Things for Shieldkit recently had been... rough, to say the least. While he hadn't been physically hurt at all - aside from some bruising on his side as a result of the whole bath incident - it seemed as though his siblings were competing to see who could get more hurt. It had caused him a great deal of stress as of late, and he found that he was no longer able to get any good sleep, whether it be during the daytime or at night. While he had previously been able to nap at anytime or anywhere, he now found it difficult just to close his eyes without visions of Mazekit plummeting, or Wyv soaked and unresponsive in the sand. Even when he was actually able to drift off to sleep, he was usually woken up not very long afterward by some kind of horrid nightmare where all of his siblings had disappeared, or all of them were injured and dying. Those dreams always made him wake up gasping and struggling to breathe, desperately trying to regain his sense of calm.

Most nights, he just remained within the room that housed himself and his siblings, pretending to be asleep when he was really just staring at the wall, feeling numb and exhausted. This time, though, he found that he simply wasn't able to do that. He was feeling restless and upset, and he needed to get out. So, he carefully got up to his paws in the dead of night, slipping silently past the dozing bodies of his siblings and out of the house. He was sure he'd get yelled at later for leaving when it was so late, but he couldn't help it. He didn't feel as though he had any other option than to just... allow himself to wander out through the territory of the Glades, his bright green eyes focused upward, at the stars. He didn't know where he was heading, but it wasn't long before he found himself at the edge of the Twisted Forest, surprisingly not fearing the towering darkness of the trees around him. Instead, he just found them comforting, since they provided a barrier between himself and the rest of the world.

However, it didn't seem as though the child was completely alone. As he sat and just allowed himself to take in the forest around him, he was surprised to hear the sound of footsteps growing closer. He initially tensed up, thinking that it was either one of his parents, or someone coming from another group to hurt him. Instead, it was something much different - a goat. Specifically, a pygmy goat. It trotted innocently through the trees, letting out a soft bleat as it spotted Eld, pausing and staring at him. He stared back, having never seen a goat before, except for in picture books. After a moment, the goat moved forward, letting out a more enthusiastic bleat as it toppled him over, before bouncing around excitedly. Shield let out a soft grunt as he was knocked over, but soon found a grin on his muzzle, laughter bubbling forth from his mouth as he said happily, "You're pretty funny, you know! Do you wanna be my friend? I think I could call you... Brody. How does Brody sound to you?" He glanced over at the small black and white goat, unsurprised as he simply let out another cheerful bleat and bounced around a bit more. Eld doubted that mapa would be too happy about him bringing his new companion home, but he already felt a great deal of affection for the other animal.