Zevulun had not expected it to be his nephew, despite the boy’s increasing visits after he and Castillon had grown close. He found himself frozen where he stood in brief confusion before Daire’s reaction registered. The pain in her voice and the shuddering breath she raggedly took nearly took his knees out from under him. Zevulun inhaled a too-sharp breath himself and it burned in his lungs as he whipped his gaze from Nephilim’s bewildered expression to instead look at Daire.

“I- I don’t know,” Nephilim was starting to say as he drew a small step backward, his own worry clearly increasing.

Yet it was Daire’s expression Zevulun knew he might never forget. The fear struck across her features: Where is my daughter?! Mentally, Zevulun found himself yanked years ago, standing here in the Prairie, beaten bloody and sure to bruise, when he’d had to follow Riesling’s rage across the sea to Salem. There were no such physical injuries he bore now, the day had been a relatively peaceful one (or so he thought), but suddenly Zevulun could have sworn he felt them all over again. His body sagged somewhat as the little pieces of his heart he’d been so carefully sticking back together all but shattered apart with one look at Daire.

“We’ll find her, Daire,” he found himself promising, despite the fact he should’ve learned long ago not to promise things he wasn’t absolutely sure he could deliver on.

“I saw deep tracks in the sand on the beach,” Nephilim was rushing his words out as if he was speaking them at the same time the memory was coming back. He blinked his wide, frightened eyes a few times at them both, “I’ll search Crossing,” he bit off quickly, turning about before anything could be said (not that Zevulun had any intention to stop him) and sped back off the way he’d just come. Zevulun gave one small, brief sad glance at Daire before he looked back over her and at the Prairie behind them, lifting his muzzle and bellowing out a desperate cry to bring everyone - particularly the Guardians - close so he could alert them they needed to search Luthien for Vervain or any signs of where she might’ve gone.

If necessary, their search would go beyond, but he still clung to some desperate thread of hope that what Nephilim saw on the beach was nothing and Vervain had simply lost track of time and fallen asleep, perhaps even exploring the Forest where the sounds of her mother calling for her had been muffled. This would all be a misunderstanding, surely…

“Daire,” he beckoned her just as he took note of Jasper appearing on the distant horizon, coming at a full run, “I promise I’ll find her.”