"Woah!" Xireidi exclaimed as he stopped his jump attempt mid-motion, a note which echoed against the narrow walls into the room behind him. Though there was a decently worn path available the pup hopped haphazardly from rock to rock. He'd been practicing his navigation skills almost nonstop in the week since he'd emerged and he wanted to put them to the test by taking the most difficult route he could find in this tunnel to who knew where. Unfortunately he had not yet fully mastered judging distances without depth perception, as evidenced by his aborted attempt to hop across a particularly large gap.

Training had been a small obsession since his premature entrance into the world, his way of catching up with everyone else as far as he was concerned. His nerves had never fully recovered, and he always had to pay attention to his own health lest he get too injured without realizing it. Lacking sight in one eye not only lead to difficulty hunting, it also meant he had to be extra careful in case something approached him from the right. His magic skills were… dismal as far as he could tell. There seemed to be some kind of disconnect between him and his stone and whenever he was able to overcome the difficult connections the results were uncomfortable to say the least.

A small portion of him was incredibly jealous that he had been born with such hardships, but he did have some gifts to compensate. For one thing he'd discovered that for as weak as he was in magic he made up for it in physical strength. Perhaps that was because of how hard he worked at it, but what better gifts were there then those we give ourselves, right? He also seemed to be a bit more alert to sounds, though that too could have been the result of nearly getting run over by a cave deer on his blind side.

The pup took a deep breath and scanned the path in front of him for alternatives, hoping he wouldn't have to backtrack any or break the game by taking the actual path. Luckily for him there was another rock nearby that looked like it might work. As he'd learned to do he took a second to check the way the silhouette of the rock interacted with the environment, how any shadows played near the target, and finally the actual stability of the rock itself. Sufficiently convinced that it was a viable target Xireidi coiled up and sprung forward into the air, bracing for impact as he landed soundly on the other side.

One quick check later to make sure he hadn't scraped anything and another small exclamation rang through the air, this time of victory. It was one of many to come, he was certain of it.

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away

As much as he had mentally prided himself on his hearing a moment earlier Xireidi had been distracted enough and the big cat silent enough that the pup was caught completely off guard by the stranger's appearance. He held steady though and managed to keep from appearing too surprised.

The cat was huge as far as he was concerned, and a color that he imagined would lend itself well to stealth. Xireidi's ears perked as its surprisingly caring voice reached his ears. It was a chastisement, yes, but one made out of concern rather than anger. The wolf pup responded by lying down on the rock and looking over at the full grown panther, who was just slightly below his current eye level.

"I'm sorry." he led in a sincere tone, "I just saw the stones here and thought it'd be fun to try."

Just as he was about to ease himself down from the stones another voice erupted into the tunnel, breaking Xireidi's train of thought. Someone's in trouble! He reasoned, picking himself back up and bounding back across the stones the way he had come without hesitation, having already memorized the distances.

There was only one other there though, leaving Xireidi feeling guiltily proud of his accomplishment in front of the small crowd. He stood up on his hind legs and propped a paw against the rock the small monkey creature was resting on, trying to get a better look.

"Are your voices giving you trouble?" he asked the other newcomer with concern.

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away

Xireidi listened intently to the... monkey perhaps it was? He knew a little bit of species from basic knowledge and his time around Polaris, but still had a long way to go before he knew as much as he felt re really needed to. He had seen kytes a few times circling overhead but had never even heard of anyone ever connecting with their minds.

Overall he appeared completely unfazed, even nodding a couple of times through the explanation. The pup relaxed his stance and sat down on the rock he was resting on, still looking up at the others around him with interest.

"Magic is weird sometimes." He offered as helpfully as a youth possibly could, "Maybe if you stay away from it for a while it'll fade on its own?"

Of course he knew, or at least guessed, that the effects of magic never truly went away. Even now he had strange thoughts murmuring almost silently in the back of his head. He counted himself lucky though; at least he never had to argue with magic. That sounded like it could get old really quick.

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away

The pup's head snapped back as the big cat spoke again. He did have a good point; there was probably little they could actually do to help the poor monkey.

But the cat kept talking... and talking... Xireidi listened intently out of respect, but the lecture didn't really take root, especially since he wasn't actually doing anything dangerous at the moment.

Or was he? Probably wasn’t a good idea to bother the one in front of him while they were trying to sort out stuff. There was no telling what they might do if they got too annoyed.

"Umm, be safe too then!" he called out to the retreating form before turning to the small being on the rock, "And I hope you start feeling better soon.”

Xireidi turned and started back down the trail toward an unknown region, looking behind him to make sure the cat was out of sight before playfully starting to veer off the main path onto some- slightly less dangerous- rocks to jump between.

-exit Xireidi-

"The words I speak"
The thoughts I hold
And the self I keep hidden away