We can never leave her behind

He was awoken by the subtle reverberations of heavy steps on the smooth wooden floors of the room where the pups were all spending their nights. The golden furred boy had been napping in a bundle of furs, trying to will the time to pass until his parents were home. Their parents had been gone for a short while, but their absence left a void somewhere deep in his chest. He knew mama was sick. She wasn't feeling well, but they'd all been sick before! Sniffles and coughing and teary eyes, but they cleared up! So it was just a matter of time before his mama was all better, even if she told him it wasn't gonna happen. When he was sick, he also felt like it was never going away.

He stared balefully up at his father as he walked in, his expression painfully neutral while the rest of the siblings wandered in. The familiar golden pelt wrapped around the dark titan's shoulders stood in stark contrast to his pelt, unlike the way it seemed to blend seamlessly with the dun hues of his mother's fur. Why was dad wearing mama's coat? It was getting warmer out, but it still wasn't warm enough for mama to take off her coat. The fact that she wasn't there with their dad really threw him. Had she gone right to bed, exhausted after their trip? He stumbled to his oversized paws, plodding across the room towards his father. While his siblings were optimistic, planning a round of hide and seek to hunt for their missing parent, he could only hope that she was napping in a bed in the infirmary. Glancing between his father and the door, he slunk past to poke his head out through the doorway. He leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb while he peered down the hall, one way and then the other. He couldn't smell a fresh new trail of her scent. Only the older aromas lingered from before she'd left with dad.

Maybe she just hadn't made it upstairs, and all he needed to do was head down to the infirmary later. A slow, shuddering sigh rattled from his little lungs. He turned back around, quietly trundling back to his spot on the furs. He'd just wait to see what dad wanted to talk about, before he went hunting for his mama.