Qeya River Little ones, Little ones

They had come here some weeks ago, but still, they hadn't gone home. He'd loved the adventure at first. Loved having Aerilyn at his side. Mama and papa too, and his older sister he was just getting to know. The other pups were more than a little annoying, still too young for the rough housing of a growing boy.

All the way he hadn't complained. But as days and nights crawled on and on, he felt the nag of a peculiar feeling he had no name for yet, but would one day know too well: homesick.

He soured overnight, his cheerful laughs cracking with complaints and cries. He was a child and didn't have the restraint of a man - or even a youth. Darrow knew one thing and one thing only:

I wanna go HOME!!!

He ignored the bone his older sister had brought them, ignored the cues of intimate and nuanced conversation beginning between the women, and shouted, needing them to hear.