Chapter 3: The One Who Listens

Bram spends the morning listening from damp grass above a meadow, identifying sounds without looking for their sources. Mott rests against him while the sun rises beyond the hills and the grazers feed below their resting place. His quiet enjoyment ends when Mott stiffens and falls silent. Bram sits upright to see every grazer motionless at once, still holding grass in its mouth and directing its head toward the same remote quarter of the country. The birds cease their calls and rustling, insects fall quiet, and the wind disappears as well. Bram feels the entire landscape attending to something, and he faces the same direction while holding his breath and finding nothing visible ahead.

The interruption lasts only as long as a breath held in. Wind returns before insect noise and a bird sound, the grazers resume feeding, and Mott relaxes enough for his familiar chest sound to regain its steadiness. Although his heart beats hard afterward, Bram does not feel frightened. Curiosity fills him instead, and once he is satisfied that the grazers settle, he sets out with Mott to inspect the direction of their attention. Bram maintains a direct course across the slopes while Mott follows unusually close and grows quieter. They reach the edge of a small depression, but uneven land prevents certainty about the destination and Bram discovers no visible evidence there.

At that spot, Bram senses thin air and oddly motionless light, though both impressions fade as he breathes. Mott refuses to descend into the depression, making an uncertain sound, and Bram honours that refusal by stopping beside him. Bram returns toward his resting ground and adds the occurrence to his remembered count of similar interruptions. He doubts his earlier explanations involving a distant storm or an unseen great beast, but has no new explanation to replace them. The grazers provide no answer when Bram wonders what they repeatedly see beyond his sight. Mott's warm presence is an answer he trusts, and Bram decides to remain outside another day while continuing to listen for an answer from the wilds.