Redtail Rise Paper Boats

Just like he thought, the scents of Junior and Saena were nowhere to be found and although Arion had expected it, it did not stop the worry increasing. The warrior's ears briefly flattened in restlessness and distress while his tail flicked back and forth. These movements were only done because he was currently alone with Reek, if he sensed another presence nearby, he would act as normal as ever. The pack could not panic, no one other than the two friends could know, Saena had entrusted them to do their duty and even though she was currently absent from the Rise, he knew he still had to do what he had to do.

"Obviously," he muttered back, even though the circumstances were rather terrible, nothing could stop his sarcasm from appearing. But this time, it disappeared quickly enough and he pricked his ears to listen to Reek's theories, though he was a master of solving things like these, it had been a long time since he had delved in those abilities and they were rather rusty now. Or actually, terribly rusty.

Junior's outburst had included several things, but what had struck Arion the most was the fact that most of the words she spoke was not about the gashes on Reek's snout but about a replacement kid and a terrible deadbeat shitty dad. Perhaps Reek's words and the injuries had triggered this reaction but ultimately, Arion believed it was mostly about her history with her father that made her scream like a banshee instead of Reek's injuries.

"No," the stallion said firmly, his fierce golden gazed fixed almost sternly on his friend. "It isn't your fault, Reek, none of this," he gestured around with his muzzle, "is your fault." His brows creased into a frown as he shifted his weight between his paws and twitched his tail deep in thought. "Junior's outburst. Remember how she was mostly shouting about about a replacement kid? That's probably her father's new children. Then she said something about her history with the Alpha guy running much deeper and that she wanted to be the one who dished out the punishment." Arion tilted his head slightly and frowned.

"I'm not trying to dishonor her or anyone or anything, but what if she only said she wasn't going to the Caldera to pick a fight just to stop us from suspecting anything? What if she went there and...." Arion gazed at the horizon and then looked at his friend. Various scenarios ran through his head and the Greek finally managed to shove them all away, "I honestly don't know," he said in an almost helpless tone. "Everything is fucked up and everything is wrong, I can't make sense of any of it."