Heron Lake Plateau find the mom quest

In the midst of his pondering about things, Eljay had totally forgotten that he had been looking for mommy to start with, until he heard her voice. He lifted his head and perked his ears, then a smile appeared on his face. He always felt better in mom's presence. "Hey mommy," he greeted, even though he was three and a half years old and should probably know better than to call his mother mommy by now. He returned the nudge to the cheek with a nuzzle to the side of the nose.

"I was just thinking about when the pups will have their first big hunt..." He trailed off there, clearly feeling a little self-conscious about it, which Finley would doubtlessly pick up on, whether it was because he was showing it, mom-vibes, or because he felt self-conscious about most things so it wasn't that hard to predict. "I'm not sure when they'll be ready." Raven's kids, he meant, of course. He thought maybe it would help to include all the pups -- then the older ones could help the younger ones out.