Broken Antler Fen daddy said you gotta show the world the thunder.

Despite the first few words out of his mouth, Meerkat felt her heart start to race when he mentioned two others who might fit his description. She felt her first sense of hope in several days. But then he quickly reiterated: neither one of them was Atlas. It didn't occur to her that her beau might use an alias, so Meerkat was forced to accept that this was another dead end.

He wondered about the nature of the emergency and Meerkat swallowed thickly. "Several of our pack mates were killed. He had a breakdown and r-ran off..." As she relayed it to this stranger, she felt an enormous amount of guilt wash through her. Atlas had only run because she'd pressed him, however unwittingly. "And the storm..." she added, voice hardly above a whisper, tears welling in her eyes. Evidently the well hadn't run completely dry.