Dragoncrest Cliffs But if 'is' wasn't

vex is a maelstrom of feelings: of anger and bitterness and sorrow, stewing over it when he and when he's not hunting for him and haunt. the hunts gives him a few moments of reprieve of the endless churning but it never lasts. he picks at his meals as he tries to figure out what to do now. for so long his main mission had been find kaertok and by stroke of luck he'd found haunt and kaertok only to have his father ripped from him before he can speak to him. for vex, it was never resentment at the core. it was the feeling that he wasn't good enough of a son, of looking up to kaertok and being left with the hollow horror of being abandoned.

but maybe kigipigak was right. maybe kaertok had been the weak one all along.

he follows haunt out of the den they'd been sharing, wading thru the snow in her footsteps to where rosalyn and just past her arbiter await. he is glad to see that his mother's alive but he struggles to process his emotions. he is quiet as haunt explained to arbiter what happened and then after catching his eye, admitted that she wanted to stay. for a moment he's silent, and looks from haunt, to arbiter, to rosalyn and then back to arbiter.

i want to stay, too. i can keep an eye on haunt, he offers his sister a cheeky grin that doesn't quite touch his eyes. it was hard to summon the energy to be his usual self right now. if...they'll take me. he looks to rosalyn then, though suspects that arbiter would have some strong objections to it.