Herbalists' Cache perjury and defamation

Oof. Sorry for the wait <3

If things had been a little different, Valiant might've confessed his misgivings about finding his father at all. But he felt, in that moment, that it would be cruel to deny Brave a chance to reunite him with his own father, since Brave had no chance of ever seeing his again. At least Valiant could close his eyes and imagine his father being happy and alive somewhere else — but he imagined, privately, that this was more hurt than comfort.

He imagined, privately, that the separation would be easier to bear if Sunny were flat-out dead.

But Valiant was ashamed of these thoughts, and knew in his heart that they weren't right or proper things to feel. He offered his cousin a brittle smile and a wag of his tail. "Thanks, Brave," he said with feeling, and then he listened with ears pricked as talk turned to Journey.

"That would be nice," he said wistfully, thinking that he was rather jealous of Brave and Journey's bond. He wished he'd managed to forge that with Minnow, and especially that he had the chance to reconnect with Aeryn. But it occured to him that he might still, one day, especially with his cousins on the hunt. "Will you let me know if you find Dad or Minnow? I'm camping out in the willows just this way — in between looking, I mean."

He hadn't actually done much looking.

"Have you met anyone interesting?" he asked, cocking a brow so that Brave would know that he meant more pretty than interesting.