The weightiness of the male's gaze upon him made Rhaegal shift his weight back and forth between his front paws. He felt almost pinned beneath those eyes, but his mind was still so focused on the task he had been sent out to do. He could not linger in conversation with some stranger. Confusion rippled through is mind at the man's question. How many? "What?" Rhaegal looked towards the brush growing along the course of the river. Oh, perhaps he had meant how many plants did he need? She hadn't given him a number, but he would bring back as much as he could gather and carry without damaging the roots. But then the man posed another question, and Rhaegal's brow furrowed more deeply as he looked back at him. "Huh?" What did it matter? "I'm nine," he said, almost without thought, wishing to get past whatever odd line of questioning this was and back to the matter at hand. He paid little mind to the use of the word 'son,' attributing it simply to the tendencies of elder wolves to use such expressions.

Redirecting the conversation, Rhaegal asked if he knew anything about plants, indirectly requesting the man's help. He moved to push past the older male even as he offered to assist him in his search, only nodding his head in acknowledgment of the gesture. Together they walked down the river bank, searching the brush for the plant that he sought. An ear dipped out to the side when he asked about his daughter. His steps faltered and he looked down at his paws, heaving a great sigh at the thought before resuming his forward movement and sweeping search. "She picked up a puppy disease....distemper, the healers called it." He hated giving it a name, because it had no face. This wasn't something he could fight with tooth and claw, though he'd never been an out-rightly aggressive fellow. While he knew the healers were doing everything they could, he just wished there was more he could do.

As they walked side by side, Rhaegal slowly began to relax. Two sets of eyes were better than one, and with all that was going on in the world it was nice to know that there were still wolves in this world willing to help one another. He had to stay hopeful that his little golden girl would recover, that the grand adventure of her life would last longer than two short seasons. Is this it son? Rhaegal's ears perked forward, his head lifting and turning to look at the plant that the man had found. He stepped closer, inspecting it. The stalk grew up from the ground, splitting into three portions which ear bore five leaves. And yes! There were little white flowers growing around as well. "Yes!" he exclaimed, dipping his head and beginning to dig at the base of the plant. The roots were what the healers really needed, so he carefully pulled away the earth until they were exposed, pulling the plant gently from the ground and setting it aside.

With a few more plants collected, he looked to the male who had helped him. Relief washed through Rhaegal, grateful for the assistance and hopeful that he'd managed to accomplish something that would help Melee. Meeting the man's gaze once more, he meant to thank him, but something felt strange. Son, he'd called him twice now. Blinking, he stared into the eyes of the older male. The rings in his right eye...it was almost like looking at his reflection in a pond. "Thank you...for your help," he said, his voice taking on an almost skeptical quality, confusion settling in firmly in his mind. He glanced at the collection of plants, keen to scoop them up and return home, but something made him linger. The pink and green that was the same shades as his own right eye. And then, the man spoke the words that shook Rhaegal's foundation, telling him to pass a message on to his mother. As Leonidas turned to go, all of the strife the younger male had gone through seemed to surface in this moment, this further uncertainty in his mind simply too much to bear. "Wait! Wait. Who are you?" he said, his voice firm and commanding. He wasn't sure that he really wanted to know...but he had to ask.