He winced when his mother nipped him, and flattened his ears, but said nothing. He sighed, gently, though, when his mother spoke of Nova again. As his closest childhood friend, he knew he would have been miserable had Nova been the one to disappear, rather than him, so he could hardly imagine her grief. He resolved, then, that he would go out and see her, and go to the stream. Somewhere close, somewhere that would help him thrive, somewhere where they could spend some alone time together- without him being too far from Aponi. He would do it, and for the first time since he'd returned, he looked forward to seeing someone friendly and loving apart from his mother and Aponi.

When she said she had bad news, he didn't believe her. Aponi was alright- she was just out with Karpos, and he'd believed his mother when she'd said that. Nothing else could have been bad news...And he felt a bit hurt when his mother considered Faol's disappearance to be bad news. Faol hadn't meant much to him- they'd been on decent terms, but he'd been aware that his mother and Faol had been growing quite close...And it was only when he put that into perspective that he understood her pain. Had Aponi gone missing while they'd been out in the wild..."I'm sorry, mother," He said, softness edging back into his voice. He understood the feeling, now, of losing someone you loved.

What he wasn't expecting was to hear about Crowe. He turned his head around and looked at her in disbelief. He grimaced angrily. "Where is he?" He demanded. This couldn't be true. Crowe wouldn't just leave, nor could he just get lost.

Sagacity nodded solemnly when her son expressed sympathy, for once showing a bit of softness, though it was short-lived. He turned and charged her with something which came across almost as an accusation and though she knew he was simply agitated because he was starving, confused and now felt even more loss on top of everything else, she couldn't help but glare at her son for a moment before she closed her eyes and shook her head. "I don't know, son." She said. "He disappeared. No one has seen him since before the hunt; I don't even know if he knew you were lost." She said. She would like to have assumed that Crowe had gone off in search for the pups- but given the fact that he hadn't been seen since before the hunt, and wouldn't have spoken to any of the pack members to know that Mercy and Aponi had been missing, there was no telling why or when he'd left.

"But the two of you survived- two pups, not even yearlings, despite the odds." She said. "We both know that Crowe was a strong wolf, and a good hunter. If he's out there, he's still alive," She said. And in comparison, he really should have been- Mercy and Aponi had both been smaller and thinner than Crowe when he'd last been seen, and the pups weren't experienced enough to be able to hunt for themselves. If they'd managed to survive without starving or being killed, surely Crowe would have as well.

His mother's words made sense, but they didn't satisfy Mercy. All he could remember was that Crowe had told him, in one of their last conversations, that he wouldn't be around forever, and that if anything happened to him, that Mercy would have to step up and become a guardian. He'd been right; Mercy had done just that, out in the wild, with Aponi. He settled his head back onto the ground and began to stare out the communal den's mouth again, hoping now not only to see Aponi come back, but Crowe as well. And, for his mother's sake, Faol, even though Mercy felt quite indifferent toward him.

He heaved a sigh and relaxed slightly as his mother continued to groom his fur. His eyes slowly began to droop closed no matter how hard he tried to fight them, every once in a while shuddering as he tried to shake himself awake. But sleep was too strong for the young wolf, whose body had little energy left to keep him awake for long periods at a time. He tilted his head to the side and heaved a soft sigh, and would be fast asleep within the next few moments, before Aponi even stepped back into the den. But in his mind and in his dreams, he would guide her and protect her, and it would be the only offer of rest that he would get, awake or asleep.

Though he said nothing, Sagacity sensed some sort of acceptance from her son. Perhaps it was because while he'd been lost, he'd had to accept that life was a fickle thing, and could be easily taken away. Perhaps he'd truly believed her when she'd made the point about pups surviving, and the likelihood that if he and Aponi had survived, Crowe would as well. If he came back, Sagacity would make sure to wring his hide at the borders just to make sure he never left again and hurt her son, who had already suffered enough over the winter. She suspected she'd do the same to Faol- and she wasn't so sure she'd be able to let him back into her heart. For now, she'd regained the only thing that mattered to her, and all others would have to take a step back.

After her son fell asleep she would leave his side to search for food- and would happen across three decently sized perch which had been frozen in the water. Though it took her some time to get through the ice, the frozen fish were retrieved and brought back to the den where her son still slept on, completely oblivious to the fact that he'd been left alone for a bit, or that she had returned. She did not eat any of the fish herself, but kept them beside her son, so he could have something to eat, finally, when he woke up. One fish could go to Aponi- she knew there'd be no way she'd get him to eat all three- but she fully intended to make sure her son ate two of them so that he could be more strong and alert the next day.