Faith in the heart

She rolled her eyes playfully at Fable's question, not at the question itself but rather at the answer. "I spent a loooooot of time scavenging from other animals before I got good enough catching grasshoppers and rodents to live off," she laughingly admitted, carefully omitting how often she'd been chased off those kills and was nearly killed herself, and how sometimes the meat she scavenged was so old it was half-rotted and full of maggots but she'd ate it anyway because eating maggots was better than eating nothing. She'd pretend that her adventures were all fun and exciting, now that she was actually back home and could just remember the fun and exciting parts.

She beamed at her father in relief when he assured her he wasn't mad, but before she could say anything the alpha had appeared. Justice drew herself up straight, taking a deep breath. But Regulus didn't scold her, just welcomed her back and... Justice's brow knitted when he said maybe she could help her mother. "Yes sir," she said slowly. "Thank you," and he went away again, leaving her with just her brother and her dad and the knowledge that something was wrong with her mother.

And more than that, too, as her father's next words hit her like a falling rock. Did her brothers follow her? "They're gone?" she blurted out, then shook her head queasily. "If they followed me I didn't see them at all. Maybe they actually found the Nomads instead of getting lost." She tried not to show her suddenly despondence. Coming home wasn't anything like she'd imagined. So far it was just one blow after another.

She took herself in hand, though, firmed her jaw and drew herself back up in determination. She would just have to see everything fixed, then. And in the meantime she wasn't going to add to her family's worries by moping around like a wet rag about it all either. Instead she flashed a grin at her brother. "So what have you been up to, Fable? Have you been keeping Valor out of trouble? You guys haven't been giving Da ulcers, have you?" she questioned, mock-severely.