Neverwinter Forest You got a flat pancake? Just call it a crepe!

@Arrille kill me. i've been unfair to you

The trek back was uneventful. The bonding had been done, the questions answered, the search over. Kjalarr was gone. Whoopdeedo. Now she had to do something with herself and the kid.

Her first thought was to return him to his mother. It seemed the rightful thing to do after stealing him away. He had already lost one parent to the Wilds, but as far as she knew, one remained to continue tutoring him until adulthood. So she turned from Moonspear towards Neverwinter Forest, her songs more dour, without the boisterous, questing vibe they once had.

The forest came within their sights after a few days, but no scent hit her nose. She was confused at first, thinking that it was merely the wind blowing the wrong way — but a gust hit her face. No scent. Shite. She muttered, increasing her pace, heading straight for the Forest, nose sniffing wildly with every step. Fookin' shite,

Arrille had spent the long trek back in silence. Not murmuring a word, not singing to any 'shanties' sung. Only occasionally looking up to Maude's face, wondering how much they truly cared about all this. He however did feel a sense of joy when he saw the forest, and ignored the lack of scent. He rushed ahead of Maude, only a few paces before she began to swear. 

He glanced back, stopping. "Maude...what's wrong?" Then he noticed the lack of a scent. He turned back to the forest, sniffing at the air. And then, he just sat down, staring at the forest. With a blank expression. "Where's the border?" Then without thinking, he bolted straight past the tress, calling at the top of his lungs for his mother.

She didn't have enough time to react when rushed ahead, nearly gasping out the word — Wait!— before he stopped in front of her. She huffed, not responded to his voice. Instead, stepping forward, raising her head, sniffing the air, then the ground. Dead, stale. Nothing. It- But before she could answer him, he ran. Arrille! She barked, knowing the answer long before she could voice it: Neverwinter was gone. How long they had been so and why they disappeared was unknown, but no one remained. She cared little for the Neverwinter Wolves, least of all Ondine, but they were the only family Arrille had known. For him at least, her heart hurt. She followed, calling after him. Oi! C'mere! She didn't know who else had moved in, and why they had left. He could have walked into a loner's den, or a bear, or something. Wot're yew doin'! Come back!

Arrille stopped once he was past where he remembered the border to be. He stopped calling for his mother, just waiting for her to appear, running out to embrace him. But she never came. Instead, Maude came to him. 

He felt like how he had felt when Charon had told them about his father, perhaps even more so. "Maude...th-they're gone...they're all gone, Maude..." He was all alone now. "I had to...I have to find them" he said in response to Maude. He looked back, glancing up to meet Maude's eyes. With his own wet, teary eyes.

She caught up to him, but it was too late to lighten the blow on him. He turned to her and her heart crumpled for a moment. Determination and heartbreak were prominent in his eyes, but she merely frowned. Aw, kid, She clucked, wrapping herself around him in place of his mother. Where we gonna go t'try an' find 'em, eh? They must have scattered to the winds, or peeled off quietly, slowly draining themselves. We don't know where dey went, Another wild goose chase was not in their best interest. They had wasted enough of the summer trying to find Kjalarr, and now fall was here. They needed a place to stay. We can't keep chasin' t'wind an' shite,

Arrille was in disbelief. He did not want to believe any of this that was happening before them, his family, gone. He wanted the very same comfort that Maude had given him back at Moonspear, but from his father. Or his mother. 

When Maude said that they couldn't go seeking them out, he turned his head slightly so only one of his eyes caught Maude in it's sight. "Y-You...you came h-here...you took me away!" He couldn't help it, he had to find someone to blame. Someone to dump all the feelings on. "How do I know you aren't the reason he left in the first place?!" He paused for a moment.

"You told me you left when my mother took over...but it wasn't because you didn't like it anymore, was it? Tell me the truth, why did you really want to find my father?" He had some kind of suspicion now. All he wanted was to bring him back, to him and mother. He had this feeling that Maude would not have liked that.

She expected him to be upset, and to cry in her chest or something like that. She braced herself for it, actually. But it never came. Instead, Arrille turned to her, and began to yell. That angered her more than it increased her sympathy. Her teeth gritted together, and she frowned heavily. Wot the fook are ye blamin' me fer! She screeched back. She didn't expect a child to be so accusatory, so on the nose. But he wasn't really that much of a child anymore, right? He was somewhere around 9 months now; a young adult. And she treated him as such. 'Cuz I love 'im! It was obvious to anyone. As much as she attempted to hide it, it was too obvious. I love him an' the only reason yer mother was even mated wit' 'im was 'cuz her slut ass went inta 'eat. He felt obligated to stay, not 'cuz 'e wanted t'. That was the only way to explain it. He was a man of duty and loyalty, or at least he thought he was. And he supposedly had a duty to stay with the mother of his bastard children. And look how that turned out. She seduced 'im. There weren't much love between 'em. I'm not surprised 'e left.

Arrille's own anger backfired in her response, and he took a step back. He had made the wrong move in doing that, he just didn't realise it. And yet, it gave him the answer that he half knew, yet wanted to hear all this time just to prove it to himself. "You...You loved my father?" Was it all true? Did his father really love his mother, or did he just feel it was his duty to stay? As Maude went on, Arrille wasn't sure what to believe anymore. His gaze shifted to the ground.

"But...But I was sure they...he had to have loved her..." He felt heavy, and he fell onto his underside. Did his father even love him? "But why did he leave me then?" he asked, finally looking up to Maude's gaze.

She huffed, the expulsion taking the wind out of her. It had to be said eventually, even if she screamed it at the boy. Aye, Oi did, she repeated, confirming the fact for the second time. Well, sometimes, kid...people just mate. It ain't for love. It might be lust, or summat. She had seen politiking before involving choice marriages and bargains. Sometimes wolves mated because they knew they had good genes. Sometimes they just wanted to fuck. An' dat's wot yer father did. But 'e stayed, unlike most. 'Cuz it was 'is pack. She frowned at him, unsure how to answer, or if she could. She didn't know the answer. I dunno,

Arrille still couldn't believe it, that Maude loved his father. There was a few reasons for this, the main one being that Arrille's father had never even mentioned Maude's name. Had his own mother really twisted his father's mind in the way Maude said?

He had stayed, however. For a moment, yes, but he had still stayed. Yet he had also left. 

One thing still stuck to Arrille's mind. "Wait, so you didn't love my dad like...like a brother? It was more than that?" He paused after saying that, quickly glancing to Maude's rear. He had never heard of a male loving another male, then again he was young. "But, aren't you a guy...you are, right?"

She looked at him, confusion replacing her previously irate state. Aye, She replaced tentatively. Hadn't he learned about romantic love? There was more than just brother and sister — and he didn't even have any. But then — oh. 

The kid was young, so she had forgiven him for just assuming she was a guy. But it was a strange question, seeing how long they had traveled together. It had never come up before, now that she thought about it. It never needed to come up. Oi'm a lass, She said, shifting her hips. An' I loved 'im like a mate. But now I ain't so sure anymore,

Arrille wanted to question it, but then he left it at that. "Oh...a mate...I'm sorry" he replied quietly, with a sad tone. Arrille wondered how things would have been different if his father had gone back to Maude after the boy was born. Or if his mother was the one to leave, not his father. Or if they both stayed...there were so many ways this could have all been better, and it was all he could think about.

"What...what do we do now?" Staying here, just the two of them. It wasn't the best of plans, even Arrille knew that, even though there was the possibility of them coming back.

She scratched herself, using it as an opportunity to turn her head away from his somber vistage. She looked towards the sea, the familiar smell of salt wafting towards her. She was strangely quiet, contemplative. She turns to him as he asks what next to do. It doesn't take her long to reach a decision, the salt-water smell calling her to the shore. Let's go t'sea, She declared. She didn't know where the newest packs were, but there was always one there, no matter what moon. 'ave ye e'er been there?

He shook his head. He hoped to be there one day, to see all that Mother had spoken of. But first, they had to find his father. Then perhaps, all of them could go. "I want to take Mother and Father to see it all." He held Maude's promise in mind, hoping it to be true with Father and Mother.