Dragoncrest Cliffs Where we see enough to follow

Ever since the eve of the fighting when he had turned his fangs upon one of his own, Ephraim had been dreading the moment he would come face-to-face with Heda again. Each day he put it off, intentionally avoiding the places where she might be found and keeping to the outer fringes of the territory. But after a week of behaving like a skittish Brana, @Tux encouraged—or forced, who's really to say how that conversation went—him to seek her out. It was better to just rip bandages off than to make a gradual show of it.

His steps were slow and hesitant as he half-heartedly searched for recent signs of @Antumbra's passing. Given half a chance he would have turned tail and headed back out to the edges of the claim, but Tux was striding resolutely beside him, cutting off any chance of escape. The errant thought that maybe his friend wanted to see him punished for what he'd done made his heart drop, but just as quickly he reminded himself that Tux probably hadn't even see it happen. The tuxedo wolf was likely just ensuring that he steeled his resolve. Ephraim wasn't a coward, or at least he didn't want to be one, and Tux was just making sure of it.

Call her, the Rauna suggested after half an hour of meandering around. With butterflies dancing in his stomach, Ephraim obeyed, lifting his snout and crying a quiet summons for the commander. Seeming satisfied with his brother-in-arms at last, Tux made a noncommittal sound of parting and melted away into the trees, leaving Ephraim alone with his nerves and the lightly falling snow.

Antumbra is roaming the borders when the call is made. She doesn’t mind that the patrol is interrupted, it’s more often boring when she’s by herself, but the caller in question isn’t someone she’s sought out when she should have sooner and she feels a weird sense of relief and frustration all in once. Something said among the chaos has stuck out to her but she’s struggle to accept there is anything malicious behind Ephraim. He’d been a lost child when he’d been found, without knowing who is parents were.

Cutting across the forest, she comes across the boy, the scent of her son lingering in the area but she does not look for him.

“Hei,” he beckons with a slight nod of her head, closing the distance to something comfortable.

Hei, Ephraim replied after a long nervous beat. Why had he let Tux talk him into this again? Too late to back out now. He clucked his tongue anxiously against the roof of his mouth, then began to speak in tumbled, rushed sentences that spilled out without any order at all. Apologies for his performance in the fight and his subsequent withdrawal, mostly.

They spoke of many things, and then they parted ways, with Ephraim none the wiser of what was next to come.