Moonspear Words mean nothing when your lips are so blue

Dragomir knew it was coming, but he folded his ears back and looked away all the same when Hydra mentioned his father. Vercingetorix had attempted to make things better for his children and to be a better father, but Hydra didn't know the half of it. His death felt like another betrayal to his son—it was the grief talking and feeling that way was unfair of him, but his feelings were so far out of his control most days, he couldn't do anything about it.

He remained silent until Hydra spoke of disappointment. At that, he snorted a mirthless laugh through his nose. Every wolf in my life has been a disappointment to me, he said, until I came here. It wasn't strictly true, but he couldn't count the number of times he'd been let down. The bulk of the blame lay with his parents—Aurëwen who always seemed to be looking for ways to escape the burden of her children, Vercingetorix who made excuses for running off on his own risky excursion to the coast—but there were others, too. Charges he laid against them for crimes they may or may not have committed.

Had Mahler ever returned to the riverlands intending to take them home like he promised, or had he forgotten them too?
Had Blodreina or Kazimir or Takiyok or Stigmata ever thought of him again?
Had Evergreen ever wondered what became of them? Had he even noticed their disappearance at all?
Had Isilmë... had she... left him of her own accord?

None of those were proven, but the darker parts of his mind were forever trying to convince him that he was forgettable, replaceable, and unwanted. There were many and more instances where Dragomir's faith in others had turned to ash, so it was easy for Hydra to say they got to choose who disappointed them, but in Dragomir's experience, it was a matter of when rather than if. There were few wolves who hadn't let him down: Hydra, Arcturus, Dirge and Speedy were the only ones he could think of. It helped that Hydra praised him; or, rather, Dragomir took her faith in him as praise. It sent a glowing, warm feeling through his belly and helped him to quirk his lips back into a smile.

Can you show me how you question visitors at the borders? he asked.