Noctisardor Bypass verzweiflung

set in various intervals after this thread

it had been two hours since @Praimfaya had left him with @Worripa and skaigona. mahler had begun to grow worried, turning often from their play to glance along the horizon, searching for any sign of her returning form. but the young commander did not suddenly return to her children.
eventually, the gargoyle chuffed to them both. turn by turn, carrying one by the nape and letting the other follow at his heels, he brought the pair to where @Sequoia denned. 
while skaigona and worripa were old enough to be given soft meat, mahler had not wanted to take that milestone from praimfaya. he explained softly the hours that had gone by, and would leave the two with the young mother.
with a howl to inform @Phaedra, @Astraeus, @Argent, and @Ephemeris to keep watch over the packland, he asked @Speedy to assist sequoia and warned @Laurel he would be going off, though the note was added after a moment's hesitance.
to @Wylla now; mahler went in presence to give a muttered revelation. he did not mean to be brusque.
three hours, now, since praimfaya had been gone.
mahler spent the next following the young woman's trail from rivenwood, to the cuesta where the stench of cat and blood lurked together on the wind. desperate, angered, confused — why had she gone so far? — the gargoyle drew up upon the scarlet stains, patches of fur, churned earth.
but praimfaya was not here.
her trail led off and out; mahler followed it until he threatened to lose the bypass in the distance. he halted, a low questioning sound in his throat.
perhaps she had gone to follow the beast, but she had been wounded.
another hour to force himself back; he set a patrol around the vicinity, told the night watchmen to double their own, and returned to the heart of the territory, to stalk and to gaze out over the horizon for her, knowingness vying with his refusal to accept. praimfaya would come back, and until then, her little ones would be well-tended.