waylaid

The strange lady gave him a pinched look that he didn't quite understand, but maybe she was just equally upset that his mom was missing. It was a deeply upsetting thing to happen to a little boy, after all. She introduced herself as Birna, and he sniffled lightly only to wipe the dribbles of his snot and tear against the soft fur inside his wrist. " 'm Clovis." he said weakly, and found himself staring at the lady's paws while he thought about her next question. How long had it been? He wasn't sure, the days had already been blurring together when he finally decided to go looking for her out in the wide world. She had offered to send a raven out searching for his mom, and he wanted so badly to get her help with the search. But what happened if he was wrong about how long she'd been away? Would it make it harder?

He finally tipped his head back to stare mournfully up at the pale lady, stubby tail flicking anxiously and shoulders twitching. "I... I don't know. Maybe... fifteen days? Or... maybe twenty." he hesitated looking at his paws to count his toes, reassuring himself of the numbers he was offering up. It was more toes than he had.

"I was supposed to stay away from the mouth of the cave while she was away, so that no one could smell me." he tried to explain, so that this nice Birna lady would understand that he wasn't just stupid, and that was why he couldn't find his mom. "Mom didn't want me to get hurt. I think twenty is right, or... or maybe close to right." he sniffled again, mostly a reflexive movement as his emotions started to settle. The adrenaline that came with his little fit was starting to wear off, and he felt weird. Tingly in his toes. All at once his little legs felt very wobbly, and he slumped down onto his butt so he didn't have to stand anymore. The snow cushioned him well enough, but it was going to soak into his downy fluff if he didn't get back up after a little while. "Do you think your raven friend will find her soon?" he asked quietly, blinking away a fresh upwelling of tears.

"Talking"