Dragoncrest Cliffs I knew not to trust, yet I had no choice.

So soon following recovery from Dalia's departure, the sudden loss of Sequoia seemed to have driven the speckled Fisa into seclusion. Young Dacio, yearning to be close to her but afraid that she might push him away, left her to be alone as she seemed to desire. He padded along a frozen deer path through the frosted trees, ghostly gaze fixed to the pale plume of breath that dwindled bfore him with each exhale.

He was supposed to be celebrating his rise to the adult ranks. The pack was meant to be overjoyed with the valiant return of its leader, yet @Thuringwethil's arrival had been met with sadness. Dacio didn't know what to do with himself. He remembered when he reached out to his piebald littermate after their elder sister left, how he'd trusted her enough to share his most fragile thoughts, and pressed his ears back with the thought that she left anyway.

Frowning, the young Gona quickened his stride and huffed a breath, kicking a rogue pebble in his path as he wandered aimlessly with his trouled thoughts.

The hardened, cold feeling in her chest she developed while talking to Tux still lingers a while later. Questions turn over in her head and she never receives an answer to them but she knows enough that keeps her firmly planted in Drageda. They couldn’t have gotten terribly far in a matter of days and she can speculate well enough where they’re headed. Their numbers have hurt in her absence and the crew she brought back with her helps to a degree, they still need numbers on the Cliffside to prepare for winter.

She notes a scent on the wind as she moves through the land just south of Hougeda. She recognizes it. The boy had been there upon her arrival. He stayed despite his sister leaving but understanding what he is likely going through. Thuringwethil puts on a strong face to hide the acid forming in her belly and chuffs for his attention.

The chuff of another from between the foliage brings Dacio to a halt, and he was momentarily drawn from the darkness of his thoughts. A charcoal ear canted in the direction the noise had come from and his pastel gaze was quick to follow. He blinked toward the dark figure, and lowered himself considerably as he recognised who had called to him.

His tail swept low, twitching nervously between his dark hocks. Eyes were averted, shifting from the leader's obsidian features to linger on her lower limbs, as his own tongue flicked between his lips to trace his upper lip. Dacio had been too young to really recall Heda from before she left for battle, but she is precisely as intimidating as he imagined she'd be.

He remained silent before her, unsure if she simply intended to exchange greeting in passing or if she wished to engage him further.

the young gona adjusts himself when she approaches and she dips her head in acknowledgment. despite the departure of his siblings, including dalia and sirio, dacio has remained. he’s taken on the role of warrior, training with the others and thuringwethil is eager to see what he has to offer. the remaining children of dio will fall under silent scrutiny, waiting for the day they choose to follow in their siblings’ footsteps.

in the meantime, they can do what they can to show them what it means to be drageda and hope the lessons stick and dacio is doing well enough.

“i’m sorry. a lot has changed recently, and not all for the better,” she says with a soft voice. whether she means her own loss or dacio’s is left unclear but she still feels sadness for the kid. her own sorrow is put aside, remaining strong for those that have remained. tux and silkie need someone and she’s certain dacio and opalia do, too, and though she isn’t a natural mother, she feels compelled to take the place in their absence. “it’ll get better. i hear how strong you’ve gotten.”

He felt her steely eyes linger on him, and his body tensed beneath her scrutiny. Dacio, despite having grown considerably and fit himself into the role of warrior-in-training, is still very much a child. His paws and ears are still over-sized, his features not yet broadened by adolescence, and he has a great deal of toughening up to do. For now, however, the boy did his best to hide his vulnerability, but Thuringwethil seemed to see right through this guise and, much to Dacio's surprise, she piped up with a very unexpected apology.

His charcoal lobes sprung forward, and grey-green gaze rose to settle curiously on the leader's sable snout. What did she have to be sorry for? Uncertain, the young Gona licked his whiskers. The only wolves who should be sorry were the natrona who'd fled only days before, and broken so many hearts in the proess. Dacio listened intently to what Heda had to say of his strength and, with the sting of emotion behind his eyes, squeezed them shut as he inhaled deeply - because in that moment, he felt weaker than ever.

"They have no pride," he spoke of their disloyal relations; "but they endure, and we must endure."

On some level, she knows if she had not left, these things would not have happened. Her presence wouldn’t have faltered. Drageda isn’t as strong as it once was. They’ve gone through so much over its short life and they’ve come out for the better but if anything, this has only show her there’s more work to do. The weak have left, as they always have and always will. She doesn’t like that it involves her former mate and children but she does not go after them in a vengeful fury.

Instead, it has hardened and frozen over in the pit of her chest. It’ll brew and turn and she’ll make use of the desire, redirect every ounce of bubbling anger into something small and compact.

Thuringwethil likes her lips and nods, agreeing with the sentiment.

“We will,” she tells him and steps closer. Normally, she would not sit for she must be Heda all the time but the strain this has put them all under is more delicate than she’d admit. Carefully, she sits and offer the same to him. “It will make us stronger.”

With a flick of a charcoal ear and polite dip of his muzzle, Dacio acknowledged Heda's assurance that their most recent turmoil would make them stronger. He sincerely hoped there was an element of truth in her words, that she hadn't just offered an empty promise in attempt to make him feel better, because he wasn't sure that his heart could support further splintering.

The boy flared his nostrils to inhale a deep breath, and turned his glassy green eyes to look up at the dark figure seated nearby. He almost parted his jaws to speak, to share with her not only how angry he felt about Sequoia's decision to leave - but to admit how much he missed her. Thuringwethil maintained a cool expression, however, which made him feel small and pitiful beneath her gaze, for she did not seem nearly as vulnerable as he did.

"Why did they go?" Dacio asked instead, because he hadn't really given his father the opportunity to share what Sequoia had told him.

Why did they go?

Thuringwethil takes a deep breath and looks at the ground. She doesn’t like not having the answers, especially for the kids. Especially for kids that have lost a parent. When Wildfire went missing last year, it had been difficult to accept and even harder to explain to their children. And now she’s gone again, for good, and she doesn’t know how to help with the abandonment they must feel. She may not have given birth to them, but she’d never turn her back on them like their mother has done.

“I don’t know,” she offers. Maybe they were scared or weak-minded or simply not Drageda wolves at all. She doesn’t expect to ever have answers so it is easy to store away the cold, frozen anger to some darker part of her. “Know that I am always here for you,” she tells him with a bit of a smile. She is not his mother, will never act as such, but in the absence of his own family, she’ll be there as a shoulder to lean on.

She does not have the answers. Dacio's eyes dropped once more at this response, lingering quietly on his own charcoal forepaws as he willed himself to keep from falling apart. The boy sniffed back his emotion, gritted his fangs, and lifted his chin only when Heda attempted to soothe his broken spirit with a gentle promise.

"Thank you," was all he could muster, and he managed a watery smile as he took note of the leader's own. Dacio would be there for her too, he thought fiercely, though inwardly doubted he'd ever truly be needed. He could never be the best Gona, but he was determined to prove his loyalty - more than anything.

As if to reinforce her point, Thuringwethil steps forward and nudges the boy on his nose. A gentle gesture, something he likely won’t see from Heda very often. In a time of need, however, she’ll offer him the very promise she’s made. “Let’s find something to eat,” she urges, deciding to make use of their negative energy into something else.