Hours turned to days turned to weeks turned to months, and still no sign of her mother. She'd sworn some weeks ago that she'd found the faint trail of her dam somewhere in the wind, but no amount of chasing it down had yielded any results. Kohelet was still gone, and Rethe was still alone.

Or well, not very alone, as it turned out. Bereft of the mother she so adored, Rethe poured herself into caring for her siblings. She watched them and played with them and taught them what she knew. She kept them close, kept them near their mothers lest they experience the same soul-rending loss that she did. Taking a headcount every morning was a task she had taken upon herself some weeks ago, and while it was not perfect (she had no idea where Blue had gone, for example), it was better than not knowing. Not knowing was the worst, in her experience.

A rustle of something behind her had the slender mare craning her neck back, dark eyes searching the undergrowth suspiciously. Today she was on the lookout for wolves, and for any of the mother-to-be slipping away to be on their own. Rethe didn't plan to interrupt, per se, but she certainly planned to know what was going on. She wouldn't be caught off guard again. "Who is it?" She called out imperiously to the maybe-follower, her ears pricking forward.