Swiftcurrent Creek This isn't funny. Come back!

Merrit flicked his gaze between her eyes in that desperate, searching way, but any sense of her reaction was shrouded by a look of utter shock. Of course. He'd have reacted much the same if their roles had been reversed.

He was relieved when Arlette accepted his explanation and he nodded his head in returned understanding and respect. "Thank you," he murmured but found his words largely drowned by his nephew's pleas. The urgency in the young boy's voice captured his attention. Alduin? Arlette had never spoken this name before.

A puzzled gaze rose to meet his sister, then turned - softer - to meet his nephew. "Of course I'll help," he reassured the boy with a nod. He didn't need to know who Alduin was to pledge himself to look for this wolf, only that this wolf was clearly important to his nephew and his sister. He was thankful, however, that in the moments after, Arlette clarified the situation in full.

"And I am glad to have run into you as well." For many reasons now. "I... don't have anywhere I'm tied to, no." Only Kallik. Would he contest him if he chose to stay with Arlette for a little while? Perhaps only if he tied himself to her pack. And then, he thought of Kukutux, and Moonglow, and the promise he had made to return to her with a song for Valette. "It may be dangerous if we split up in our search for Alduin, and I will not rest until I know he is found. But I have also made commitments along the road that I must fulfil. This is why I am going to Easthollow..." and a thought came across his face in the pinch of a brow, "Ursus is there, and I would not put it past them to take a child."