@Silvertongue was missing.
for the first few hours, wren had thought she was merely on a hunt, as she'd promised. she stupidly sat watch over the kids, playing a game of chase with @Sparrow and @Rowyn after dinner; she kissed @Phoebe Aquilanera and @Bryony and pointed out patterns in the night sky with them.
when her wife did not return before the sun rose again, impatience churned to a sickening worry. something was off. late morning came and went; every primal instinct within her now screamed bleating alarm bells, her stomach flipping and tying itself into knots over the restlessness.
by noon, she had gone from the qeya. @Ash Star and @Ksura were trusted to hold things down. her scent led southward, running parallel to a quickly fading caribou trail; but it was much too late for this to be reassuring.
it was when she picked up the scent of a man she did not know (@Juárez) that her panic morphed into hysteria.