Where could she have gone? What could he have done that might have sent her away? Whatever the case, Caligula was sparse, seemingly more distant than ever. He hadn't seen her by the beach or by their den, though Maradona seemed startlingly sparse too. Perhaps, he thought, they had gone to visit Iromar, to waste time away with Ruvindra. That seemed like the most logical reason but it did not excuse the fact that he felt rather... lonely, perhaps. Even Cersei had started to bother him less and less, though he supposed that was good for her. It did his children no good to be so... dependent, after all. He'd never been dependent on his own mother passed the point of suckling: it made you complacent and lazy to be so. They'd need to be strong, especially if this was the calm before any storm.

In an attempt to clear his mind, he had taken to the rather mundane task of simply securing the northernmost borders, certain that there would be some too-nosy child from Diveen poking around. Despite being neighbors - and quite literally at one another's borders - they had always maintained a rather apathetic relationship. It hardly bothered him, though he still made sure to check their shared border as often as possible. Today, though, it was less out of duty and more out of boredom, a form of distress in its own way. The border was just as it was every other time, though the damage done by Judas still seemed evident. All along the banks were pawprints and hoofprints, deep and solidified in the mud. Up the banks, the grass became trampled and tousled, luring Tesseract up the banks with it out of curiosity. Just what had his son been up to? What had he been thinking trying to lure that creature into Glorall? Whatever it was, he had been lucky that the other wolves had been there for him.

His investigation did seem to subdue his thoughts, putting to rest his thoughts of Caligula as he followed the trampled grass to the beach. Immediately, he broke onto the flat sand and peered down the expanse of sand - nothing, of course. The tide had already been to wash away the remnants of Judas' doing. At least, he figured, nobody had been all too injured. Still, he would have liked to have seen the outcome of it all - the body was one thing but, well, he just wanted to know Judas' inner workings. All his youngest children seemed so closed off in their own ways. It made him sigh to think about as he ambled down the flat. It were as if his thoughts summoned the boy for as Tesseract shifted his gaze to the horizon, he watched the all too familiar silhouette of his son move to the shoreline. For what it was worth, they were almost identical in body; both tall and slender, too narrow to be considered strong but with that air of... confidence, he supposed they'd call it. Judas had always seemed confident but right now? Things didn't seem right.

Tesseract was quick to arrive, loping faster until he came to his son's side with a quiet bark. He grinned, as small as it were, before taking his place to the left of Judas. It took him a moment before he, too, glanced out towards the island, putting two and two together. The ocean had a certain way of making one question their own strength. While they could do so little at times, the ocean could take boulders and crash them into the sand. It was unstoppable. Didn't they all want to feel like that? Tesseract did.

"Dirty paws?"

He cast another grin, a jestering one this time as he looked down to his son's paws with a cocked brow. He had to open the path of communication somehow so why not with some kind of humor? An attempt, at least. He needed somebody to talk to - or just be near - so why not his own son? It showed all across his face: for once, the Alpha did not feel like such a king.