The Sun Will Rise and We Will Try Again [c]

Woolywing hated this. Oddly, not being able to see was far from the worst of it. Every day, as he practiced, he got better at interpreting the world around him despite the lack of visuals. He could imagine, with perhaps a year of training, that he'd be able to get around almost as well as before. Or so he hoped. The pain wasn't the worst bit either, though it was bad. His eye caused him headaches at random times of day, herbs only did so much to ease the pain. But he'd been through pain before, and he'd get through it again.

No, the worst part was how everyone was reacting to the news. Yarrowblossom had cried, actually sobbed, demanding that he never leave camp again. Even Stormdance, a denizen of confidence throughout Woolywing's whole life, was clearly very affected by the news. It was only natural for people to care, of course. But Woolywing hated the fuss. Stormdance himself was injured, as was his current apprentice. He needed to focus on recovering, not on something he couldn't fix. The snake hadn't even been his fault, if anything Woolywing might've died if he hadn't been there. He wanted to tell all of this to Stormdance, but he suspected that would only make things worse. So, as usual, he pushed it aside.

He sat near Stormdance, head turned in the direction of his voice. It was funny in a way, that he found himself being something of an apprentice again. "I'll try my best. But to be honest, I can mostly just smell herbs. I think the scent's going to be stuck in my nose forever." He gave a weak chuckle, hoping to lighten the fact that he'd not stepped foot outside the medicine den since the incident.