Jaden busied himself with the distraction of washing dishes in the river. He had followed Aidan to the river with a stack of dishes and remained silent, trying to focus on the task at hand, and not what was happening to him. He felt shaky, despite having just eaten. It was like the world around him was a drone of white noise that pressed down on him. His focus on cleaning was merely tunnel vision through the blur of his surroundings.<br/><br/>Then a howl carried over the trees...<br/><br/>His head snapped up from staring at the plate. Oddly he understood it to be a warning. He became anxious, not knowing what it meant or what was going to happen. Aiden seemed attentive too, even she stopped in mid wipe to listen to the silence that preceded the howl. It seemed like an eternity before another howl was carried on the wind. Aiden continued washing and Jaden assumed it meant to be a sort of 'stand down' signal. So much he didn't understand about this new life, but he was surprised he was staying calm.<br/><br/>But was he? This wasn't calm. Not like he remembered. He looked calm, on the outside. But on the inside, he felt panicked and scared, yet it was as if a heavy buffer of numbness covered his feelings to produce his calm outward appearance. He was able to return to the cave with the others and the plates were put down before he realized what was happening. He was in shock.<br/><br/>He wanted to explode, to scream and just freak out. He wanted someone to start from the beginning and tell him everything that was happening, how things worked, what to do now, but there was no manual he could read to prepare for the rest of his life. He needed time to get things straight.<br/><br/>Sitting beside the fire again, he put his arms around his knees and pushed his forehead into them, his face pressing against his pants. They smelled of dirt and blood now, his silk shirt damp and heavy, now clinging to his body. He tried to take deep breathes that somewhat helped, but tears still began to flow. He kept his head down and face covered so the others wouldn't see. He was a guy and guy's didn't cry. This wasn't really the situation to cry either. He was fine. He was safe. He had people to help him. He should be happy he found them. He was, for the most part, but the rest of it was overwhelming.<br/><br/>The back of his head started to throb, trying to hold back the tears of stress and soon he felt the worst tension headache he can remember. He kept his face hidden, no doubt his eyes would be red and puffy. His ears were open to the world and he tried to focus on that at least, to distract him from his feelings. Thomas was talking to the girls, quiet whimpers from the newcomer in the cave, people talking close by, and perhaps something running through the woods a ways away. He ignored that and listened harder, for something out of the ordinary, something further away, but even a werewolf's ears has it's limitations. There was a dull roar of something but so quiet it could be mistaken for a bug of some kind. Could be a plane or something far away, but Jaden dismissed the thought rather quickly. They're too far in the middle of nowhere for something like that. But then again, he had no idea where he was. Pulling a damp silken sleeve across his face he sniffed and buried his face again, trying to calm his nerves, hoping everything would be alright.