Whitebark Stream The world will be just fine.

Gimme the baby dragons! @Kaori @Toshi @Kiyoshi, feel free to PP Juniper. Other tags for reference.

At first, Artyom had not worried for @Aphrodite. She was regularly departing Whitebark territory, eager to hunt for herbs to stash in her collection or make herself useful in some other way, but he could not recall a time that she was gone for so long. As the days ticked by, despite the distraction of his pack's thriving cubs that were still of an age that required constant attention, the gilded leader began to grow concerned.

They had lost so many since their establishment by the stream: Bhediya and the energetic daughter who barely knew her, the yearling Xizur, Dawn's siblings and nephew, Salvatore to a tragic accident in the woods, Daylily who yearned for her family elsewhere. More recently, Minnow and Kora had vanished without a trace. It wasn't easy for Artyom to accept and, even after all those months since the first wolf disappeared, he hoped that they might someday return to them safely. With so many young mouths to feed, he feared that the loss of another pack-mate might bring them closer to ruin.

@Surya had offered to make attempt at tracking their missing healer, whose tracks had suggested a Northern direction. Although reluctant to let the boy go off on his own, it was not really Artyom's place to stop him. So he saw him off and tried to remain optimistic that he would return to them unscathed, hopefully with news of their wayward medic.

With Winter and @Juniper padding along at his heels, the Alpha led them in the direction of Kaori's densite. He'd have brought all of his pups if he knew he could manage the short trip on his own, but it seemed a lot easier to herd two rather than four. It took longer than he anticipated, not because his son and daughter had little legs or tired easily, but because the world around them was still so interesting that they were easily distracted.

"Приходить," the father called to Juniper for the hundredth time as they arrived, earthen eyes scanning through the trees for any sign of the dragoness' offspring, "you are to be on your best behaviour today." He shot the pair a pointed glance. "No fighting."