Eros' exasperation was also mounting. She was greatly reluctant to get to whatever point it was she had, and he couldn't imagine she really had all that much to share. If she had indeed known Archer in that way, it couldn't have been for very long at all. Signs, surely, but his mind stuttered when the conjectures veered in the direction of something having happened to his brother. Even when that was the best that could be reasonably surmised when this stranger said she was sent. Ally was here. The Cove knew that. Why wouldn't Archer be?

Eros swallowed, silent, eyes still boring with intensity as he simply continued to wait.

Some kind of switch appeared to flick on (or perhaps off) for the stranger then. The hesitation and purported care vanished, and while there may not have been flames in her voice, the coldness of it all burned just as much. As though she were angry with them that they weren't reacting, or playing along, the way she'd wanted them to.

'Sorry he couldn't tell you himself,' a most sarcastic phrase if he ever heard one even if it lacked that specific tone, and it took everything inside of him not to snarl at the words. He didn't care if she'd recently befriend Archer. He didn't care if she'd even been the one to witness his death. They hadn't confirmed they were Valles, but Ally's relation had been clear. Did she think her pain greater than the deceased's own child? That any of this was the proper, much less considerate, way to handle things?

She turned her back almost immediately, the final insult. Viorel pleaded, but Eros demanded. He charged forward, Ally's shouts in ears, and rounded to block Nori's path. His fur spiked all along his back and his tail was flagged high. Nearly all his teeth were bared. Fiction or fact, she didn't get to decide when this was finished. She was answering their questions.

Her guard dropped in the wake of the damage her bomb of information had done, but the truth of the matter was that there was likely nothing she could have done right. It was nigh impossible to think of a loss that would be more difficult to take than that of his only littermate, especially with the way things stood between them. Self-preservation was a strong motivator for latching onto any other theory than the messenger before him simply being honest.

Why the other side, why to the east if they had been to the Cove together? They should have told Archer that Ally was with the Backwater, he should have never doubled back to begin with, it was all wrong. But he listened, to every detail. Trying to keep as little from getting past himself as he could manage.

When Ally bolted, he wanted so badly to follow it felt like his heart was tearing. It helped immensely that her grandfather did not share his hesitations. Instead, mirroring Eros' own thoughts. He could tell himself it was a lie all he wanted, but there would be no rest for any of them unless he had proof of that. He remained in place, and his gaze stayed muddied and unfriendly as it settled heavily on the woman.

"Just tell me. Every detail. If I can't find it, we'll find you."

If there was no grave, or if Archer showed up, or... gods forbid he found his corpse but it was clear something, someone else had killed him... well, who else would have been behind it then?