Do I Know You?

The days since Gru'e's tyrannical move to power had been more stressful than Castor could have imagined. Taking on Aye'humu far too young, with Kahru'hu who was already such a pawful, was hard enough. He had to deal with that alongside the loss of his scatterbrained second adopted ren. Kahru was distraught with Rayli still missing, and Gru'e was more focused on feeding the clan than adding another mouth to it. From what Kahru had seen, she was on the other side of the river with a doppelganger of some kind. If he could disobey the giant Chief without the quite literal threat of his legs being broken in a fight, he would. For now, he just had to do his best for the pups in his care.

Kahru, Rayli, Aye'humu, Kira, Haka'far, and Lendri were all on his mind as he moved through the forest. He hadn't seen his niece and nephews in months, and he doubted that Gru'e would let him have a little vacation in the middle of this crisis. He hoped that the Why'os were faring better than Ah'mir was. He couldn't imagine that Li'Navira would ever stoop so low as to make mere babies into cadets. Maybe he should have gone with Tavi when he had the chance. He should have appreciated their visit at the ferry more, asked her more questions, been less awkward. It'd been months, hopefully all of his family members were alright.

The forest gave him a chance to hunt something without eight smaller paws tripping behind his. Kah'ru could fend for himself, and Aye'humu needed to sleep in more than ever to grow into a strong ele'cannara. This morning it was just about him and his breakfast. Breakfast he was sure he was about to catch as a loud rustling in the bushes caught his attention. Sharp eyes narrowed as his body aligned itself with the sound. His muscles tensed, each paw moving carefully one after another. He begged his stomach to stay quiet so that he could fill it. The hound was dialled in, ready to explode with the next movement of what he assumed was a thudu when a stripeless Rayli emerged out of the bush.

In an instant, his muscles relaxed. Moreso, they collapsed in defeat. He thought he was about to indulge, and now instead he found himself a father for the third time. His hunting crouch folded into a simple laying position a few yards from the young pup. This was impossible. He could barely believe his eyes. Kahru found one in the mud, and he found one in a bush, was the next one going to fall from the sky?! This was simply absurd. Holding back an annoyed sigh that instead of breakfast he was somehow flexing his hidden talent of finding lost children. "Hi, little one. You can come out. My name's Castor, what's yours?" he coaxed, keeping his voice calm and gentle. With Rayli, she was a bundle of energy that could not be tamed. This pup seemed scared, at the very least they were hiding in a bush. Hopefully he wouldn't have to chase her and bring her back to the greenhouse by the scruff. Oh god how would Kahru react to him finding another Rayli? There wasn't time to think about that now, he had to focus on seeing what this kid's deal is.