Dragoncrest Cliffs A little vague but I'll make it work, thanks

MON CHILDREN? @Ephraim @Mallaidh also assuming thur told him whats going on can chaaange if need be

He had not planned on departing immediately, anyway, but the news of Drageda's recent turmoils confirm a desire to linger. Étoille does not wish to be away from Mirabelle for too long -- but she has the aid of Trigeda's wolves to help with the children and he knows she will not mind if he lingers an extra week or two more than originally planned. Not that he fancies getting involved in another war, should the circumstance arise; he has met the woman in the Sound before and knows she is to be taken seriously.

But if he is going to be staying, he wants to see his ... wards, if that is the word. He'd not gotten to say goodbye to choupinou properly, for which he harbors some guilt. And Ephraim is back with Heda as well, and from what he's discerned has proven to be a fine young lad, much to Étoille's pleasure. And then there are the remaining petits, the boys. He does not have the same bond with them as he does Furi and Ephraim, but he cared for them when they were tiny, and so he still thinks of them fondly. (His feelings on those that have left -- are nonexistent. He is a simple man and does not, alas, have the same instinctive hatred of Drageda's natrona, though he disapproves of Wildfire's choice if only because it caused Heda grief, presumably.)

Now where might Ephraim or Mallaidh be? Lazily he makes his way through the redwood, keeping an eye and nose out to suss them out.

Do other wolves spend as much time in their heads as Mallaidh? Does Blixen agonize over their time together? Does Artaax? Does Varinril and Saarthal still think of her? Mallaidh only knows about what half the wolves and what they really think of her and she has the benefit that some of them didn’t know who she was before. Eske—Blodreina—hates her. Sort of. She’s never really been hated before even if she’s probably deserved it but she only has to prove herself, even if she doesn’t really know how.

Her head turns when she spots movement from the corner of her eyes and freezes when she sees Étoille pop out from between two redwoods. Her ears lay back against her head, unaware he’d been here at all. He hadn’t when she returned and he wasn’t with Heda when they came back either. Does he hate her too? She looks away, briefly, shaking away the feelings of unease to see how he may take her reappearance in Drageda.

Quite by accident he stumbles across Furi first, blinking owlishly as he takes her in. She's grown -- an adult now -- so different from the trembling, filthy child Eske and he had discovered. Warmth and pride fills him, though his expression does not change as he approaches, tilting his head as she looks away. "Choupinou," he greets, voice low, "I am glad to see you." 

He does not dwell on why she might look away and lower her ears. Perhaps she is mad about his departure, or perhaps she is experiencing indigestion. It is not for him to say. Nor does he hold any particular feelings about her departure. He'd gotten the sense that Heda does not approve, so to speak, of it, but he is, at his core, still outsider enough to not really buy into the natrona thing. At least..not when it comes to his daughter. "Are you well," he rumbles, reaching out to press his nose against her cheek briefly if she'll allow.

He doesn’t seem bothered by her presence and instead, steps forward and uses calls to her. At first, only her tail wags and she closes her eyes, too worried if she looks over it’ll all be a front and it’s not until he’s close enough to touch her that she finally turns and faces him. She dips into the touch, taking it a step forward and stepping into his plush chest. Mallaidh is a large wolf but Étoille easily makes her feel small again.

She stays in the embrace as long as he will allow and pulling away with reluctance after a long moment.

“I missed you,” she says, voice wavering. Eske hadn’t been as welcoming but she shouldn’t have been surprised to be rejected. Slowly, she pulls back and looks at him. “I’m sorry I left,” she adds, quieter this time, and flickers her gaze to their paws.

Her apology seems nonsensical to him--what does he mind if she left, she is a grown adult--and so he does not comment on it except to say, "I am sorry I did not say good-by," though whether it's actually a response to her statement or just his own owed apology is ambiguous. 

Satisfied with that business, he moves on, regarding her with his warm gaze. "I am living in Trigeda now," Étoille explains, "with my wife and our children. Your siblings, perhaps," he adds, a touch more playfully than he usually allows, perhaps made cheery by the thought of his new brood. "But I have missed you, too, choupinou."

Her tail sways and she starts to loosen up. She had thought he’d already left before her return, but had she been avoiding him? At this point, does it matter? Her lips twitch and she steps closer, bumping against his chin. She hadn’t expected outright rejection as she had with Blodreina, but she is over the moon with the softness she remembers so fondly of him.

When he starts to talk, her eyes widen with each new piece of information.

He lives in Trigeda now. He isn’t back for good. She tightens her jaw.
He has a wife? …what?
Children?

Mallaidh blinks at all the news, the declaration and, finally, the words she’d been aching to hear all along. She has so many questions from who and how and everything in between and her eyes prick at the thought. She closes her eyes and shakes them away. “Will you tell me about them?” she asks, and for a few minutes, she entertains the idea of returning to Trigeda with him.

He only smiles, pleased to see her relax, not thinking too deeply on the matter. Instead he focuses on her question, his expression warming at the thought of his lovely wife and newborn children back home. "Oui," Étoille agrees easily. "My wife, she is named Mirabelle. We met before I arrived to Drageda, but parted ways, only to continue to cross paths -- and so," amusement glitters in his dark eyes, "something of a fated arrangement, no?"

He misses his wife. Visiting is nice -- for he misses Heda and choupinou as well -- but he knows he cannot remain for long. "Three children," he murmurs, absently continuing, "Mathilde, Romulus, and Remus." He is chattier than usual -- clearly proud of Mira's and his efforts -- and continues to fill in Furi on his newborn sons and daughter, what little of them he has gleaned in their brief time alive, until she and he are both satisfied with the tale.