the friendly ghost

His mother had stopped talking and his brother was gone. It didn't really bother Casper much - he missed his brother's warmth at night, but they had never been able to speak to each other. Eris going silent worried him more, but he decided quite quickly (in the way that you made decisions when you were young) that he just wouldn't talk either. She'd taught him plenty of Ademic and he was a quick learner, so it wasn't like his communication had really faltered.

Oxide didn't know as much Ademic as the others, but they got along just fine. There was a plaintive, sweet look in Casper's eyes that let others know he was listening, even if he wasn't talking. Since the weather had cleared up a fair bit they'd all been spending more time outside. Casper had been left to his own devices for the first time ever and he made good use of his newfound freedom by straying about 10 yards from the entrance of the den. He wasn't too big on taking risks. The little boy observed a small sand crab as it made its way slowly towards the coastline; garnet eyes followed the fellow until he was swept away by the waves and out to sea.