Ravensblood Forest a graven life, the stain of her memory

Thanks for joining! Do you mind if we say this is set on July 5, rather than July 3? I didn't realize until just now that Jr. went missing on the 2nd. Also, since they live together in the same pack, I'm assuming Atticus and Dante have at least a passing acquaintance with each other. :)

Atticus worked in silence, the residents of the forest falling quiet as he moved beneath their lofty perches in the trees. Or maybe he just didn't hear them, being so withdrawn into himself and so absorbed in the task of finding his lost niece. Whether it was a product of his desperation to find her or just side-effects of his exhaustion, he wasn't sure, but he kept seeing her in every shadow, in every subtle movement out of the corner of his eye. He could hear her laughter on the wind, see her sparkling blue gaze in the flashes of sunlight on the trickling creekwater. Her scent was everywhere and yet nowhere around him.

He was heaving a sigh of frustration when he became aware of the approach of another. He startled slightly, almost prepared for harassment of some kind (one never knew what one might encounter in neutral lands, particular those to which other packs were so close), but relief washed through him and he relaxed visibly when he saw that it was only Dante, his own packmate and Gamma. Shaking his head somberly, he replied, "Nope. Nothing." How could a child be so elusive? "I don't get it. Even if she got out of the water and wandered somewhere, there'd be a fucking trail."