Lake Rodney if you never try you certainly won't succeed

@Andalusia @Sebastian

Hemlock had decided to make another stop at the Lake. So far she had not been successful and it was approaching midday - she would need to turn back soon to get home before anyone began to worry. She didn't fear for the puppies, no doubt the adults were keeping a watchful eye on the remaining quartet. Still, Hemlock did not want to be away from home for too long. The urge was so strong to get back home that it ate her up inside. 

On one hand, she wanted to continue to go until she found Roarke. On the other, she wanted to be there to stand with Lotte and Arturo and support them. She shivered, traking around the edge of the lake; no one had been nearby that she knew and still, the red wolf didn't stop. She lifted her head and called out again - desperate for any scrap of hope.

Assuming Seb and Anda are together! Let me know if you want something changed!

Sebastian had been curious if his mate and daughter had returned to their pack lands hence why he was traveling with Andalusia to Broken Antler to see if they were there. To get there, however, they needed to go around Lake Rodney. He kept a steady trotting pace with his nose low to the ground. It was clear the male was worried. Pearl never left without saying goodbye, and if she did, the female was often back within a day. Now it had been more than a week. Sebastian had a bad feeling in his stomach.

His head snapped up when he heard a howl close by. It seemed they were not the only one searching. The gray male glanced at Andalusia before moving in the direction of the howl. It wasn't long before he saw the woman who had been calling. She had a red toned fur, something Sebastian hadn't seen often before. "Greetings. We heard you were looking for someone?," he spoke as an introduction. Perhaps they could help one another.

You're good <3

Their trip to Lake Rodney had been unusually quiet, but Andalusia didn't press for conversation. While Sebastian held his nose to the ground, the Ostrega held hers to air, mouth partially agape as she breathed in the tapestry of scents that interwove the atmosphere. The familiarity of the Caldera had faded to give way to an earthier, wilder smell. On other occasions Andalusia would have welcomed the shift, but here the dissolution marked a vacancy of the ones they looked for and filled her with a frustrated energy she only quelled by pressing on.

And silence followed them, until a howl cascaded off the surface of the lake to meet them. Andalusia pricked her ears - but she recognized the desperate note as neither Nova nor Pearl, and the chill of hope subsided to a bitter twist in her chest. Still, the other's voice stirred something, and she exchanged a glance with Sebastian before shifting her course in tandem and bounding toward the source. While neither Nova nor Pearl, they would heed this call.

When they approached the girl, Sebastian offered their introduction, pithy and to the point, but Andalusia found herself squinting with a furrow of her brow. "You." She interrupted, and leaned in with a deep and searching breath. Herby and sharp. Red fur between the branches. Andalusia's eyes widened with the dawn of recollection, and she took a dancing step forward, practically blurting out, "You! I know you - " But her tongue hid the red girl's name from her, and after a few silent attempts and a shake of her head, she breathed a curse and said, "You're the healer. The one from the strath." But in her mind, the other's desperate howl and Sebastian's question only echoed. Who was she looking for way out here?

 

It wasn't too long before a male approached, noting that he wasn't alone. Before Hemlock could answer his question - he was accurate in his assumption, meaning he'd been close enough to hear her properly - there was a spark of recognition in the other female that approached. Hemlock offered a little smile, nodding quickly as she was addressed. "Hemlock Kali," She offered smoothly - both for the females benefit and the male's too. "Yes, the Strath. Our pack's name is Teaghlaigh." She couldn't remember if she had said that or not before but this was different, as stressed as she was she couldn't note what had been discussed before. 

"My godson, Roarke, has gone missing. I was hoping to track him down...but...so far it has yielded nothing." Hemlock said - getting straight to the point. She wouldn't want to miss any opportunities to find the boy and the sooner she got home with answers, with any luck the pale boy in tow, the better. 

Sebastian was surprised when Andalusia knew this female. However, he didn't ask how she knew her. Andalusia had traveled far for herbs and it would be likely that she ran into healers like themselves. Sebastian felt hesitant to call himself a healer. He didn't feel skilled enough. The gray male shared the red female's worry. "We have not seen a youngster roaming around, nor did one came to our pack borders, Redhawk," he spoke in empathy.

Sebastian thought about it further. "If you give us his description then perhaps we can search for him while we look for our own lost wolves. We are looking for my mate and daughter," he spoke with a sad expression on his face. He still didn't understand how they could have left like this. Vanished. He glanced at Andalusia.

Hemlock's plight troubled Andalusia, but she could add only silence, for she, too, had seen nothing of a lost boy travelling near the Caldera. And even if she had, the lead would be stale. News like this helped little in retrospect.

She nodded when Sebastian prompted for details, eager for the healer to share more of her godson, so the two could keep their eyes open for him as well. They had a name, foreign enough to be useful, but to have an image to look for - that would prove invaluable. Names always seemed to slip from her like silverfish.

Andalusia expected Sebastian to offer the same to Hemlock, but a weightiness filled his voice and when he fell silent, she caught his look, and the sadness in his eyes, and those combined were enough to prompt her to jump in: "Nova - that's his daughter, say, three seasons or so?" She glanced at Sebastian, allowing a pause for him to correct or confirm, before she continued, "Well, she's got earthy hues to her - browns and tans, with a bit of your brightness at points" - she gestured to the ruddyness of Hemlock with her nose - "and a very creamy underside. Pearl's his mate, and quite small and very white." But at this point Andalusia squinted, and she strained to remember if Pearl had had any distinguishable markings which the Ostrega could mention. But Andalusia hadn't spent the short time she'd had with the mother paying attention to that. Oh well. Sebastian could always correct her, and she trusted he, of all wolves, would know any significant details much better than she.

 

Hemlock was dismayed to hear that there had been no youth who had gone to their borders, hoping that maybe a nearby pack might have taken in and sheltered her godson. She swallowed thickly, but tampered down her emotions as quickly and as she could. "Roarke - he has....he is pale, with almost haunting blue eyes. He is loquacious - far past his age - and he is good." It sounded almost like offering him a eulogy, of burying the boy in a sense, and she cannot bring herself to continue for a moment. 

Still, she dutifully listens to the description of the two missing females, her sympathy growing for them. "How long have they been missing?" She asked, trying to regain her control over herself. It would do Roarke no good to have all of this going on and her unable to settle herself down. 

Sebastian was grateful that Andalusia was helping him out. He nodded at the right times to confirm that she was white. "My mate has green eyes that go with her pale coat, pure white, arctic almost. As large as I am, she is the tiny version of it," he spoke. Sometimes you had these wolves that were more a creamy color white, Pearl wasn't like that. He missed her.

Sebastian didn't want to think about it too much. "More than a week? Perhaps two?," he spoke painfully. He just hoped that they both would return. He was certain the only reason Pearl would leave is to look for her daughter Nova.

Two weeks might not have seemed a long enough time to justify worry, but the circumstance of the departure of both Nova and Pearl added an edge to their absence, and an urgency to branch out and look. Andalusia noted the details Hemlock provided for her own missing family, and repeated the child's name softly under breath. Roarke. The Ostrega had never heard such a name before, but perhaps that would help her remember. Otherwise, one detail was lost on her - loquacious - but she surmised it a thing of intellect or maturity. She stored the more apparent features on the front of her mind, and all the while, her brow remained in a slight furrow, and her ears splayed at the tangible weight that radiated through the air.

Andalusia turned her head sideways to offer a press of her snout against Sebastian's neck, provoked by the pain in his voice, before she followed his question with one in return. Her voice came soft, with a tenderness she rarely let bleed through her words. "And how long has your Roarke been missing?" She spoke his name on purpose, to cement the moniker in her memory. Heaven knew how terrible she was with remembering these things, and how important she remember now.

 

Hemlock sucked in a little breath, trying to control her emotions as best as she could. Any more than that and she felt she would spiral out of control. It seemed like their parties had all been gone about the same time, although it felt forever in her mind. "Too long." She said quickly, offering a little sigh before she frowned. "Nearly a week." She explained, looking from Sebastian to Andalusia. She hoped he was alright, but she knew the longer that they waited the worse it would be - the harder it would be if they did find him and the worst had happened. 

There was a part of her who wouldn't stop though, refusing to fall into the trap of giving up all hope for the boy. Maybe someone had taken him in, although it seemed unlikely and there wasn't much more option wise for finding the boy. She had to return to the Strath and she had to face the reality of only having the three little ones, not the four as the litter had been. "If your travels bring you to our doorstep, we will give you shelter. Call for me, I will do all I can to help you." She promised. 

Sebastian disliked that the youngster of Hemlock had been missing more than a week. Such a thing was never a good sign. Especially when they were that young. Sebastian felt lucky that his children were at least old enough to survive on their own. Still, it hurt him to be in the unknown about their location.

Sebastian dipped his head. "That is very kind of you," he spoke softly. He wanted to say that she was welcome at the Caldera as well, but he didn't have a high enough rank to offer her that. He looked at Andalusia if she might know if they could promise her shelter.

Sorry for the eternal wait x.x I think we could probably wrap this up in the next few posts?

The child had been missing for shorter a time than the wolves she and Seb pursued, but the suggested age of Hemlock's charge justified the herbalist's concern. Andalusia nodded, having nothing to add, but wanting to show the godmother her words nestled in active ears.

She nodded, too, a silent thanks, to back up Sebastian's verbal expression. His gaze turned upon her, and she understood his unspoken prompt. "Neither Sebastian nor I hold a rank at the Caldera high enough to promise you shelter, but we will speak a good word for you and your pack should you seek us out, and should the need arise." She trusted these words did not overstep her rank, nor trample on Finley or Elwood's position. The Ostrega sealed her words with a short tip of her head, and a glance at Sebastian. It was time to keep moving. "Until then, we will keep our eyes peeled for your godson. If we find him, where should we bring him?"