He sits alone in the deep, dark caverns with nothing to keep him company but his thoughts. It replays over and over in his head, the last words he had exchanged with his Mother. She had bid him farewell, at the edge of the Taviora forest, and though he had not wanted to go he had gone all the same. She had asked him to- just as she had asked him not to worry, not to fret, not to follow. To remember her always as she had been throughout his life. The time spent as loners, then as royalty, and now loners again. Lucero knew he had a place and a home in the forest of Taviora, with his Zelly at his side. Lucero knew this, just as he knew Rhae had not gone into the forest to find Coszcotl. Nor had he gone to find Zeltzin's Mother, Moth, for she was the best healer of all Moladion.

The truth of it all weighed heavy and firm upon his dark cloaked shoulders, where the colours inherited from both parents met and mingled. It was often the young wolf thought of his Father, Iblis, how frequent his presence had been in his early years. And how as those years came to pass and move on, that presence lessened and lessened until it was no more. Rhae had stepped in for him as leader of their family, leader of their pack. And now.. they had nothing to show for it. He no longer had a place to bring Zelly that would be their new home, was no longer surrounded by wolves who cared and loved him. Even that was a futile thought- his Mother had called out to them, any who had remained after the defeat and none had shone save himself and Zeltzin. At least the thought of his closest and most dear companion brought some relief to his mind, and even more so when he was so sure the walls held her scents in them. They had met here the very first time, after all, and it could be naught but a trick of the memory.

But he is pleasantly startled when her voice reaches out to him in the confines of the caves, wrapping around his senses much like the enticing tendrils that they are. His good eye goes then to search for her, the bright teal strung through with gentle chocolate eager and wanting in these moments. He had not known it to be soon, but at the sound of his voice Lucero had come to the realisation of just how much he needed her. Not because he had no one else, but because she was everything that he needed in one. She was his shoulder to lean on, his voice to speak with and ear to listen. And though he moves to meet her and embrace her, he cannot help but find himself amused by her approach that causes him to pause. Always she has been rather stubborn and fiery, a trait most loved by the young wolf- and now she shows no change. Her dark tail is flicking about behind her haunches, and even in the dim lighting he knows it to be true. She tells him that he cannot hide from her, and before she can get out her next sentence his soft words find her in the darkness. "I would and will never hide from you, Zelly."

Lucero has a vaguely masculine voice that will deepen the older he gets, even if he is no longer an adolescent. But in the close quarters of the walls and in lieu of the vents, his tones and volume of his voice as much softer than they otherwise would be. He does nothing to mask or hide the sadness in his features, in his body language, or the over all feel of him. He reeks of it, he knows, but never has he had reason to hide a single thing from her. He would give everything to her, show everything to her, even if they were not destined by Fate. They were destined by one another. And when she asks her question, it is something he has been, unfortunately, waiting for. Thus his reply comes rather promptly. "Mother has died and asked that she be at rest in the forests of Taviora.." Perhaps Lucero could have gone about it differently, or said it in different words. But it did not make it any less real, or come with any less pain at that. No matter how long he prolonged it, or hid in the dark shadows of the cave, the pain of his life would always find him. Just as his purest light had found him, just when all other lights had gone out.