He couldn't find his mom anywhere. It was starting to get scary.. He missed her a lot. At this point, he didn't have a scent trail to follow. He'd lost it days ago, but he was still headed in the general direction it had led him. That had to be good enough, right? Soon he would stumble across her, resting in a cave somewhere, and bring her back home. The chubby little kitten kept wandering and meandering, until he looked up from the crunch of snow under his paws and realized he was somewhere he really shouldn't be. The tawny youngster shrunk into himself, joints locking up as he pressed himself close to the ground. All around him were impossibly tall spires of stone, dripping frigid water and sloughing ice as the winter reached its close. The ground was miles below, veiled in mist and lost to him. How long had he been walking? His paws hurt. Really bad, now that he thought about it. It all weighed so heavily on his little shoulders, and the boy sniffled pitifully. He could feel the tears welling up, burning his eyes and blurring his vision. Where was his mom? Why had she left him behind? Did he do something wrong? All at once, he couldn't keep it in anymore. A wordless cry escaped him, weak and pitchy. And that was it, the floodgates were open. His cheeks darkened with tears that flowed freely from his eyes, quick to freeze into the downy fluff of his facial fur. His mewling cries turned into full blown caterwauling, interrupted by desperate pleas for his mom. He was so scared and so very alone. "Talking"

After failing to get a herding band together Birna set her sights on other pursuits. While she still enjoyed following the caribou herds she didn't want to be tethered to a failing idea forever. There was more of the world to see and other paths she might follow. Winter was slowly giving way to spring and Birna opted to head into the mountains for it was the most familiar territory for her and the cooler winter air would linger there the longest.

She moved silently through the snow, her large paws evenly distributing her weight over the surface, until a wailing cry froze her in place. Birna's ears swiveled, pinpointing the noise as she tried to make out what exactly was making the sound but it sounded like a cub, a feline cub. She immediately headed toward the call, her legs moving swiftly for now that spring was waking so to would bears and other opportunistic predators.

She soon came upon a small, tawny cub of a species she did not recognize. He was quite large for what appeared to be a young age. Though who was she to judge? She had also been considerably large for her age and species. Birna cleared her throat. "Little one, are you lost? Perhaps I can help?"

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ooc. sorry for the (checks notes) two month wait ;-; Amidst the ragged breathing that punctuated his hoarse cries for his mom, it was impossible to pick up the quiet crunch of snow beneath broad feline paws. It wasn't until a feminine voice spoke up, flooding the young boy with relief almost immediately. Cutting off his pitiful wail right in the middle, he scrambled to rush right over to the fluffy feline that had approached. It wasn't until he was trying to burrow into her chest that he realized she smelled wrong- and she wasn't nearly as tall as his mom. So there he was, right in this lady's personal bubble, covered in his own snot and tears, staring up at her with wide eyes. "You're not mom..." he said quietly, and sniffled softly. "Have you seen my mum?" he asked next, stubby tail tucked tight against his rump and ears low against his skull. "She wasn't feeling good, she left to get food and she hasn't come back.." it was impossible to stop himself from talking, giving away all of the meagre information he had managed to gather in the scant few weeks of his life. Maybe this lady had seen his mom, and she could tell him where to go to find her again. "Talking"

Immediately the boy's cry stopped as he turned and waddled toward her. One of her ears flicked back but she did not back away as he burrowed his face into her chest. She gave a quick glance around, searching for any sign of the boy's mother but found nothing instead turning her attention back to the boy who had realized she was not his mother. He explained that his mother wasn't feeling well and had left to find food. Birna's stomach tightened at the mention of not feeling well. That was not a good sign. Illness could fell a predator quickly in these conditions, especially if they hadn't been eating enough.

"I see. My name is Birna. How long has she been gone and do you know which direction she went. I can send my raven to search for her."

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The strange lady gave him a pinched look that he didn't quite understand, but maybe she was just equally upset that his mom was missing. It was a deeply upsetting thing to happen to a little boy, after all. She introduced herself as Birna, and he sniffled lightly only to wipe the dribbles of his snot and tear against the soft fur inside his wrist. " 'm Clovis." he said weakly, and found himself staring at the lady's paws while he thought about her next question. How long had it been? He wasn't sure, the days had already been blurring together when he finally decided to go looking for her out in the wide world. She had offered to send a raven out searching for his mom, and he wanted so badly to get her help with the search. But what happened if he was wrong about how long she'd been away? Would it make it harder? He finally tipped his head back to stare mournfully up at the pale lady, stubby tail flicking anxiously and shoulders twitching. "I... I don't know. Maybe... fifteen days? Or... maybe twenty." he hesitated looking at his paws to count his toes, reassuring himself of the numbers he was offering up. It was more toes than he had. "I was supposed to stay away from the mouth of the cave while she was away, so that no one could smell me." he tried to explain, so that this nice Birna lady would understand that he wasn't just stupid, and that was why he couldn't find his mom. "Mom didn't want me to get hurt. I think twenty is right, or... or maybe close to right." he sniffled again, mostly a reflexive movement as his emotions started to settle. The adrenaline that came with his little fit was starting to wear off, and he felt weird. Tingly in his toes. All at once his little legs felt very wobbly, and he slumped down onto his butt so he didn't have to stand anymore. The snow cushioned him well enough, but it was going to soak into his downy fluff if he didn't get back up after a little while. "Do you think your raven friend will find her soon?" he asked quietly, blinking away a fresh upwelling of tears. "Talking"

The boy introduced himself as Clovis and he fell quiet, deep n thought. Birna remained stoic but already she knew that was not a good sign. If he had to think about it then it had definitely been more than a few days and most good mothers would not leave a child alone for such a long time unless something had happened to them. Despite her composure when he stuttered out fifteen or twenty days she winced, her breath hissing out. Knowing it would not go unnoticed she swiftly apologized. "I'm sorry. That is a long time for a mother to be from her child unless something has happened."

Birna turned to her raven. "Guelder, be swift. See what you can find of this boys mother." The raven nodded and took to the air. She felt no need to give the raven more instruction. After all, the boy was such a unique creature it was unlikely the raven would misidentify the woman, alive or dead. And after learning what she now knew Birna feared it was the later. In some morbid way it might make it easier for Guelder to find her. He was a carrion bird after all.

Clovis explained he was instructed to stay in the mouth of the cave so that predators couldn't smell him. Spirits… what was she going to do? It occurred to her that if they could not find the boy's mother, especially if they could not find her alive, then Birna would need to take him with her. She could not in good conscious leave him to die. Birna had no plans to be a mother and a rush of nerves started to knot in her stomach. She quickly focused her mind away from them and into the present moment. "If it has been that long I imagine you're quite hungry? I have some dried elk meat with me you are more than welcome to it."

As the boy asked about the raven, Birna's head tilted first one way then another. "It is hard to say but I think so. Guelder is very keen. There is little that escapes his sight and smell when he is scouting."

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