The Heartwood between the rays

She gently bit down on her tongue to prevent it from wagging further. A sheepish look took up residence on her face, though if she had overwhelmed Rue, the Regent didn't show it. Meerkat nodded mutely at her astute deduction, feeling a slight pang as she thought of the younger siblings she did know and how they must feel with both their parents currently out of the picture.

With that in mind, it was easy to answer Rue's question. "You should definitely head back to the caldera," Meerkat replied without hesitation, "and I'll be right behind you, once I hopefully get a hold of my dad..." Her eyes flicked from her pack mate's face to their surroundings. She didn't see Phox, nor had he answered. She would have to go a little further afield to catch his ear.

Turning back to Rue, Meerkat ran her tongue over her teeth as she contemplated how to divulge the messy details of the situation with Phox's kids. "My Neema passed away giving birth to the pups," she said slowly, her face twitching into a pensive frown, "and they were raised by Maegi and Mou of Yuèlóng. Mou's actually my uncle through mom and dad."

There was so much more to that story, yet the rest of the details—the lies and deception—were pretty much immaterial right now. "It's mostly just dad and me, while they keep an eye on the other two—Peregrine and Vesper—at the plateau directly north of here. I'm actually going to keep heading that way, see if I can track him down to give him the updates. I'll see you back at the caldera...?"