Butterfly did not seem overly distraught by the news of her mother and brother's absence from Moladion. Ears flickered slightly, perking forward once more at the woman's soft sigh before she spoke. Her words rang true as ever, and I nodded. "Perhaps the best parts of himself," I mused softly, smiling at recollections of happier days in our youth, when the fire between Leonidas and I had first been ignited. My children were those parts of him, the parts that I had loved - the parts that I would always treasure. That was a thing that could not be denied.

She stepped forward, touching her shoulder to mine and I dipped my head in gratitude for her compassion. A smile etched her features at my offer to return to the mountains of her birth, and the expression was echoed in my own visage once more. Almost immediately she accepted my offer, and warmth bloomed in my chest. Even though Butterfly and Leonidas were only adoptive siblings, she was the closest thing he'd ever had to family. And just as Taliesin was my brother and their uncle, Butterfly was an aunt to my first litter. Never before had they met a wolf so closely connected to their sire - other than myself - and excitement bubbled up within me at this gift that Butterfly could give them.

"Not at all, let us go!" I bumped my nose into her neck happily, then turned and plunged back into the river. Perhaps not the most queenly display, but what did I care in this moment? Glancing back over my shoulder, I smiled at Butterfly standing upon the riverbank. I then moved to swim through the currents of the river that would bring us to the shore that bordered the mountainous realm, intent on reaching the land of both of our births before the sun even thought to begin setting,