Swiftcurrent Creek mujhe maloom nahin

tags for reference, but no obligation to join -- AW. set for june 25.

his head wound was on the mend, but his common tongue had not yet returned. strange, for he did not lack comprehension of it—he understood all queries directed his way, but was unable to formulate any sort of response in the language. it was as if he had been knocked back into his childhood, with only his mother's speech to guide him. and that was a problem.

aditya could relearn it, but it would take much time. it would put a wall up between himself and his packmates, with whom there was already distance. he would lack mutual understanding with @Dawn, who needed him now more than ever. kya karoon? what was to be done?

he lay near the mouth of the whelping den this afternoon, watching @Stone and @Brook rouse from a nap to engage in play. when he'd first arrived back home from the incident, he had forgotten their names entirely, and didn't have the words to ask again. he'd spent that evening more panicked than injured, sorting through the jumbled mess of his mind to find them. he hadn't—and by the morning light, he had already re-christened them.

anand, for the boy. . .joy, happiness. and the girl was lakshmi, prosperity and fortune. he was glad and lucky to have them, and though their given names would return to him eventually, anand and lakshmi they would remain, just as catori's children would forever be known to him by the sobriquets he had bestowed upon them.