Redhawk Caldera a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor

Set a few days after Peter died, or something around there.

Ferret spoke to no one about what he had seen. He returned to the home site and kept to himself. He was quiet, subdued, but his rambunctiousness had been tempered by perpetual hunger and so his distant behavior would likely be seen as no more than an extension of that. He chose a spot away from the others and here he spent his time, staring at nothing with his belly to the ground and his chin across his paws. His mind still struggled to process what had happened, and what it meant for the days going ahead. He felt ill when he thought of what he wanted to do, what he had almost done, and it caused him to retch hot bile onto the earth between his feet.

Once he left Donnelaith, Peregrine refused to stop until his feet touched the caldera's soil again. He walked through the day and night (several of them, actually), pausing only to fetch a drink or take a quick breather. He didn't make particularly good time, on account of his aching head and hollow gut, but he trekked resolutely south across the wilderness until his weary, torn paws brought him to his borders and then up the hillside to the literal and figurative heart of his homeland.

"Ferret!" he shouted when he spotted his son, tiredly trotting over to his eldest only for his brow to knit in concern. "Are you sick?" he asked, his heart dropping into his stomach when he saw the puddle of yellowish bile. The sour scent of it made his head swim and stomach lurch. "Where's your mom and your brothers?" he asked next, feeling a little short of breath as his jade eyes scanned the empty rendezvous site.

It registered, very dimly, that there were patches of green growth here and there. But Peregrine's attention soon returned to the pup as he attempted to ferret out the reason for his boy's ailment.

I'm gonna assume Fox knows by some avenue at this point, since the body's been discovered.

She hadn't gone to see him. She couldn't bear it. Already she had lost one son, and now another. Fox had mostly been in a daze since then, barely comprehending what was going on in the world around her. She couldn't even force herself to swallow a few measly scraps that were brought to her by concerned parties. She knew the children had noted his absence, but she couldn't formulate the words to tell them that their brother was gone. Forever.

It was the familiar voice of Peregrine that pulled her out of it. The rock that had been there when Haunter had died, when their smallest child from their first litter had died, and it was he who was here when this happened.

"Peter is dead," she managed to verbalize, which only reopened the wound in her heart.

Before Ferret could so much as react to his father's question, Fox appeared with three terrible words on her lips: "Peter is dead." Peregrine turned toward her, scrutinizing her face, wondering if this was some sick attempt at a joke. But, of course, she wouldn't joke about something like this. He saw the very real and heart-wrenching pain in that dull gray eye and he reflected it back with his own half-blind gaze as the news sunk in like a blow to the stomach.

For a long stretch of moments, he couldn't find his voice to speak. When he did, his voice was pitched low, sounding sort of strangled. "What? How? What happened?" His own ailments of the past few days faded into the background, probably never to be mentioned or even considered again as Peregrine's focus narrowed down to a single (smol) point: Peter Pan.

Ferret seemed out of it, and Fox looked at him as any mother would who had lost a son. Her heart ached not only for herself, but for the rest of her family that would have to deal with this tragedy in one way or another. "Ferret, why don't you go find Eljay, alright?" she suggested, and after a bit of a blank stare, he sauntered off. It was difficult to watch him walk away, and she finally looked back to Peregrine.

"I don't know. Not exactly. The kids are older, more independent. But it wasn't like him to not come back. I sent Shrike and that... that one with the difficult name to go out and find him. But Eljay found him first, Perry. I think it fucked him up in the head pretty bad." She frowned. It wasn't as though she would be at the top of her game if she had found little Peter's body, but Eljay was... well... Eljay. A little soft around the edges.

"Somebody ate him, Perry. That's what Shrike told me. He found Eljay and went after whatever sicko did this to him." Fox, the forgetful and hypocritical wolf that she was, hadn't batted an eye when she and Peregrine had eaten his daughter, but that was beside the point. This was precious, innocent Peter. Parents weren't supposed to play favorites, but she had. And they'd lost him.

Only when Fox spoke to Ferret did Peregrine remember his presence and the symptoms of illness. "Wait—" he said reflexively but the boy had already obeyed his mother's command. The Alpha male bit his lip, eyes resting on Ferret's tawny back until he disappeared from sight. Perhaps he had thrown up in reaction to his brother's fate. The father had no idea of a timeline, after all. It could have happened moments, hour or days prior to this moment.

He listened carefully, though his jade eyes went glassy about halfway into his mate's explanation. "Somebody ate him, Perry." He felt like his heart stopped in his chest. How could someone hurt such a sweet, innocent little boy like their Peter Pan? Then again, the objective predator in him knew exactly why this must have happened. Fox called the faceless perpetrator a sicko but more likely than not, it was just a creature driven by uncontrollable hunger. And they were all made of meat.

Of course, that didn't stop him from feeling a flush of rage at this nameless cannibal (he simply assumed it must be a fellow wolf to blame). "Where did this happen?" he hissed. He discovered he was shaking slightly. "And when?" Was it possible they could track down Peter's killer? It wouldn't bring back their little boy but there was something to be said for justice. "Shrike's out there looking for him? Now?" he added a bit distractedly, hoping their subordinate found the culprit but brought him back alive so the Redhawk Alphas could get violent vengeance for their youngest.

Fox confirmed Shrike's whereabouts, though she seemed to be having a difficult time articulating the other details. As much as Peregrine needed them, he chose to soothe her instead. He would get the information later. For now, the parents were reeling from the loss of their baby. And it wasn't like knowing the circumstances right this minute would bring Peter back. Peregrine barely stifled a groan at this thought, hugging his distraught mate against him, taking comfort from her even as he gave it.