I could not bear it when my Amaterasu had vanished again... I had wanted so badly to go and look for her, Search to the far corners of the Earth and beyond if I had to. But, unfortunately, ZigZag had gone missing first. Tera would never forgive me if she'd known one of our daughters had gone missing. My heart longed for my Imprint, but my duty as a Father and Mate had to take precedence over my desire to find my missing mate. I'd ventured far and wide to find the missing girl, spanning all reaches of Moladian and eventually beyond it's borders. It became a search for both of them, though I found scant traces of either in my wanderings.

Days became months and seasons changed with the passage of time. But finally, finally I found a scrap to work with. The carcass of a hare, drenched in the scent of my daughter. I had found her trail, and doggedly tracked her night and day until I found the whelp in a deep crevasse far from the reaches of Moladian's Keep.

When I found her, she was full of relief and yet meloncholy, talking about how she'd wanted to find the 'Really Real' Heaven and prove to everyone she was just as much an angel as the wolves of Diveen. I felt my heart sink a little bit, knowing how the child must feel to be outcasted by circumstances you had no control over. It was not fair of Heyel to label his grandchildren as legitimate or illegitimate according to his own standards... standards that seemd to change from child to child and rarely held consistency.

I'd coddled her and comforted her, and told her she had done well in her search, but some places simply couldn't be visited by the living. She was a defiant little Soul, shining as brightly as any star in the night sky and yet so full of contempt for those that would pass judgment upon her. She wanted so badly to Impress and feel like she belonged.

It took several days to convince her it would be in her best interests to return to Moladian with me, though she was adamant that her place was no longer within Spirane. According to her, she didn't belong Anywhere, because according to everyone, she wasn't Anything.

But that wasn't true. She was a part of me and apart of Amaterasu, and that made her Everything to me. Just as it did to her mother... And I suppose it was saying this that finally convinced her to accompany me home. But she would not return with me to our Mountain Keep.

I myself, as reluctant as I was to leave her, just Had to return. I had to know if my Beloved Imprint had returned home or was still out there in the vast world somewhere... waiting for me to come find her.

And so, on this random afternoon that was of no more or less consequence as any other random afternoon, my massive form came trudging back up the steep winding path into the heart of the mountain region.

I let out a long cry, one that was deep in baritone and calling out to the other members of my pack. Alcide would want to know I was home, but the call was not specifically attuned for his sake. It was a call, half desperate, for her to Answer.

I wait in the silence that follows, keen eyes staring out across the wide expanse of earth and sky, ears keening to hear a familiar song, eyes longing to see that cherub's face.