The femme was feeling better, at least in terms of her illness… but at the same time she was feeling worse. Something had happened to Fiori in her absence with Alfred… and upon their arrival the two had split up to start searching for anyone who might be left. She was worried… was her sister still around? Was Leo? What had happened? What had become of Heather? It seemed odd that she’d just… leave the pack. Had they been attacked? Forced to leave? A jumble of questions had formed in her mind… and none of them were too good.

She came to a stop in the middle of the territory, a whine falling from her lips. Why? She asked herself. She hadn’t been able to catch a single fresh scent so far… and that nagged at her. What if everyone had already moved on? The femme shuddered a little, looking down to her paws. Surely that couldn’t be.  Her heart gave a pang in her chest… and for the first time in a very long time Carletta felt a deep loneliness within.

There was nothing holding him here any more. There was no obligation to live here in the mangroves any more... but he couldn't convince himself to even get up. He had managed to do a bit of hunting this morning, but other than that he stayed lying outside of his den as quiet and still as a statue. Even his thoughts at this point had fallen silent. He had lost his purpose and direction and if he was being honest with himself his heart was broken. Fiori had been his life and his dream for so long. He entrusted it in Heather and had firmly believed that she would carry that legacy. Now it was gone. A shift in the wind brought Carletta's scent to him. For a moment he thought it was just wishful thinking making him imagine her presence. Perhaps he was finally beginning to lose his mind. The more he laid there the more real it seemed until he finally convinced himself to stand up, almost as if in a trance, and put one paw in front of the other until her gray, spotted form finally came into view. It was enough to give his system the shock he needed to wake him up from his clouded state. "Carletta?" he asked quietly, mostly to himself since he was still too far away for her to really hear her. He realized then how rough his voice was from sheer lack of use. He took off at a run toward her, suddenly desperate to be with her. "You came back," was all he could say as he skidded to a stop in front of her and pressed his face into the side of her neck. In that moment the numb shell he had built around himself came crumbling down and he suddenly felt so drained and deeply sad. He leaned into Carletta with a shuttering sigh as his back legs slowly collapsed under him. The relief he felt to have her back was almost as overwhelming as everything else. "Talk" "You" Think