Searching for Safety

He didn't know what had happened, but Cador knew that it was bad. Gone meant missing, absent, not present. Cador couldn't comprehend his father being gone unless something terrible had happened. His father wouldn't have abandoned them - would he? But Ashe was gone too, presumably with their father. Cador already felt the absence of the male he had looked up to so much, and without Leon striding at his mother's side, his mother looked lost and confused.

Cador had done his best to look even stronger now than ever. He'd walked in his best imitation of his father - carrying his head high and his tail streaming behind him, not dragging near the earth. He was channeling his father's steady, unassuming confidence as best he could, determined to fill the void that Leon had left by leaving, wherever he was. In Cador's mind, he was sure that his father would be back any day now, and Cador just needed to carry the mantle until his father returned with Ashe in tow. They had probably just gone to have an adventure or something and mother was just worrying too much - nothing bad could have happened to his father, right?

When they finally came to a stop, Cador sunk back on his haunches, little brown tail wrapping around his paws as he breathed a nearly silent sigh of relief. Walking like that was tiring! How had his father managed it all the time? "It's all right, mother." Cador tried to sound assuring, leaning his small body against her leg for a moment before turning his amethyst gaze towards Vaishya, checking on her silently. His gaze would scan her form, seeking any sort of injuries and to see if overall she seemed to be doing all right.

"Speech"
'thoughts'