The skies above Oak Tree Bend were dark indeed, at least figuratively. The young wolf had not been there to see the aftermath of Silver's death, but news had traveled quickly and the pack had mourned the loss together. Serach had barely known her - just like he knew barely any of the newer wolves that had taken up residence. Lifting a paw to rub an itch along his muzzle, Serach shook his pale head in agitation. You don't know any of them. That was the truth, if he was being honest with himself. The subordinate pushed himself off his haunches, forelimb returning to the ground to catch his balance as he stood up. He had ventured out into Spectral Woods again today, hoping to pick up any trail of his missing sibling. But whatever trail had once existed had gone cold long ago, so with a sigh that was more similar to a grunt, he turned tail and started on a slow walk back towards Oak Tree Bend.

It was during his return walk home that Serach picked up the scent of Darrah. It was a familiar scent, but further away from the Bend than was normal (at least as far as Serach knew). Curious, the boy turned towards the scent, his walking pace increasing in an effort to catch up to the younger Bend wolf. He wasn't particularly close to Darrah either, but he would be remiss if he did not at least check up on his cousin to ensure that all was well, especially the recent circumstances. "Darrah?" he called out, his voice loud in the relative silence of the forest around them. "Are you there?"

Hearing his own name called out, Serach turned his head in the direction the voice had come from. It was definitely Darrah, there was no questioning it now. The younger boy was close by, and it took only a few minutes for Serach to weave his way through the trees and vegetation that remained between them. A pale grin emerged on his lips as he approached his black furred cousin. In terms of appearances, they were nearly opposites and as Serach pulled up in front of Darrah and came to a stop, he was surprised to find himself tilting his head upwards to look up at Darrah. When had that happened? Clearly the Tainn genes, passed on by Triell and Ruiko, had favored Darrah, but Serach had been too self-absorbed to notice.

Momentarily distracted by the realization that his younger cousin had grown up without him noticing, Serach nearly missed Darrah's question. "Hmm?" he mused, snapping himself back to attention. "No, not particularly. I was out looking for Sceral again and was headed home when I found your trail." Serach smiled again, the his tail wagging easily from side to side. "I figured I would come see what you were up to." It was an unasked question, but now that he was here, the subordinate was genuinely curious as to what the yearling had been doing outside of the pack's borders. He was not a pup anymore, that much was obvious from his size, but they were family and pack mates and it was Serach's responsibility to at least check to make sure that Darrah was alright. Especially in light of recent events.

Being with Serach like this sure was strange, perhaps it was because their paths hardly ever crossed aside from the occasional pack arrangement. The two were rather close in age, so it was an honest shame they hadn't at some point became close. Darrah wondered if they were compatible enough to ever form a friendship. His cousin had suffered far more loss than he had, and from what he could tell, the boy shared the similarity of being rather reclusive. Perhaps it'd even benefit them both to be in each other's comforts. Or maybe it was too late for that sort of thing. 'hmm...'

"Sceral.." another wolf he hadn't the pleasure of ever actually meeting. From what he could remember, Sceral was the brother of Serach, and they were rather close. If recollection served the prince right, he vanished a few months or so ago. Darrah never got to hear the whole story, but then again was it really any of his business? "Any new traces?" more than likely a stupid question, his cousin would of looked far more optimistic if his searches brought any success. 'Agh, stupid..'

"Oh, uh.." his curiosity shocked the young Tainn, nobody ever seemed to care about what he was doing. At least not as far as he could tell. "N-nothing much, really.. I just wander off when I feel like I have a lotta thinking to do.." letting out a sigh, Darrah permitted his body to relax and took a seat onto the mundane woodsy ground.

Serach's smile gradually faded away, his lips pursing together in a slight frown. Darrah seemed confused at the mention of Sceral, and it caused a pang to shoot through Serach's chest. He had been the only search party to look for the lost Aesir-Donata sibling, but he had not fully realized that his pack mates had entirely forgotten about the other creme furred yearling. I suppose he was preoccupied, with Nayeli disappearing as well, he thought, surveying the yearling before him. Rationally, he could understand, but that did not make the emotional realization any easier to bear. "No, no new traces. Being good at disappearing is a common trait among Tainns, I guess," the wolf shrugged his shoulders, and then settled down onto his haunches to sit. "He knows where we are, if he wants to come back." He said it calmly to Darrah, his voice almost solemn. It was the first time he had vocalized aloud, not only to himself but to another, that there was a very real possibility that Sceral had chosen to leave. It hurt to admit, but there was no use beating around the bush about it any longer.

Darrah had relaxed down into a sitting position, and with the awkward conversation about Sceral's absence out of the way, the conversation turned back to Darrah himself. He stuttered over his words, as though startled by the question, and the smile that had disappeared from Serach's face earlier began to make a reappearance. Wandering out alone in order to think? We're alike in that respect. "What's on your mind, Darrah?" The Bend subordinate asked, his head tilting to the side in the same way his mother's had when she had asked questions. He wasn't sure Darrah would tell him, and Serach certainly did not expect him to tell him everything, but he supposed that his cousin's mental wellbeing was just as important to Triell as Darrah's physical wellbeing, so since he was here, he might as well try to ask.

Darrah chuckled in response to Serach's sideswipe at the Tainn family and their tendency to disappear without a trace. It truly seemed to be a curse, not only among the family themselves, but among those they loved the most. The boy had grown up hearing about his mother's first mate - an absentee father and leader if there had ever been one. Never mind Serach's own father and his siblings, who had followed the tradition. It had even touched Nayeli, and so had affected the lives of Darrah and his sister, Zera. The Bend subordinate was expecting his cousin to bring up his mother after his apology, but the younger wolf decided to answer Serach's other question instead. Nodding his head, Serach decided to let it go. There was no use prying, especially not into a subject that was so close to their hearts.

As Darrah spoke what was on his mind, Serach inhaled sharply, his brow immediately furrowing. Of course he knew what had happened to Silver. The wolves of Oak Tree Bend were no strangers to tragedy, but Silver's murder had been particularly cruel. The wolf stared down at his paws, contemplating what to say... "You're right to worry about Drestig." He had once been close to Serach as well, and seeing him in such pain over the loss of his mate had been hard to witness. "The pack killed them - her killers. But revenge is a tricky thing... those bastards deserved to die, but it can't bring her back." Lifting his head, Serach took a deep breath and prepared himself. As he had spoken, he had thought about what his mother would have said if she was the one giving the advice, and it was that advice that Serach needed to share with his cousin now.

"You might not know this, but Sceral isn't my only sibling. I have several older siblings, only a few of whom I ever got to meet. One of them, my sister Rissa, was murdered when she was about six months old. That's actually part of the reason Oak Tree Bend exists - my mother moved the pack to be closer to where Rissa's grave was. Just like Silver, Rissa's death was also avenged - your father helped to track the killers down and make them pay for what they had done. But what helped my mother the most wasn't that her daughter had been avenged, but that her pack mates were there to support her. Not just by listening, but by living." He cleared his throat, a slight smile on his face as he realized he was rambling. The silent ghost had forgotten what it was like to talk to somebody else, and once the words started, he just couldn't stop. "The point of all of this is that @Drestig needs us, to know that we are still here and that we love him. We have to try and make him smile again and be there for him when he grieves."