" Kobold! " he jerked awake so violently he nearly rolled straight out of bed, limbs tangling uselessly in the collection of furs and leaves and other things that made the bed comfy, managing to catch himself with a startled yelp. "Màthair an' Vater are home, wee loves!" Màthair. he scrambled.

He had known something strange wasn't going on, even he wasn't oblivious enough to miss how long everyone had been gone. But none of it had ever settled properly into his head as danger. The world was strange all the time now. Portals happened. Dead things came back. Weird creatures wandered out of the woods. Adults disappeared and returned smelling like blood and rain and fear.

And besides, he and Lonán had hunted an opossum. And that felt way more important.

MÀTHAIR?! he barked back charging toward her full speed without a single thought toward the limp in her gait or the tears thickening her voice. He nearly crashed into her chest before managing to stop himself at the last second, claws scraping wildly against the wood tail wagging so hard his whole back end moved with it.

Ya missed everythin'! he bursted out. Me an' Lonán hunted an opossum! A huge one! It hissed at us an' everythin' an' then it pretended tae die but I knew it was lyin'. nose twitched furiously as he bounced around her legs.

Where'd ya go? Ya smell weird...Vater smells weird too. He wrinkled his nose. Did ya fight somethin' big? Was it ugly? Did ya kill it? the questions came one after another without pause until finally, somewhere beneath all the excitement, he noticed the way Wisp sounded and his ears folded back with a questioning look.

...What's wrong?

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