Restlessness woke him, that which he could not entirely place, but it roused him from his slumber regardless. After a few moments of lying wide awake within his den, he knew he would not be getting back to sleep any time soon. And there seemed little reason to waste the hours away simply lazing about. So he rose, emerging from his den and looking up at the start speckled sky for a moment before he jogged off silently. He made his way to the area where his three children were denning together for the duration of their stay – though he rarely found all three of them there together. They wouldn’t be the children of the likes of Sleekwing and Malina if they didn’t cause a little ruckus now and again. Tonight it would seem that for once they had all returned to enjoy the comforts of one another’s company. He sniffed at the den’s entrance idly, ears pricking forward as he listened to the distinct sounds of the three adolescents’ breathing. Satisfied that they were well and safe, Sleekwing turned from the den mouth and jogged away.

He remembered a time of such youthful innocence among the peaks of Solevion. Swallowbane, Orca, and himself playing at their mother’s paws. Of course their adolescence had been cut short when the sky fell. It didn’t take long for everything to change after that – for each of their distinct personalities to be taken to the extreme at a much younger age than they should have. Orca’s exploratory nature begged her wander away from us and become a gypsy. Sleekwing’s own desires to become as great a warrior as their father – who had been away from Moladion when the sky had fallen – formed him into a mighty young scout who would often venture out from MoonGlow to make sure their surroundings were secure. And as for Swallowbane, his affinity for their mother had grown tenfold in the aftermath. He’d become the epitome of a mama’s boy, but his siblings had never resented him for the close relationship between mother and son. But over the course of time, when they had eventually returned home to what had become Spirane, and been reunited with Alcide, he had molded into the stygian of the family. Always dark and brooding, Sleeking typically felt like his brother wanted nothing to do with him. And so they grew apart.

Even so, when Swallowbane had left Moladion, Sleekwing had missed his brother. They were not close, had not been for many years, but they were still family. And with each passing year it seemed there were less and less members of the mountainborn family around. As he moved through a patch of forest and emerged into another clearing, he glanced skyward once more, wondering if a death so close to the sky meant they were there amongst the stars looking down on them always. He found himself moving upwards, taking paths well known to him that ascended to the highest peaks of the range.

It was there he found his brother, sitting and gazing up at the stars in silence. Daenerys had told him their brother had returned and that he might linger within the pack lands for a while. For some reason he couldn’t bring himself to search him out, though. Perhaps it was some lingering feeling that Swallowbane would be grateful to hear of their father’s death. The disdain Swallowbane had long felt for Alcide was something Sleekwing could never wrap his head around. But the loss of their mother would have affected him just as it had the rest of them – absolutely shattering their world. And so he moved to sit beside his brother this night, no verbal greeting made as he simply came to rest alongside his littermate and gaze upon the heavens with him.