Duck Lake and he hasn't been home in a few days

the days stretch on and yawn into nights — over and over. kaertok does not return. vex patrols and scours every inch of the borders and each hour that passes he is left more impatient than the last.

he doesn’t stop to consider how he might inspire worry in his mother or older siblings by taking off on his own …but someone had to go out and look for dad. selfish motivations wrapped in the guise of selflessness. vex passes thru the grove and heads into the vast yawning land of the flatlands; exposing a world much bigger than he could’ve envisioned.

he doesn’t stop. not until he’s drawn to the lake by the dry ache in his throat; tongue feeling like parched sandpaper in his mouth. he keeps a hungry eye on the flocks of ducks that seem rather unperturbed by his appearance. for now, vex keeps his distance from them, lapping at the cold water …wondering if he had the energy to try to hunt ( all the while forgetting that he was likely to end up empty jawed because of his utter lack of experience ).

By now quite familiar with the neighboring grove, Haunt trailed her brother like a ghost, making nary a sound. It surprised her when he breached the far edge of the dense forest and headed toward the small lake in the distance. She narrowed her eyes, sniffed and eventually slunk after him. Out in the open now, she gave up the ghost and woofed at him to let him know she was there.

Sidling up beside him, she did not bend for a drink, instead eyeing the ducks nearby. Eventually, her gaze drifted to Vex's face, her tail twitching. She gazed at him in silence for a long beat before finally speaking. "I caught a rabbit," she said, pausing before adding, "for father. But he's gone." Had he left? Had he been waylaid?

There was no way of knowing, unless... "We should track him."

vex, consumed by his own devices, doesn't realize he's being haunted.

it's only when footfalls draw nearer and his ghost slides up next to him that he bristles, and nearly snaps his teeth at her; stopping himself when he realizes that it's haunt. i almost bit you. vex huffs in exasperation; turning his face away from her's to stare across the lake. it glistens in the half-exposed sun and he tries to ignite the shimmer of land across the way with the heat of his gaze as she mentions a rabbit, dad and that he was gone.

i know. about him being gone, that was.

he glimpses back at her; stonily. i came out here to look for him. but it's obvious he wasn't here. how far would he have to go? yeah. we should. vex hadn't expected company on his mission but he wasn't about to turn down her help.

She met his biting remark with a tilt of her head and nothing more. Kaertok's whereabouts were a much more pressing matter. Vex told her he'd come out here to find him and Haunt met this declaration with a twitch of her tail. If anyone should be tracking their father, it should be her. She was Inukun, the prowler, per the man himself.

Suddenly, she recollected something else he'd said that day. "Keep practicing your tracking skills; you will need them in the coming months," Kaertok's voice echoed in her memory. Haunt's jaw set as she peered over the water, past the ducks, to the wilderness sprawling beyond.

They were so young, their mother would never allow it. And their sister would never forgive them for going without her. All the same, Haunt looked sharply to Vex and said, "Let's head this way," and struck out a pale foreleg to point due west across the lake.

She didn't wait for him to respond. She slipped away along the shoreline, momentarily headed north before following the lake's curve westward. As she loped, Haunt dropped her nose to search for a scent, spoor or any other traces of their father's trail.

Drying off lakeside on that poorly lit day, Paladin was a large, sphinx-like obstruction along the shore’s footpaths, busied with the mindless, self-soothing act of licking her pawpads. Through the swiping motions, she watched the water bend and ripple, as insect and waterfowl alike made a jolly stage of the reservoir. None of these movements registered as meaningful, however, and the Dokuga shield felt confident in relaxing there at the moment. It would be at least another half hour before she’d feel toweled off enough to want to continue on anyway, which only doubled her interest in staying put.

Soon tired of the repetitive motions, she draped her pallid crown across her still-damp forelegs and started to let her eyelids droop.

i offer you the (potential) consolation prize of "aunt discovery," since i noticed your plan to find shit was a bust ;D

haunt picked a direction — west — his eyes following the gesture of her leg, a terse mash of his lips and flick of his ears, offering her a firm nod; following after her as she takes the lead. piguktuk prowls after her, subconsciously defaulting to a rear guard position in their two tracking team. there wasn't any room for guilt at leaving behind legion to pursuit their wayward — possibly injured ( the thought just occurs to him now ) — father. piguktuk sees it as a mission that must be accomplished and unknowingly follows along with haunt's thought process: arbiter would never let them go if they went back and asked.

it was better to ask for forgiveness later than for permission now; at least, that's the way piguktuk chooses to see it.

haunt focuses on trying to find a trace of kaertok, piguktuk considers that his trail has likely gone all but cold by now, and they were kinda just shooting blind but doesn't give voice to it. it didn't matter to him; he'd scour every inch of these wilds, go to every pack's door and ask if they found him: if that was what it took.

a scent tickles piguktuk's nostrils; which flare as he tries to garner the general direction of it. lone. stranger. haunt. he calls to her, stepping forth to bump his nose against her hip in case she hadn't noticed the stranger's scent. assuming vex is successful in grabbing his sister's attention he jerks his head in the direction of the scent. lets ask if that loner i smell's seen dad.

She noticed the stranger just as Vex touched her hip, her ears sweeping backward as she raised her head to ascertain the figure sprawled on the western shoreline. Her brother suggested they approach and make inquiries about their father. Haunt didn't reply right away, eyes squinted and nostrils flaring as she tried to discern any details she could about the she-wolf in the distance.

"Alright," she agreed quietly, proceeding warily toward the stranger. Haunt momentarily gave up searching for any scents, all of her attention fixed on the female as they came closer. She took care to keep her body language entirely neutral and checked Vex's position every few seconds with a slide of her yellow eyes.

Some pebbles rolled uncomfortably underfoot as Haunt came to a stop, a silent flick of her tail indicating Vex should do the same. After scrutinizing the stranger up close, she took a breath and said, "We are looking for our aapaga." There was no time for pleasantries. "White fur. Red eyes. Have you seen him?"

At the sound of dual trotting, Paladin lifted her long-barreled muzzle up to point in the direction of its origination, before pressing herself up into an attentive sit. She might have risen completely to her feet, but her assessment of their only being two lanky halflings, who were either abandoned or neglected, warranted the more sedate reaction. As she looked between the pair, the pale one with the hawkish eyes questioned her almost immediately, and as they both stood side-by-side without fear, the fellow Dokuga mentally appreciated the supportive behavior. Outwardly, she blinked slowly.

I have not, she declared, despite tripping over the term aapaga. Even if she did not know what that meant, she could still infer that they were talking about another wolf, important to them. If I do see your wolf, who should I say is looking for him? Paladin was always up for a bit of gossip, and the prospect of getting to shame this aapaga fellow for letting these two poor, darling, destitute little snotgoblins come looking for him gave her too much sly glee to pass up.

haunt agrees to his suggestion and the pair divert their course temporarily so their paths cross with the she-wolf. together, to her, they present a united front; piguktuk sliding up to haunt's side as his pale sister draws to a stop, cutting right to the chase.

it was a long shot, piguktuk suspected as such the moment he suggested it to his sister but desperate to find kaertok, he wasn't willing to leave any stone unturned. still; it does little to cushion the blow of the fact that she breaks her silence with i have not.

piguktuk does not let his shoulders droop with disappointment. in his desire to not show his true feelings he scowls instead, effectively communicating his disappointment but in a way that he assumes doesn't make him seem like the child he actually was. the adult's question hangs in the frosted air between the trio and piguktuk cuts a glimpse at haunt before he lifts his muzzle and replies,

his kids. not that piguktuk thinks it'll matter. it is clear to him that he and haunt had to keep heading west.

Haunt was hardly experienced or worldly, yet she had faced enough failure in her hunting ventures to know better than to hope for easy success in anything she endeavored to do. So when the stranger said she hadn't seen Kaertok, she felt a brief flash of disappointment and then moved on, at least mentally. Physically, she remained still as the adult pressed the pair of youths for additional information.

Vex answered and Haunt added, "Inukun and Piguktuk." That made her think of Royal, unwittingly left behind. But there was no turning back now; they were on a mission. "His name is Kaertok," she thought to add. She almost included a mention of Legion, though she set her jaw and fell silent. What if this stranger tried to make them go back there? Arbiter would never let them out of her sight again.

There really was no way but forward. "Come," Haunt said quietly to her brother, "we have to keep looking." She offered the strange she-wolf a simple nod of gratitude before picking up her pale paws and moving westward with purpose.

His kids.

A delicious admission for the avaricious gorgon. Her hyperblue eyes settled squarely upon the palefawn boy, whose thinly veiled derision made her wonder what expression her own parents had looked down to when gazing upon her. Something like that, she imagined. He seemed more visibly affected than his somewhat removed sister, who reprised her speaking role before Paladin could examine his mood further.  

She looked at the distracted tracker now, mute and impassive, even as her mind whirred with judgements about how she would have taught her children better than to give any facts out to a stranger; Not until they were old enough to properly defend themselves. These ones did not heed proper caution, and she was inclined to think they weren’t schooled at all.

That being said, the two of them were all business and no frill. If they had been raised wrong, it seemed at least some of their influences had been favorable. Not unsalvageable, the two of them. But they were quick to move on, as par the course, and the shield was not inclined to stop them or meddle further. Unrelated brats weren’t her concern.

She turned her head as the twiggy phantom made to breeze by. Paladin Dokuga, she introduced flatly. They had given theirs, after all, and the sovereign was vain enough to want her name known. She began sliding back down into her sphinx position, adding Good luck out there, because she wasn’t completely a monster.

to haunt's quiet directive, vex gives a small, noncommittal noise and follow after her as the rear guard. if she hadn't seen kaertok then there wasn't any use on continuing on the conversation ...especially since vex knows their window of time before someone realizes they're missing and comes to look for them shrinks by the moment.

dokuga.

it's almost enough to make him stop.

he lifts his muzzle and does not let the startle of the name drop — their last mother's name ( which would make her their relative in some fashion ) — disarm him, nor stop him. if she was family then vex runs with the assumption that she'd drag them back to legion before they could find anything out about kaertok; even if it's a wrong assumption.

yep. comes vex's snarky drawl over his shoulder at her wishes of 'good luck'; 'thanks' in vex's own language of smartass; hoping that haunt doesn't stop either.

if she does then he will force himself to very reluctantly stop too.