It were days like this that make the peppered male wonder if he had done good leaving his son behind. For almost two years he had managed to push the thought of his precious silver colored child at the back of his mind.But with the recent birth of four precious cubs at the creek, the image of his little face had popped into his mind. He watched Njal, even if he wasn't acquainted with him, he could see the happiness irradiate from his eyes. Could he have been that way too?

A sorrowful sigh that drained the energy from every bone in his body escaped from his lips, sending a chill rolling down his spine and leaving his knees shivering. But things were much worse inside his head. A million thoughts of endless possibilities spun in his mind. Had Adele even told him about him? Had he ever asked? What excuse had she given for his disappearance?

All of these questions gnawed at his bones, making the aches in his joint even stronger. What was a king to do if he didn't have anything to reign over? What was a star to do if there was no night to illuminate?

Guilt. Regret.
And accusations gnawed at his insides, the acids of his stomach were eating the tender skin of his stomach lining alive. His amber gaze fell to the ground while a tedious voice in his head and the only memory he had left of him mocked his weakness. The image he so dearly clung to was of his son first learning how to walk. It was so vivid in his mind he could've sworn not more than a day had passed since then.

The little eyes of his son glued to the ground as he shook a wobbly paw in front of another, even the sound of Adele's encouraging coos in the background was way too real to ignore.

The peppered male clenched his jaw so tightly he thought the bones in his maw would snap. Where was he now? Was he even alive? Had Franz and the rest of the Deveroux exterminated the little family-based pack near the mountains?

All of these questions cricled his head until the a voice that wasn't from his painful memories reached his ears. He jerked his head to meet the source and upon seeing the white-eyed male looking at him he thought he was trespassing.

"I'm sorry I often walk without paying attention of the borders, it happens when one is caught in deep thought" he barked in an apologetic manner as he greeted the male with a feeble smile.

The amount of strenght that it took for the man to pull the corner of his lips into that mediocre smile was enormous. Dante was right, the gesture was a mask for his inner worries and anxieties. As a man shaped by the years he knew better than to spill his preocupations and demons to whoever crossed his path; he had learned to be prudent and not to wash his dirty laundry in public.

He dipped his head once more as the greyscale male assured that no harm had been made. He was not an intruder thus he was not to be treated as a threat --not as he was one either way. "Nice to meet you, Dante. I am Galileo", he barked with a small smile that was more genuine than the first. Though there was a limit to what coud be done when you're esophagus burned with guilt.

"No, I'm from Swiftcurrent Creek, have you heard of it? " the man barked with a little head tilt at the end. He knew very little of packs outside the creek's reigns, but the opportunity to learn more about another was fairly attractive.
"I suppose you're from the resident pack, which one is it?", he asked the younger male, his eyes flickering around the foliage for a second.

Though he would've preffered just to shove the remaining memory of his infant son at the back of his mind, he couldn't get himself to bury it beneath the graveyard of his imagination. He loved Finn --if that was even his name still, and though the years had passed he still held a little candle flame in his heart that kept alive his hope to see him again some day.

But for now, until the day their paths crossed finally arrived, he felt content to be at the Creek, which seemed to ring a bell in the man's head. Galileo pricked his dark tipped ears in his direction as the mention of a certain runaway alpha came from his lips. So she hadn't died after all, he thought relieved, though he still carried some resentment for Fox's foolish actions he would never wish her wrong. As Bazi, she had given him the home he now had.

"I am glad she's found love somewhere else", he barked, though he was certain the creek wolves had loved the fiery Alpha, their admiration and respect for her had crumbled after her continuous slip-ups. "It was a brusque change but I believe it worked out for the best, don't you agree?" he barked casually. Bazi had proven to be worthy of her title --until now -- ans the greyscale male had just mentioned the joy Fox had brought to their home. It was a win-win, as far as he knew.

The man's words didn't give Galileo any insight into how things really stood with Fox in the Plateu. He assumed she had joined as a regular member would, starting from the bottom until her new loyalty was pledged. Little did the man know that she had risen to leadership as soon as she had entered the Plateu, taking the Alpha and his reign under her paw. It had only been a matter of time though, knowing Fox he should've guessed she would strive to rise again.

Just like the remaining members of the Creek would. Even if the fiery female's absence had stirred some trouble into the Creek, in the end, and thanks to Bazi's quick performance, they had managed to swerve out of the way of a potential war with the Sunspire. And though their feud had cost them more than one battle scar, the wolves of the Creek never lowered their chins."It has", he barked simply, even if it had driven out their longest standing members (along with their children) in the long run, Galileo believed that they had faced well the calamity.
Some more than others.

Galileo for example had coped well with the change of leadership, truth was he had always thought of Bazi as superior when he first joined the Creek. And though he hadn't been there from the beginning, all Fox had showed while he was there plain stupidity. Fox had accepted him into her home and had sheltered him from the open, and he would be forever grateful for it, but none of that erased all the mediocre decisons she had made whilst leading the Creek.


"Taking a walk, and getting some air" he barked vaguely. Despite being an aspiring counselor, he was not easily able to share his thoughts with others. "I thought Fox was dead, you know", he murmured out of the blue, "But seeing that she isn't gives me the kind of hope I needed", he continued, not really knowing what the point of his words were.

"I think someone I love might be dead too.. but maybe not" he mumbled at last. Not caring if his words made sense or not.

It was funny how it was often those who gave advice to others the same ones who required it the most. Though the older male had been named a counselor not so long ago, he felt he needed a counseling session for himself first. And as temtping as it was to spill his worries to a stranger he didn't; it wasn't in the man's nature to talk about feelings especially when they were so tightly glued to painful memories.

To his surprise, and relief, the man did not ask about his lost relative, instead he gave some insight on the subject, hinting that he was no stranger to the feeling of impotence that took ahold of the man now. "I would actually rather knowing if he's alive or not, just so I don't have to carry the ghost of him every time I wake" he barked with a raspy voice.

Knowing if his child had survived would be both devastating but liberating, that way he wouldn't have to beat himself every day with the worry of him suffering, it would be like a dagger in the chest but a weight of his back.

A sour venom that would burn his insides but at the same time put him at rest.

While his voice was stained with grief, Galileo wasn't one to point out the flaws. As an aspiring Naturalist he had an eye trained to see the beauty among mundane objects. Unlike most of the wolves, that lived their lives on the run, as if time was nipping their heels; Galileo appreciated the simplicity of nature, the flowers, plants, clouds and especially the luminous beings of the sky.

As the male offered his piece of mind, followed by a confession of being a stranger to that feeling, the peppered male dipped his head in appreciating for his words. This, unfortunately, was not the first ghost Galileo carried upon him. The phantom of his sister also weighed down his shoulders, and though he was certain she was not alive, he still missed her dearly every day."Sometimes it's better to lack knowledge in some subjects" he barked, referring to his luck of not knowing what it was like to feel his heart tearing with uncertainty.

His amber eyes fell onto Dante's face, irratiating gratitude as the man wished him well. They owed each other nothing, and still he was giving him his sympathy. It was a small gesture that any wolf with manners would have, but to Galileo it was enough to decide that this encounter would not be the last. If the man allowed so, the seed of friendship that had been buried in their hearts would flourish.

He smiled, and without hesitation, proceeded to tell what now only felt like owed."It was my son, I left him when he was two months old" he barked, his throat closing as the words left his mouth. Dante had no way of knowing the real reasons for his departure and even if he knew them there was a chance that he still saw his actions unexcused. It was a chance he was willing to take anyways.