The truth was Emile was not doing well. His mother and sister had never turned up, and his father had gone from spending all his time looking for them to spending all his time trying to find them to his duties and the boy was struggling with feeling like he'd almost lost both his parents. This wasn't helped by the sudden way they were all now sleeping in their own rooms, if he was honest the boy didn't want to sleep separately from his father but all the rest of his siblings were doing it... Not to mention his siblings, his brother was cold and standoffish, seemingly also upset about their father but he was taking it out on everyone as far as he could see. Jane was still oblivious to everything and Fionha? Well, she might as well be missing as well for all he'd seen of her. All in all, he was miserable. He hardly left his room now, though he didn't want to let himself get complacent it was harder to make himself do anything. But he wanted something to try and at least continue to learn what he could and maybe brighten up his otherwise drab and kinda messy room. So the boy had set about trying to find a marigold that had survived the frost. He'd managed to find one and set about trying to gently scrape the dirt away from its roots so he could transplant it to his room. But as was seemingly the trend the boy wasn't quite so lucky. He was quickly growing, almost a year old and the boy wasn't quite yet used to his new proportions and he'd done his best to avoid damaging a potentially frost weakened stem... but he didn't quite know his own size apparently and he accidentally bent the stem, the flower snapping as the stem was still very frozen. That was the straw that broke the camel's back, the boy slumped, hunching over himself and sniffling quietly as he tried not to cry over a broken flower... "Speech"

Art by EffraSorbus

The Aegis walked her lands every day. Some days she left the full perimeter patrols up to her packmates, but she was at least out and about daily. A leader needed to be among her people. She needed to see to their well being and try to right the wrongs done to them. Lately, there had been a lot of wrongs. Ulric and his brood were broken, and rightly so. She had spent time with Ezra and would do so again. Ulric himself had received a talking to from the scarred woman. Now it seemed that she would be addressing an issue with the sweet boy, Emile. Resin happened upon the boy as he tried to dig up a flower. She had seen the hope in his pale face right before the stem snapped. Then it was as though all of the turmoil that he'd been dealing with rose to the surface. A hopeful face turned to one of pain and anguish. Well, that just wouldn't do. If one of her own children had been this upset, the course would have been clear. She would mother them. Since Emile had no mother, the giant, grey woman would have to suffice. Coming up beside the boy, Resin folded her haunches to a sit. With one thick, scarred foreleg, she pulled Emile into her embrace. She didn't hold him there forcefully. If he wished to escape her grasp, he could very well do so. If he wished to cry and get it out, however, he could very well do so. "Speech"

Somewhere in his mind, he was aware of the approach of another, Resin's scent preceded her and he could hear her but he was drowning in the emotions he'd been trying to hold back for so long and he couldn't really focus on anything at all, being carried away. Still, he felt her pulling him in and the boy moved almost more on instinct than anything else, leaning into the larger woman, his face pressing into her stomach as he sobbed. Slowly his mind was catching up with the real world, and he pulled back slightly, tipping his head back to look up at the giant scarred woman. "I I I I I I I I I'm sssssssssssorry." He said, he practically flinched, hyper-aware that his stutter was much worse when he was emotional. "Speech"

Art by EffraSorbus

The boy dissolved into her embrace, sobbing against her and she continued to hold him close. It pained her to see him so broken. It was horrible for one so young to experience such anguish. Emile was not her child, but in a way he was. They all were. All of the Hallows wolves were her children, no matter their lineage or their age. She cared for them all and it was her duty to make sure that they were all okay. Emile pulled back long enough to apologize and the scarred woman raised one paw to carefully brush the tears away from his tan colored cheeks. "Don't apologize," she fought to keep her raspy voice soft and soothing, but she probably failed. "If you're in pain, you let it out." If he needed to cry or scream, he could do so. She would support him and be there for as long as he needed her. Resin knew what was wrong, but having him talk it out might very well help sooth the inner turmoil that the boy was suffering with. "What's troubling you, Emile?" Dark ears swiveled forward, showing that she was here and willing to listen. She didn't release the boy from her embrace and she wouldn't until he chose to extract himself. She would be a pillar to cling to for as long as he desired. "Speech"