Big Salmon Lake I got used to living without you

While he didn't expect much empathy- it was never her first response anyway- he thought at least she might demand more of an explanation from him than that. Maybe this meant she hated him so much that she really didn't give a shit about what he'd been through, or why he'd been gone so long. He'd never hesitated to take her back, nor had he shunned her but he never should have expected her to extend the same courtesy to him. 

The one consolation that he got was that there was a "we." Which meant, to him, that Killdeer was still alive. But the way she shook fiercely when she spat those heartbreaking words at him was cruel enough to make him collapse into the water as she turned and marched away. And he knew he couldn't follow her- if his pawsteps followed hers, he'd leave behind a trail that could be followed, and she'd become a mark as well if she was associated with him.

So, maybe she was right. He couldn't follow her to the Caldera, and she wouldn't have him there anyway. "Tell Kill---" He squawked, but cut himself off. There was no point. He didn't even have parting words for the son he'd not been around to raise and cherish. Nor did he expect Fennec to pass on whatever words he might have had, either. He wilted. All he could do was apologize, but that would never be enough- so why bother?

If his assumptions were correct, he couldn't go back to the Caldera without risking being hunted. And they wouldn't stop- he was sure of it- but there was one way he might keep his family safe, and that was to make sure no one found him, that his trail ran cold at the bank he'd stepped off from moments before. He turned slowly in the shallow water, feeling how soft the mud was beneath his feet, and began to tread into the depths.