Silvertip Mountain Did you find something?

He gave her the answer she hoped for, but felt nothing. Sebastian sunk like a rock to the waves, and hearing him mention the names of his children made a part of Andalusia wish she could erase her words, and the harsh reality they expressed. Sebastian wasn't just some number she could rattle off, or some hard fact of life - he was her friend, a father, with his children, his mate, and a future that should have been filled with watching his sons and daughters grow to have families of their own. These things happened to so many, and she thought she'd know the words to say - but now, facing her friend, with real sorrow and grief, all she wanted to do was find Pearl and Nova and pummel them to the Caldera's depths to stop them from ever leaving again, and for ever causing him this pain.

This shouldn't have happened to him.

But her thoughts came with a piercing irony, and her shoulders sagged at the weight of it all. "We never do," was all she could say, before she fell into slow rhythm at Sebastian's side.

Nova could be excused - she was young, volatile. Wolves her age did stupid things, and Andalusia just prayed no harm had fallen her. She hoped the girl had left on her own volition, and thrived wherever her paws had taken her. But Pearl. Her ears burned at the very thought of the pale mother, and Andalusia stared at the ground. She had everything, everything Andalusia had ever wished for, everything Andalusia could never have. And she had just... left it all, and this was what made the Ostrega's heart twist with a sickening flame. But beneath the thick anger and accusations, Andalusia knew she was in no place to judge, and her heart weighed like waterlogged fur with the heavy question of why.

But what came from her mouth wasn't that question, nor any question she wanted to ask, or any words she wanted to say. Without a glance toward him, she spoke the only words she could muster: "I'm sorry we couldn't find them."