Viorel had been by himself, staring up at the smoky sky and brooding, something he had been doing more and more often. He had been rejecting most company since the spring, with the exception of a few, and Eros being the most persistent in sticking by his side. The anger was slowly fading into guilt about how he had been acting and beneath it all a deep aching loneliness that he wasn’t ready to face yet. So he kept up his act of anger, even though he didn’t feel it as he had only a few weeks ago.

It was as if the smoke had taken the fire out of his soul, and let it wispy and smoggy like it had the air.

His lip twitched upwards when he recognized the scent of his son nearby, but he had long smothered it by the time Eros had reached him. It was definitely gone by the time the words were spoken. Turning sharply he asked, ”What happened?” His tone was a little harsher than he intended and Viorel forced himself to clear his throat and ask a little bit softer, ”Is he okay?” They may have fallen out, and Archer may have renounced all of them, but he still loved his son, he just wanted him to face the consequences of his actions.

Eros looked hesitant for some reason and the father couldn’t help but shift on his paws. It was a habit he had had since he was a pup himself and one he always tried to force himself to stop and yet every time he got nervous he found his paws moving. They stilled at the sight of tears in his son’s eyes. He inhaled sharply at the sound that Archer was alive but that did not explain this whole ordeal. Archer was alive but -

Oh.

Viorel looked away quickly, trying to smother his own feelings about it. This wasn’t about him right now, and it wasn’t about Sephrina. This was about Archer and the fact that he had lost a child of his own, still he wondered if his son understood the betrayal he had commit now a little more. How the Valle man had been unable to understand how his whole world was crumbling around the loss of a child that Archer had been impregnating his girlfriend.

And Kateri was gone.

Fuck you Vanadis. Fuck you Kateri. Fuck every one of the sea gods who had condemed them since they had been dumped here.

There was a long silence as Viorel tried to hold himself together. Finally, his voice full of conflicting emotions he asked, ”Is he coming home?”

The leader glanced back at his son in time to see the expression on the tawny face and then he quickly looked away again. He nodded once, sternly, weighing the words over and over again in his head. He couldn’t blame him for not wanting to come home, and yet he felt a fire in his belly. Couldn’t Archer see that would give his remaining child and himself the best chance of survival? Especially now that Kateri was gone and they had already lost one.

His nose wrinkled for a moment before he forced it to smooth. It had been a long silence when Viorel got to his paws, looking back at Eros with an unreadable but emotional expression. He sighed and spoke, ”I think we all know that sharing my fate is a worse punishment than any banishment.” He took a step away before pausing and adding, ”The decision is his. If he wants to come home he will be allowed, if he does not he will no longer be banished but we don’t have enough resources to spare to help non-pack members.” The last sentence was clearly added for Eros to hear. Viorel would not sacrifice the children of his cousins to support someone who didn’t want to be part of the Backwater.

Maybe this should have been a longer conversation, but he couldn’t stomach anymore. Viorel left without a further word.