Duck Lake and he hasn't been home in a few days

She met his biting remark with a tilt of her head and nothing more. Kaertok's whereabouts were a much more pressing matter. Vex told her he'd come out here to find him and Haunt met this declaration with a twitch of her tail. If anyone should be tracking their father, it should be her. She was Inukun, the prowler, per the man himself.

Suddenly, she recollected something else he'd said that day. "Keep practicing your tracking skills; you will need them in the coming months," Kaertok's voice echoed in her memory. Haunt's jaw set as she peered over the water, past the ducks, to the wilderness sprawling beyond.

They were so young, their mother would never allow it. And their sister would never forgive them for going without her. All the same, Haunt looked sharply to Vex and said, "Let's head this way," and struck out a pale foreleg to point due west across the lake.

She didn't wait for him to respond. She slipped away along the shoreline, momentarily headed north before following the lake's curve westward. As she loped, Haunt dropped her nose to search for a scent, spoor or any other traces of their father's trail.