Tornach's stomach churned as he raced along the wetlands. He'd planned to go to Vericona Plains, but had veered off at the last minute. He wasn't ready yet to face the reality.

His mother was dead.

He'd learned of her death in such an awful manner, hadn't even been told but instead overheard the words being hurtled by Regulus in anger toward the man who was challenging him for Celestial.

He hadn't known.

Aiden kept her distance far above him in the sky, keeping watch over him but letting him have his space. Fresh, half-angry tears blurred his eyes. Angry at Regulus for letting him find out that way. Angry at his mother for dying. Angry at himself for not having made more of an effort to seek her out when she hadn't answered his call. Angry at the nomads for not saving her.

Angry that he didn't even have the heart to go visit her grave.

The young healer finally slowed, slogging through the cold marsh-water to the little island, and threw himself panting onto the dusting of snow beneath the willow tree there. Aiden spiraled down to roost there watchfully. Tornach wondered distantly where the rest of his family had gotten to, whether someone was there to comfort them. Faite, Zuriel, his little siblings. Was anyone taking care of his father now that Surreal was... gone? Zuriel had always seemed to be there to help him, but it wasn't fair to her that anyone would expect her to be the only one to do so. He could imagine it was difficult to cultivate a romance with anyone when you were always with your family, taking care of them, and he thought vaguely that it might be nice for her to have that option. Maybe he would offer his own home to Falk - a place far from anywhere haunted by memories of Surreal, a place where he could feel, and be, useful, and where he'd have Tor there to help him if he needed help. And Zuriel would be free to start her own family, if she wanted.

Sighing, Tor let his head drop to his forepaws.

Later. He'd do it later.

She had lingered at Celestial's borders all morning, but in the end had just turned back around and come back to the estuary. She wanted to go to her father so badly to make sure he was okay or at least as okay as he could be. He had dedicated his whole life to Surreal and her success and their family and now... Her ears flicked back at the thought. She had finally made herself stop thinking about her pregnancy for a moment so that she could force herself to grieve for her mother. Wasn't that sad? That she had to make room in her cluttered mind for an emotion? It just seemed like there was always some anxiety or unwanted memory there in the way now. She had to fully put her attention on forcing them away to be able to address anything else. The moment she let her focus slide they all rushed back in again. She felt terrible for not going to her father sooner since she had been the one to really watch after him all this time, but she couldn't do it. Not yet. She sighed and made her way back through the estuary to the middle island she had been lingering on lately. As she got closer though she stopped when she noticed another wolf's scent. It took her longer than she would have liked to admit to recognize it as Tornach's, but her shoulders relaxed a bit once it clicked. She hadn't seen her younger brother in some time so she was a little surprised that he was out here now. Zuriel hesitated for a moment, unsure if she even wanted to try facing another one of her family members besides Faite right now, but... he was right here and by now she was sure he would have caught her scent. She reluctantly pulled herself onto the island and shook out her legs to get rid of some of the water that clung to them. She padded around the small island till her blue gaze landed on Tornach. She offered him a small smile, saying, "Hey there, Tor. Long time no see." "Talk" "You" Think

Used to the scents and breezes of the wide open range rather than the muddy and wet scents of the estuary, Tornach hadn't actually caught his sister's scent. Aiden from her vantage in the tree, however, caught sight of her, and it was the falcon's warning trill that brought Tornach's head up as Zuriel circled the island to come into view. "Zuriel?" he questioned softly. Not that he didn't recognize her, but that he hadn't expected to see her here. His nose twitched, bringing her scent to him now that he was paying attention. She lacked Celestial's pack scent, and even more odd was a scent about her that he hadn't smelled before, bringing up faint alarm bells in his mind that he couldn't quite place. He shook his head slightly to rid himself of his surprise, and sought to return her smile, though it faded quickly, and he dropped his eyes, unable to meet her gaze. "Yes it has been. I'm sorry, I've been so caught up in projects of my own, I haven't been taking care of my family. I've been selfish, I know." The words tasted faintly bitter - hadn't Regulus said as much months ago? And he'd been right, hadn't he? Surreal had died without him ever having spoken to her again. "How have you been holding up, Zuriel?" He was referring to their mother's death, not knowing of what had happened to her, though if he'd been a little more experienced as a healer he would have realized what the odd scent about her was.

He seemed pretty surprised to see her and she realized then that he wouldn't have known that she left Celestial. Even if she hadn't, Celestial wasn't far from here so she could have just come this way from there, but if she was being honest with herself she hardly if ever left Celestial's borders when she was living there. She hadn't meant to make him feel guilty about not being around and she was quick to give a shake of her head to his words while she moved a bit closer till she was a couple of feet from him. "No, it's okay. This is the first time I've been this close to Celestial in a while too." She settled onto her haunches across from him with a sigh. She had been her own kind of selfish in it all. Zuriel had left knowing full well that her parents weren't doing well. She had left knowing that Regulus had left with them and had just trusted that Faite would be able to handle it all. In her opinion she had been the most selfish of all of them recently. She glanced up at him from her paws at his question and it took her a moment to reply. She knew there wasn't a way for him to know about the incident, at least not yet, so she had to assume that wasn't what he was referring to. Deciding he meant their mother's death she sighed and gave a small shrug of her shoulders. "Um... I've been okay. I haven't gotten to see Dad yet. I've been more worried about him in all of this than anything. I just... haven't gotten up the courage to go back home yet." There was so much more to that than Tornach knew. She was too scared to stay out of the pack lands but she was too scared to face her own family. She just sat in a constant loop of uncertainty and fear. "What about you?" she asked while she tried to get the attention off of herself for a moment. "Talk" "You" Think