Herbalists' Cache westward leading, still proceeding

Having rounded the moraine at long last, Moorhen continued on her way. There'd still been no sign of Thresher, but she knew that Morningside was somewhere in this area, and if they'd come across one of Undersea's children, they'd surely harbor her. Despite what had happened with Aditya, it was Moorhen's understanding that they were still family. She didn't necessarily trust that, but she was grasping at anything that might lead her to the guppy these days.

Agarwaen, she thought bitterly, gazing around the icy landscape with marked despondency. She'd been promoted for this very purpose - to find Thresher and bring her home. Would the title be stripped of her when she returned?

And again, she wondered - could she return at all?

Moorhen pushed such thoughts away and put her cracked, leathery nose to the snow. She would find the missing girl, and they would return home and Thresher would receive a heartfelt admonishment from Moorhen, at the very least, and then everything would go back to normal. She had to believe that. She just had to keep on believing.

Radcliffe had let his saddened heart whisk him away from the group. Since they left their home all he could be reminded of, was his father. It had caused him to feel weakness, despair. And it drove him away from the group. He did the one thing that came to mind, to get away from it all; he ran.

He ran as far and fast as he could. To get away from the memories, try to avoid it all. Till he stumbled, his paw hitting a rock forcing him into a tumble. Landing in the snow, throwing it all around him.

The banded woman's heart skipped a joyful beat when she caught sight of the smaller figure - it was a child about Thresher's age, and it was running toward her! When she stumbled, Moorhen surged forward, her dropping -

and it continued to drop as she drew near and saw that it was not Thresher at all, but a boy she didn't know. Their coloration was similar, but not much else. It was only wistful thinking, and a desperate drive to find her missing sister-niece. "Are you harm?" she asked the boy, the barest hint of concern coloring her otherwise disconsolate tone. She was worried for him, naturally, but she was mostly just heartbroken that he wasn't the child she was searching for.

Radcliffe sniffed at the snow, as he felt cold tears going from his eyes. He curled up, or at least tried till he whimpered feeling a sting of pain from his paw he had hit. So he remained there, still. Then, there was a voice. On the wind? He dared not look up. 

"Paw...paw...hurt" he managed to get out through his whimpers and sniffing. "Heart...hurt..."

There it was again - that strange stirring in her breast. Moorhen was too tired to do anything but heed it. She approached the child and curled herself around him, hiding the boy under her body the way she used to hide under Coelacanth. It had been a source of great comfort in trying times of the past, and she hoped the boy would take similar comfort in her.

She could not hope that he would replace the child that had been lost, but she was tired and heartbroken, and she knew that Coelacanth would welcome her back with an open heart, even if there was disappointment hiding behind her welcome. Moorhen hated to do this to the one who had done so much for her, but she knew her searching could bear no fruit with her in this state, and with a storm brewing all around them. "I will protect," she said to the boy, dipping her head to try and lick at his paw.

Radcliffe tucked himself under her, almost pushing up against her for warmth from the cold. He felt safe, protected. And with that, calmed and relaxed. He shivered at the cold, making a quiet noise of discomfort at the cold as he tried to huddle to one of her legs. Shivering head to tail. At her words, he glanced up. The touch to his paw made him flinch, pulling it back. Radcliffe looked at her with a childlike curiosity. Before putting his paw forth again, as it had given him some more comfort. "C-Cold...hurt" was all he murmured quietly.

Although Radcliffe, at seven months old, was nearly at his adult size, Moorhen was still larger. She helped him to gather up all his gangly puppy limbs and laid down, her body shielding him from the worst of the wind and her thick fur settling over the places they were smooshed together like a warm blanket. The snow, she knew, would do the rest. As soon as they had a decent layer of snow over them, the wind wouldn't bite quite so much, and it would be like being in their own little igloo with two wolf-sized furnaces to warm it.

"We will warm soon," she assured him. "Naame? I im Moorhen."

Radcliffe kept close in the shelter he had under the wolf. It helped him warm up, and he yawned out. He had traveled quite far in such cold. "R-Radcliffe" he murmured quietly through chattering teeth. He hoped to be warm again once more so he could continue on his way with her. His ankle still throbbing.

Moorhen didn't know what to do for the boy, so she simply continued to offer the shelter of her body. He seemed rather quiet for his age, and his communcations so far had been simple and childish - but Thresher was quiet as well, and Moorhen knew that her own communication skills certainly left something to be desired. So she didn't think on it overmuch.

"You from... um. Come from where?" she asked him.

Radcliffe shivered for a moment. The cold was something he was not so used to. But it was better than that scorching heat he remembered. "Home gone...Mor...Morningside" he answered, his teeth chittering a bit. It had all burned away, his home. Now he had himself after he left, and now Moorhen looking after him.

Moorhen's brow furrowed at the familiar name. "I know Morningside," she said after a moment, trying to remember the last news she'd heard of them. All she knew now was that they were gone from the Maplewood, so she and Radcliffe were both out of luck.

"You will come home with me," she said firmly, "Home at Undersea. Morningside can find us."

Radcliffe sniffed at hearing her speak of the name. The fire was still fresh in his mind. He had to hold back from crying out at hearing of it. How she spoke to him though, he felt that he should not say otherwise and go with her. To this place, Undersea. "Y-Yes..."

Her tail shimmied in pleasure at being agreed with. She wanted to do right by the boy, and she was glad he wasn't making thing difficult for her. "Good boy," she said in as gentle a voice as she could muster. "Sleep now; travel tomorrow."