There was so much going on when she returned. Eden had gone missing with one of her pups, nothing but a few smears of blood found in their wake, and a quick headcount of her own kids told her Deluge was missing too (as though the absence of her glowing fur at night wasn’t a dead give-away), and the boys were absent, thought their scents still lingered faintly, heading off to the west. Modesty had checked all the usual haunts, but her scent had long since faded from the beaches and the borders. She couldn’t even tell what way the girl had left. A small selfish part of her thought that she should have expected it, to just accept the loss like she had with her first and move on. But as terrible a mother as she was, she knew there was still hope that her girl was out there. Even if she was her least favourite of the ones that made it. Maybe just because she could see too much of her younger self in the girl.

The moon was high by the time she had finished checking the pack lands, and it finally clicked that there was no trace of Hyacinth either. What on earth was going on around here? Her daughter’s absence was enough to make up her mind, but the additional losses only cemented her decision. She sharply poked Gil in the ribs. “I’m going to look for her. Send Erish to find me if she shows up. I’ll start with Ashen and Hibari and head North, just in case she tried to follow us like Jack did. Warimoo can let you know if I run into trouble. I think the boys have gone west, probably looking for her too. If they aren’t back by tomorrow… well, they’re only young, they can’t be far, right?” She had planned to go looking for her mother to officiate their wedding anyway, though that wouldn’t be the primary purpose of her journey now.

“Speech.”

They said that I got to keep it sweet

Gilgamesh

He had been sleeping. Not as soundly as he had liked, but he would take sleep where he could get it. Ever since Azure had come to avenge Hanako, life for them had all gone downhill. Eden and her pup disappeared in a wake of blood, their own daughter had gone off to who knows where, and both of the boys had seemingly followed in her path. Not that he was necessarily worried about the boys, they would return eventually when they were done with their little jaunt. But Deluge? Gilgamesh did indeed worry about that child of theirs for the sake that she hadn't really seemed like the type to wander off. Not like Scald, that lanky boy was always off to other areas.

When Modesty jabbed him in the ribs, his brow furrowed for a moment with a raise of his lip. As he blinked his eyes opened and realized it was his wife waking him, he turned his chin to look at her better. The way her worried words echoed in his ears made him lift his head and reach out to touch her gently on the shoulder. "If that will make you feel better, I will keep an eye out here for their return," he said, expression reserved and hiding any emotion of worry he held for the babes. Pulling himself into a sitting position, he scooted a bit closer to her. "I'm sure they'll return fine but maybe when you return, everything will settle and we can potentially plan that wedding of ours?" Gil tilted his head to the side as he gave her a curious look.

Speech