" 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?

—

---

A voice, not often used, resonated in a soft, anxious hum. Breath caught in their throat as the snare of their dream lifted — and their eyes flew open, pupils dilating against the morning light. Adrenaline faded, their heart quieting in their chest as the silence overcame the room. Things. The world. Their family. It was different — new. And Lichen felt it — strange and estranged.

They would swallow gently, trying their best to remember what Wendigo had taught them

Unblinking. Calm. Practiced.

For a place as busy as the Howff, Lichen grew and moved with the slowness of moss. They were present in the shadows, absorbing nutrients and information. Quiet. Contained. Quite unlike the explosive energy of Kobold, actually. So it was strange to hear their mother call for them both. But there was the familiar sting of worry that laced Màthair's vocals, and it caused Lichen's ears to cup forward.

Where had she been?

Lichen would follow their brother, tracing in Kobold's wake as Wisp bounded up the stairs to the family den. Màthair? Lichen would soften, a gentle whine escaping childish lips as they blinked with wide eyes. Kobold would leap into action, words pouring from his lips as he informed their mother of the events of the Howff, and Lichen would toddle forward, hovering in Kobold's shadow.

For if they could not have a shadow themselves ...
... they could be someone else's shadow.

"...What's wrong?"

Lichen blinked, peering over Kobold's shoulder before stepping a little more forward, peeling from the shadows. What ... happened? They stopped themselves from directly repeating Kobold, spreading their vocabulary ever so slightly as their ears pulled back atop their head.

---