Redhawk Caldera Freshly disowned in some frozen devotion

Eljay awoke with a start. He looked to his left, where mommy was peacefully asleep, and then to his right, where daddy had been when he'd gone to sleep. "Daddy?" Eljay asked when his nose nor eyes found no trail of daddy beside him, and his eyes squinted to a worried frown. Eljay nosed mommy to make sure she was asleep (so that she'd still be here when he returned with mommy) and then trotted out of the den, nose low to follow the scent trail that daddy left behind.

Breath was rapid and worried as Eljay dashed through Redhawk Caldera on his own, panic and anxiety overruling all rational thoughts in his mind as he dashed forward. Eljay was in the midst of his growth spurt and grew each day, it seemed, but his mind was not catching up as fast as it should have. He wanted nothing but to stay by mommy and daddy's side, and only their encouragement made him do anything at all — which usually came down to daddy, since mommy was still healing and seemed to be battling her own demons since her return.

When daddy came into sight, Eljay let out a relieved sigh. "DADDY!" he shouted loudly while he galloped towards daddy and pressed his head against daddy's right leg in a cat-like manner. Only then did he notice the vaguely familiar wolf in front of him and said: "Hiya."