Fenru should have been listening. He should have been properly looking as well but in attempting to maintain the paths that were carved out in and around the pack territory, the young wolf had been too busy trying to sniff out his younger brothers. He had been neglecting them lately, or so he felt. He could stay away from the pack all he wanted, being a Guardian assigned to the outermost reaches of the pack's borders, but at the very least, he owed Sceral and Serach. With Ice gone, Fenru, as their older brother, knew it was his duty to look after them. He had seemingly failed his younger full-blooded siblings - Torrel had been stolen away, Rissa had also been stolen but murdered soon after, and Aiyana had been taken in by another pack - and it was because of their absence that Fenru wholly put forward the effort of keeping an eye on Ice and Corinna's sons, his half-brothers.

For some time he was on his paler brother's trail but was diverted when he somehow stumbled into Sceral's footprints. He had been so caught up in digging about in search of the covered scent trail when a muffled call slithered through the gusts of wind. Ruiko howled to Triell and the rest of the pack and just as he had been trained, Fenru started to make his way towards the location of the call. With his chin tucked to his chest and his ears slicked back, he strode against the blizzard with his eyes half shut, anticipating his Uncles and possibly his mother and Aunt Aeylen to be assembled before him. It surprised him, really, to find that his assumption had been correct, but what he hadn't expected was the presence of his baby brothers huddled around someone who had collapsed into the snow.

Upon first impression he straightened himself out, bright orange eyes darting here and there to analyze what had just happened and why the adults were just standing about while his siblings were crying out in distress. Kisla! his conscience hollered, spurring him forward to investigate the face of the fallen woman. Gently, he placed the pads of his left paw over Serach's lanky shoulder blades but withdrew it almost instantaneously upon realizing who it was... His bottom jaw fell, tears welling up in his eyes as the winter wind bit at the black lining of his lids.

Mum.

He grit his teeth and took a step back, sniffling once while he took a second to let the information sink in. It was like Prosper dying all over again... reliving Indru's abandonment and discovering Rissa's frozen body in the snow. It was like realizing Ice had left without him, taking Merlin instead. It was even similar to the pain he had felt when he realized that he - a Tainn by name - could have been cursed just like the rest of his family before him, left alone without his agemates to rely on. But this... this was much, much worse, and it was in Sceral's pained face that he saw himself... and Fenru discovered for the first time in his life that he had been so very lucky after all.

Ice and Corinna were both gone and the pale-coated cubs before him were now considered orphans. Fenru closed his eyes and bowed his head, pulling up from the very depths of his heart what he should have known all along. Indru's desertion had taught him to step up and be a leading man by example, Rihael's departure had taught him the value of brotherly rivalry and love, Aiyana's decision to leave the family had shown him that there was always a choice and the decision made relied on him and him alone. If she could choose her own fate and stand for what she wanted, then he could too. Rissa's death had reminded him to keep working on himself as an older sibling. He was not just a brother but an appointed guardian by birth order and blood. Even Ice and Kisla's leave had wordlessly told him that history would continue to repeat itself, and that if he continued to let it all pass by, he would continue to fail in his tasks at finding who he was meant to be: brother, son, friend, mentor, pupil, nephew, guardian... They had all prepared him for a moment like this one and all he had to do was act.

Disregarding his superiors for the time being, Fenru took back the stride he had taken and nuzzled his nose and cheeks into both Sceral's and Serach's fur in turn. "Shhh," he tried, attempting to speak louder than the wind and their cries combined. "It's okay, I'm here. You're not alone." He withdrew from Serach a second time to walk around and try to stand between both of their gangly forms, waiting for either of them to acknowledge them while he desperately tried to make a connection. He had been in their place before several times over and he knew better now than to just idly stand by. All those times he crossed paths with loss, depression, and whatever he considered "betrayal," he wished he had had someone to pull him close if only to comfort him through the initial shock of it all. The lingering emotions could be dealt with later, but for the time being, he wanted them to know that their older brother was there...

"I-know-it's-not-okay," he briskly added, his own grief starting to become apparent in his voice and on his face. "And that's all right. Just know that she loved you very, very, very much. It's not your fault. It's not their fault. I-It just happened..." His jaw had started to quiver, "None of us could have known it would be like this." Please, please listen to me and don't be upset... He froze, looking from one Aesir to the other, bracing himself for whatever backlash the duo could whip up (if he remembered correctly, he also had quite a tongue at their age in the wake of being without his father). I lost my mother, too...