Tornach had left his bounty of rose hips drying in the sun-dappled interior of the barn, spread out with Aiden to protect them from rodents. He had needed to take the time to deseed them and get them ready to dry, lest he lose the whole harvest, but he had chafed at the delay. Even the suspicious Aiden had admitted that the stock had been treated well in his absence. Fewer predators dared venture into pack lands at all, and none of the stock had been so much as peeked at while he had been away gathering the rose hips. Perched in the rafters of the barn in an area with gaping holes in the roof, the falcon was perfectly capable of keeping an eye on both the livestock and the drying herb stocks, so there was nothing holding him back from a second journey.

This time he carried nothing with him, running freely without the sledge or a travois dragging at him. The momentary illusion of freedom was invigorating, allowed him to forget for a brief time his worries as he just ran. But all too soon reality came crashing back down when he found himself on what had been the border of Zuriel's pack... And it was gone. He stood for a moment in stunned, pained disbelief. Gone, again? Just as he had found her, found that he had nieces and nephews, they were all... gone? He moved further into the land, hoping he had been wrong, but scented no borders, was accosted by no border guards. There was no trace of them.

Sitting, slouching really, he peered around himself before lifting his head in a bewildered, lonely howl for his sister, for his nephew, for... someone.

Ace was near the maw, both of the fox kits at his side as they passed the place where Ruina once stood. Where he had found the kits. They were on the trail of a small herd of deer, Ace taking it upon himself to keep tabs on any nearby herds so that he could inform the hunters...even though he didn't know any of the hunters in Abaven yet, he could at least let Shaye or Rhyme know so they could pass the message on. Halfway through tracking them, however, a howl caught his attention. He stopped and listened until it died away. It sounded lonely. Haunting. It tugged at his soul, for it was a howl that he wanted to cry many times over. The fox kits glanced at each other and then glanced at Ace, and in a single motion all three decided to investigate. He was glad now that the kits were nearing six months of age. It made it a lot easier to travel with them since they were able to keep up a lot better. Ace kept alert as he moved towards the base of the maw. He wasn't sure if coyotes or other hungry predators were lingering around. He soon caught the scent trail of another, but not anyone he knew. Curious and with a bit of apprehension, he continued to follow the trail until he saw him. A male close to his age it seemed, sitting all alone. Ace watched him for a moment, crimson gaze studying his form. He didn't know who he was or why he was here, but perhaps he had been here to look for Ruina. And only found its skeleton. "Ruina is no more." He said simply. Softly. He stood a couple of yards from the stranger, the fox kits looking on between his legs. speech action