The oldest Vuesain-brother was feeling, odd. Adrift in this new role, no longer a child, but still far from grown up, and yet with a heavy new weight of responsibility on his shoulders. Leo had spent his first year, desperately trying to watch over his siblings and failing rather resoundingly most of the time. Now he was an older brother in earnest, and feeling far from up to the task, yet he would take it on with the same resolve as he had with his littermates – maybe this time around, he would manage better.

As such, the boy had taken to helping out from the very start, assisting his father in bringing fresh food to the birthing den every day, and more importantly, water. With every stream and pond within the Cove’s territory completely dried up, the Lake had become absolutely essential, yet it was much to far a trip for Oksana to make multiple times a day, leaving the little ones behind. So, armed with one of Aquene’s absorbent moss balls, Leo would make the trek back and forth, ferrying water to the den as often as the new mother needed.

His was on his way back from just such a trip, the precious cargo clutched tight in his teeth, when an unexpected familiar scent suddenly hit him. He almost dropped the wet moss in surprise, pausing briefly to adjust his hold before he hurried to follow the trail back towards the borders. And there he saw her, unmistakable in her pale sandy coat and dark face mask, seemingly stalled on the edge of their home. “Stella!” he tried to call out, though the sound was muffled into nonsense by his wed burden. Instead he barked loudly to draw her attention, tail waving as a frantic banner over his back as he rushed towards her, uncharacteristically animated in his excitement to be reunited with his sister.

Thoughts ”Speech”

Her reaction was instant as goldenrod eyes landed on him, alight with recognition. She ran towards him even faster than he was to her, the sound of her voice and touch of her shoulder making his tail wag even faster. As she inspected him with eyes and nose, Leo did the same to her, running his attention all over her, noticing what had changed and what stayed the same in all the time they’d been apart.

Another voice joined the joyous whines. Looking over Stella’s shoulders, Leo spotted his other sister, stepping closer more tentatively. Trying to reassure her, he nodded in answer to the question, attempting to smile but being once again hampered by his burden. With a soft grunt, he pulled free of Stella’s embrace long enough to place the moss ball carefully on a nearby rock. Then he turned to his two sisters, the feint curve of a warm smile around his lips. “I was starting to get worried,” he hummed softly, stretching to nudge a creamy shoulder with his nose, as if to reassure himself she was whole and real; “I missed you.”

Thoughts ”Speech”

Leo too felt many years older than when Stella had left, so much had happened while she was away, he hardly knew where to start. So for the moment he was content to take half a step back, allowing Kateri to great their sister as he had, and make her own inspections.

Their older sister’s words echoed Leo’s own, and he nodded along, eyes fixed on Stella. With the first buzz of reunion starting to fade a little, the boy had remembered why his sister had left in the first place, and he was wondering how her mission had gone, not knowing her own thoughts were circling the same subject until she talked. Instantly, he frowned, wanting to reassure her but not knowing what to say. Kateri had no such qualms, insisting that Stella had no reason to apologize, and they were just happy that she was back. Of course, Leo agreed, and yet.

His frown deepened. For perhaps the first time in his life, the Vuesain-Kipley felt a small stitch of irritation towards his half-sister, just the tiniest sliver. It was rare that Leo even thought about the fact that Kateri only shared a father with the rest of them, that she still had her mother around, but her words suddenly made it very clear, and they bothered him. So, as the girls tried to move on the conversation, he couldn’t help but butt in, trying to catch Stella’s eyes as he asked, quietly: “Didn’t you find anything at all?” It might have sounded accusatory, was it not for the vulnerable look in his eyes, hinting at the frail hope he had otherwise tried so long to kill.

Thoughts ”Speech”