse standing on bare earth with hawks circling overhead, exposed and at risk. His heart beat rapidly, and he felt that at any moment he would be attacked. It was the way he had always felt when he had attempted to leave the den before, and the reason he had retreated back to it time and time again. "Okay... okay..." he repeated quietly to himself as he drew deepth breaths and tried to calm himself. It was a process, but he felt the world slow down, and with it came a profound clarity.

He could hear. He could smell. He could even feel. He always could, but in his panicky state he had failed to use these senses. He had either ignored them or tried too hard to absorb everything at once, overwhelimg himself to the point that no real information reached his mind. He continued to focus on his breathing, for his legs still felt like a tightly coiled spring, ready to launch him back to his den.

His ear turned suddenly: there was a noise in the brush.

They had saved Bazi, the children, but at a terrible price. And that terrible price was the sight in Swift's eyes. Kieran had been ill, when they had found the child, but he had done his best to ignore it. Bears of all things. He had never known a bear to attack unless it was territory or food. Food was still plentiful, so it had be territory. Had they unknowingly stepped into the creatures abode. Or perhaps it was just a rogue bear, one that was just wild and crazy and mean. 

It was today with a small fowl in his maw that he walked towards the den. His limbs a bit shaky, as he thought of how he maybe met. He couldn't blame Swift if he lashed out at all those around him. It was with surprise that he saw Swift coming from the den. 'owaya Swift. "oweya feelin'?

He listened hard, and though he heard his packmate's paw steps, he still flinched when Kieran spoke. He had not even realized whom was coming toward him, for his concentration on listening had come at the expense of using his nose. Even still, he had done a poor job of calculating distance based on what he heard, and so had been surprised to hear that unique brogue of his aunt's mate so near to him.

"Err..." he uttered. "I'm fine..." it was a difficult question for him to answer. He was not able to explain how he felt truthfully, for he was not even able to understand quite all that he felt. It was a turbulent mess of emotions, and even if he had the words and phrases to describe, it was not in his nature to speak so openly. "How are you?" He turned toward the pack's delta, halfway facing him.

Kieran saw the boy flinch, and he backed up a bit. Thinking that his voice had been to loud. Sorry for bein' so loud Swift He shifted his weight again and settled to his haunches taking in the boy. His eyes caressed over the empty eye sockets, and a brief feeling of guilt pushed hard at his ribs. If he had gotten there quicker, if he had followed them immediately. If it had been him instead of the youth before him. So many things that if it could have been. He felt so bad, his ears drooped.

Kieran frowned at his offhanded words and shook his head. He smiled softly. Ah oi'm gran' so Swift. Oi'm glad you're gran'. You're doin' better than oi wud be if it were me. If it were me Oi imagined I'd be cheesed aff, an' sad, an' confused, an' worried an' shuk. So gran, for yer me fella.
Kieran was trying to help the boy talk about it. Cause he imagined he wasn't just fine. He hoped it would work, cause wasn't the way to healing was to speak about it?

His ears had done him little good to stop him from startling when Kieran first spoke, but as his packmate continued to speak he noticed something: somehow, in the absence of his sight, he found Kieran's words less difficult to understand; the accent was still thick, but he heard more clearly. In time he would realize that his other senses would sharpen in compensation for the ones he lost, this was but a taste of what was to come for the boy with no eyes.

So focused on this new ability, he almost forgot to respond. "Oh, er, ah," he stammered, breaking the hanging silence. "It's a lot to deal with, but, I'm figuring it out." His brows wrinkled. "I just need time. But it sucks. It sucks a lot." He huffed, his breath expelling grumpily through his nose. "It's not fair."