She’d been gone since late spring. Initially she’d simply wanted to visit Enocra, to drift quietly through the spring’s new growth and steal away into the creek for a quick swim. The pups were old enough now, and Sen was more than capable of seeing after them. Her family was safe, so it would be okay to have a day or so to herself. Instead, it had turned into a maddening, vain search for Reian. It seemed that having children had taken the wildness out of her, and all she could think about was her missing daughter. Kellin found his way back, but she was convinced that was nothing less than a miracle. She wasn’t sure they would be so lucky a second time.

But the forest gave her nothing. Not a hint of Reian. She thought maybe the old den would draw the child if she passed nearby; her mother’s and father’s scents. When she came away from the underbrush, there was nothing familiar about it. Other creatures had moved in, given birth, and moved out again. Tracks littered the ground around it, going in all directions. She stared at the entrance for some time, fighting the disappointment, fighting tears. Darkness fell around her and she moved away from the empty den, toward the thicket where she’d spent her nights as a young girl, alone and without worries. That night she only thought of Reian.

A day. A week. Then two.

The days passed in a blur of motion; she couldn’t rest until she was sure that her child was alive or dead. Enocra opened into the fields, where she feared she might find the drowned bones picked clean by fish and birds. Nothing. Then into the swamps beyond the river, alligator territory. Dangerously close to Iromar. She spent hungry, anxious days watching from the borders – perhaps they’d taken her. No whiff, no sign of her. If Dante had come close enough she would have asked him directly, but there was no glimpse of him, either.

Then she backtracked to the barren, rocky place on the other side of Enocra, poking her head over every edge that she could reach. Would she find Reian’s motionless body at the bottom? Or her sun-bleached bones? No. Another fruitless endeavor. From there she moved into the valley, a wide, yawning grassland. Flowers bobbed in the midsummer breeze. Hush could see her here as she worked her way through the terrain. Reian played with her siblings around her feet during the long, lonely days, and Sen cradled her in dreams. Finally, she had to admit she’d been beaten. There was nowhere else to look. No one could have been more thorough in their searching. The girl had simply vanished. Defeated, exhausted, and desperate to see her family, she made for home.

It was a long trip back to Taviora, and though she managed to get a few small meals during the walk, she knew she was looking thin. She was tired, too. And now she smelled like a loner again. The trees gradually rose up around her, alien now that she’d been away so long. She didn’t want any trouble at the border; whether from Sen, Coza, or a newer member, so she waited until night fell to make her way back to the den. At the entrance, she paused, listening to the sleepy breathing sounds of Sen and their babies. The urge to wriggle in and curl up between them was strong, but she didn’t want to startle Mireille and Roamin, and she didn’t want to know what Sen would do if he woke to the smell of a stranger in his home. She yawned, smiling a tired smile, and instead made herself comfortable on the warm earth outside the tunnel. The dirt was soft, even under her lean frame, and she let out a heavy sigh as she relaxed. Tomorrow she would eat, see her babies, and see her Sen. But now she wanted sleep.