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Worripa had not returned to the rendezvous site, and Sequoia had not thought too much of it. The children were older now, and they had more freedoms. But when as days passed, and she failed to catch sight of him, she began to worry and search for him. Surely he could not have gone too far. She sniffed the ground for droppings he may have left behind, for scent markers along the borders, but there was nothing.

She wove her way through Rivenwood's claim, combing each and every square inch she could reach, but Sequoia could find no signs of him that weren't already stale. She swallowed thickly. This was not good.

The piebald mother returned to the rendezvous site, feeling defeated. If Mahler did not already know, he would soon enough. She should have noticed sooner. She should have been worried sooner. How could she let this happen?

witch loved the new freedoms that the rendezvous site offered— as much as she loved exploring with her sister and enjoyed company, she just as often enjoyed exploring the world on her own. there was nothing better than an uninterrupted daydream. while druid and skaigona were off teaching their pets new tricks, witch lay in one of rivenwood's flower fields, belly up towards the sky as she watched the late summer bugs live their lives among the grasses.

she was particularly invested in what appeared to be a battle between a bumblebee and wasp when sequoia returned. witch flipped to her feet, the gust of air disturbing the battle and causing the insects to flee the area, at least temporarily.

what's the matter, mother? she queried as she approached, dropping the story she had planned to share when her mother's distress became clear. you look absolutely melancholic; it's too beautiful of an afternoon to be out of sorts. witch was still young, but language proved to be one of her budding passions; as often as she passionately observed the natural world, she committed new words to memory and sought to use them whenever she could.

hypervigilant since thade, mahler knew.
he had combed the foothills for worripa, desperately hoping that he would not find the spoor of cat again.
the man's coat bristled with debris, and he returned to sit upon his haunches with a pensive mien. sequoia too had come back, and together they seemed to share the same worried air.
"i am going to ask for a messenger from the glacier. ve vill not vait longer than ve have to get the vord out."
he looked at witch now, the crags of his solemn face softening. "did vorripa happen to suggest to you or any of the others vhere he might have gone?"

It was Witch who approached her, and Sequoia gave her a sad smile in return for her words. Worripa is gone, she said, One night away would not worry me, but two... two is too many. How many had it been since she had seen him? It was hard to count the exact number, but it had been too many.

Mahler approached then, explaining that he would seek out a messenger from the glacier. It was not a place or pack Sequoia was familiar with, further solidifying her decision to remain out of leadership. Making and keeping alliances was far too much work. She felt exhausted.

He's not old enough to be on his own, she said. He may survive, but... not forever. The boy was nearing four months, but even that was not enough to know the hunt. Survival even as an adult was hard enough on one's own. Sequoia liked to think she had prepared all of the children with the basic skills needed, but that would only count so much if he were truly on his own.

witch frowned at that. she had given up on ever being close to worripa, though she still considered him a brother— he kept himself mostly apart from the rest of them, despite their best efforts to include him and love him. mahler approached, then, and she looked at him with sad eyes and a half-hearted thump of her tail.

he and sequoia spoke openly of their concerns, and the pale child's dark ears flattened with concern. worripa could... die? but before she could dwell too long on that morbid thought, vater addressed her.

she shook her head, druid was with him a few days ago, but i don't think he said anything. she paused. he doesn't much talk to us. dru brought him a frog.

another though occurred to her as she strained to remember the details of what she had previously assumed was a mundane occurrence. she did say she found him close to the edge of rivenwood... but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, right? or at least, it hadn't become notable until this news he had gone missing.

sequoia's directness was always a blessing in these times.
mahler listened to witch speak, giving only a nod once she had finished. for a long moment the graf was silent, looking off toward the trees.
"stay from the edges of the forest yourself, vitch, you and your sisters. especially as the season grows cold. crueler animals than us lurk vhen the snow prepares to come."
he did not mean to be so dour, and it was apparent in the way his shoulders softened. "i vill need to mark the furthest vones before long. perhaps you could come vith me?"
a glance to sequoia. this disappearance had been hard upon all of them. "are the both of you sleeping at all?"