“Hey Dad?” The beckoning voice of his oldest daughter (or at least the oldest who still lived with him) drew his attention away from where he’d been grazing. Zevulun lifted his head and glanced at Lilija and then down to her youngest son who stood at her side. Luekos had been born just this last spring and, only a couple seasons old, he was already so much larger than he’d been just weeks ago. Zevulun smiled almost immediately, always far too soft for children, but especially his blood. He reached out to playfully lip at the colt’s wispy black and white mane, to which Leukos burst out in bubbly giggles.

“Dad..” Lilija’s voice rose a little pointedly above her son’s laughter, reminding Zevulun to look back up at her. He shot his grandson a look that said “Whoops!” and then focused on his daughter again. Once she saw his eyes were hers, she spoke quickly.

“Iona followed that stallion into the sea a few days ago and she hasn't come back yet. Where did he come from?”

Zevulun frowned, thinking of which stallion she might be speaking of. The Prairie had been rather quiet lately, visitors were rare. The only one to pass through recently was… “Evrain? He’s the new lead in the Hills of Salem.” In truth, Zevulun wasn’t entirely surprised to learn his granddaughter had snuck off again. She’d always had a rather rambunctious and adventurous spirit and she was of the same age as Evrain.

Lilija sighed. “I need to go to the Hills just to make sure she’s safe, or that’s where she really wound up. Could you watch over Leukos for me while I’m gone?”

Zevulun frowned. “Lilija, I’m sure she’s fine. Evrain plans to come back with Claret, if Iona is with him I’m sure she’ll travel back then. She’s not as young as this little guy anymore,” he reminded her softly, reaching down to affectionately tap Luekos’s speckled cheek. The hard lesson he was having to learn lately was to let his children go when they were old enough, it seemed Lilija was having a harder time with her daughter.

“I can’t… I can’t wait that long. She’s too… reckless. I just want to ease my mind and make sure that’s where she is. So many terrible things could happen to her from here to there, she should have at least asked someone here to go with her.”

Zevulun sighed, then squinted past Lilija to see if he could spot Freya with either or both sets of their twins. Maybe her mother could talk sense into her as to why rushing off after Iona was a bad idea… Unfortunately unable to see Freya in the immediate distance, Zevulun finally looked back at Lilija. “And what of you? Why would things be different with you?”

“I spent plenty of time on my own for years,” Lilija said, her tone pointed again. “I’m much more aware than she is and much more careful.”

As true as that may have been, Zevulun still hesitated, thinking of Salem. The rockiness that’d come seemed to have settled, but… “Things may, on the surface, seem well between ourselves and Salem, but be careful. I think things are far from over.” The words were said with the gravity with which he felt them. Heavy. Even Leukos, though he didn’t quite understand their impact, looked somewhat nervously somber up at his grandfather. It was a tone he had likely yet to hear his grandfather use.

“I’ll be careful, dad,” Lilija promised with a softer, more affectionate voice and then smiled down at her son before fondly ruffling his forelock. “Promise to be good for your grandfather,” she bade him with a motherly tone. Luekos snorted and rolled his eyes but ultimately his little voice piped up, “I promise, momma!”

Zevulun stood with the young boy until he couldn’t see Lilija any more, shook his head and looked back down at Leukos. “Well, kiddo, what sort of trouble shall we get into while your mom is gone?”