Whitebark Stream when I was a young warthog

!!!! <3 <3

the hollow, empty place that had been aphrodite's den was a cause for concern — had she decided to go off after surya herself? she'd been hoping for the woman's help in staving away infection (no matter how enthusiastically juniper swore she knew what she was doing, dawn was wary to rely on what little knowledge aphrodite had imparted on the girl. 

the howl that sounded that day was a welcome break in a long string of bad news and disappearances. it was also why, perhaps, any negative feelings at her nephew's sudden departure went unheeded and forgotten. stiffly, with a slight limp on her forelimb, the huntress angles toward the borders, tight expression on her features as she tried and failed to stiffly the twitching of her remaining length of tail, and thus igniting a burning, throbbing pain in the shortened limb. 

she finds him soon enough, and a grin streaks across her muzzle despite the painful furrowing of her brow. "valiant! you're okay; you've grown!" she draws near, intent on pulling him into the wolfy equivalent of a hug, stump of a tail twitching sporadically and very much in the manner of a beached fish.