Panther Park We'll win but not everyone will get out

Silence was the response to his question, followed by a miserable look that painfully squeezed Kavik's heart. It hurt to see that look on his face just as much as seeing it on any of his biological children. But that's what Illidan had been to him—a son. He didn't really understand the the bond while he had it but now, looking back with the eyes that had watched children grown and then die, he understood. And so the next question was like a punch to the gut. The thought of Illidan returning to the deserted plateau looking for him and finding nothing was more than he could bear. The plateau was just the start of all the ways he would fail the ones he loved and was supposed to protect. I'm sorry, he murmured, guilt tightening his chest. Our numbers got too low, and an invasion of coyotes forced us from the plateau, he explained. He hated thinking about the loss of his first home, but he owed Illidan the truth. We settled at a creek in the valley to the east, and I was there until recently. The mountains were falling apart around us though, and we had to leave again. He couldn't continue the story, the loss of his family still too fresh and far too painful to talk about. He should have gone back—done something to find Illidan and let him know. But he had failed him too apparently.