Hushed Willows loads;liquids;neon;heater;jaws;jungle;mains;signal;

A more astute adult may have worked out Cam's meaning when he referred to himself confidently, then followed up moments later with confusion. But this was Ephraim, and though he had the potential for intelligence, he was far too consumed by anxiety these days to make much use of it. Irrationality overrode his ability to reason most days. So he stared blankly at the pup, trying to make heads or tails of his sudden change of tone, when Cam asked where his mom was.

Oh, Ephraim said quietly, hesitating. Who was his mom? Caiaphas on the coast, the seething fury as he saw her in his mind's eye? Surely once upon a time he had been with her, loved her, but everything that happened before was like static. It was on the very edge of his recollection, like a word on the tip of the tongue that just wouldn't come, and no amount of thinking on it had ever cleared it. He didn't know how to feel about her now, given everything. Or Mirabelle, Ette's mate in Trigeda? She had been kind to him, as motherly as anyone could be to a six month old cub with only his pack for family, but there was no blood there, and blood was more important to him than he ever realized. Etoille was certainly his adoptive father, but he couldn't help thinking of his real father, whom he also remembered almost nothing about.

I don't really have a mom, he decided, and his voice was edged with sadness as he admitted it. I used to have a commander who taught me a lot of what I know, but she's gone. Realizing he was speaking to a child who couldn't possibly understand all that, Ephraim stooped low and said, I'm Ephraim. Where's your mom?

They talked in this fashion, Ephraim forever misunderstanding Cam, a little while longer before Lily eventually did come to collect her son.