Missing

Walk | Talk | Think

Everything had seemed so normal and peaceful the night before. The pups had all huddled into the den with her as was their usual sleeping custom - a fact which had made her already have to dig out a wider stretch for them to rest inside - and snuggled in with all of her children Mercianne had fallen asleep. A restless roll here or a half sleepy stumble here were not altogether uncommon, particularly with all the different sort of preferences for comfort among the pups, but by the time morning came along something felt off, wrong, strangely out of place.

The timid white healer had given it little thought at first, assuming it to only be an unnecessary worry of hers, something that she had grown used to with her first litter. But it had refused to leave, and so with a quiet sigh, she eventually opened her sleepy eyes to peer over the little bundles in her den where she rested. Each of them looked to be peacefully slumbering, either sprawled amongst each other or curled in their own little spot to keep the others from laying all over them. A little smile slid upon her face as she looked over them, but as she did so, quietly going through the naming and counting process that she had taken up since their birth, she finally realized what was amiss.

Smile quickly slipping away, she skimmed her eyes over them once more, this time more swiftly than before. Emery, Sage. Cloud and Crow. Clover. That was it. Growing more nervous by the second, heart already beginning to beat rapidly in her chest, the anxious mother shifted where she lay, trying not to disturb the pups as best she could while she lifted her head to peer over the top of them, assuming from the angle she had been looking she had failed to notice all of them. She tried again. Emery. Sage. Cloud. Crow. Clover. Still no Kestrel. The girl was gone.

Immediately her head turned to stare out of the den and into the early morning light, trying vainly to see her dark colored form somewhere outside and already greeting the day. Maybe she had risen early and just wanted some fresh air. Maybe she was thinking of her siblings and went away from her restless tossing and turning woke them. Carefully, Mercianne extracted herself from the resting bunch and quietly padded out of their den, unable to bother with stretching her cramped muscles out as she squinted her dark brown eyes against the sudden sunlight and attempted to peer around in search of her daughter, whispering a nervous, "Kestrel?" into the cool morning air. Still nothing. Where had she gone?

A sense of desperation stealing over her, she began to walk hurriedly a short ways away from the den with her eyes and ears ever vigilant, hoping to spot her somewhere close by. She continued to call for her daughter, daring to raise her voice as much as she could while trying not to wake the rest of the pups before she knew for certain there was reason to worry.