Larksong Grotto News incoming.

I'm so so sooooooo sorry about how long I've let this thread sit! I've been so busy lately and I've had to juggle a bunch of high priority/joining threads that just came out of nowhere.

He had not asked about Desna's trip to see her father the last time he had seen her -- Reek had been too caught up in his own situation and the well-being of his pups to even think to ask. Now, he realized it must have not gone as smoothly as Desna had hoped. Reek's head drooped low and his expression knitted into a sorrowful frown. He should have told her not to go, he thought. In hindsight, Reek thought he could have shielded her from the heartbreak of facing her own broken family. When it finally dawned on him that she had returned to the maplewood to see that the Redtail family had imploded in on itself, it must have accentuated the pain that weighed on her.

Reek stopped in his tracks as a wave of guilt washed over him. "Des—" he muttered, gaze falling on the youth in earnest. "Relationships are hard Desna, and even the best of us make mistakes." The ones Reek happened to make, however, were ones that one could not bounce back from. "That doesn't mean that families aren't always there for each other. If Saena called for me, I'd run to the maplewood in a heartbeat and I'd do whatever she asked of me. I'll always be there for my pups… and I'll always be there for you— even if it has to be at a distance." He paused and bit his lip. "You'll always be family to me Des -- I will never, ever, ever forget you." He loved her like a father loves a daughter. Though she was not of his own blood, Reek felt she might as well have been.

The mention of some strange boy must have also weighed heavy on her young mind. With so many failing relationships around her, it was Desna's natural right to be scared. "Can you tell me about the boy? he asked.