Northstar Vale Essential yet appealed

His mother's confidence appeared shaken as the quaking of the ground grew, and as it faded to calm again he sighed softly, listening to the explanation Takiyok gave him. She didn't know what was going on and her worries did not help his own sense of stability or safety; but then she spoke of Ego, the pointless quest of hunting for him when Mesa knew there wouldn't be a single trace. It made him think of Stigmata, buried, rotting. Ego was probably still on top of their mountain somewhere—lost in a hollow, or buried from the quakes. Dead, just like the General.

But she asks him to help—or that's how he takes it, anyway. Two sets of eyes were better than one, and Mesa is keen to prove he is just as much a man, a warrior, a protector as Stigmata; so he grunts and begins to scour the surrounding slope, even though Takiyok had just been perusing it herself, and even if he could discern anything of use to the family it wasn't something his mother would miss. So, in short, he didn't find anything immediately.

I'll help, he states, although he's gone and nose-dived at the soil already and isn't paying attention to the angles of the hill, the proximity of his pale body to the edge of the mountain. He could slip and fall very easily unless corralled. We might find him if we all work together. Mesa states, referring to his siblings—to the pack, too—but doesn't look up, lest she notice the immense doubt in his expression.