Since it had been as long as it had since anyone around had seen Foire, I looked for Trai first. She was as flighty as ever, but her most recent obsession had been the nursery, so I looked there first. I was lucky enough to find her right away, teasing the hatchlings. The Kha continued to reproduce, and it didn't take long from laying to hatching. Interestingly, the Kha still didn't seem to have any instinct for child rearing. They laid, frequently, up to ten eggs, and most of those hatched. Then, the parents didn't care to continue to engage with their offspring.
The Khatif, however, would spend some time around their hatchlings. They could recognize which were their own, and took some time to provide for theirs specifically. Maybe part of this was because the Khatif hatchlings were closer to infants than Kha hatchlings. Regardless of how much they'd been helped by [Cultivating Presence], the Khatif were completely dependent for a couple weeks. After that, many of the relationships the parents retained with their spawn were closer than those between my people in different packs, but nothing like the parental bonds between humans or that between Trai and Foire.
Speaking of Trai, I stopped wondering about what would happen with my children when they eventually hatched. It was still a long ways away, and I needed to find Foire.
"Trai." I spoke, and the little ones went silent. I hadn't terrorized this newest generation as I had for the earliest one, and they merely knew me as the Zaaktif, the one who came in frequently to sing to them. As such, many clambered over me as I walked in. With a faux fierce snarl, I gathered many in my arms and pinned them to the ground before pretending to nip at their necks. They submitted to the rough treatment, giggles filling the air. After showing my strength, they rose up and swarmed back over me. I just held my arms aloft as they struggled to scale me, though my tail was quickly beset by many of the little ones.
"What can I do for you, Ashlani?" Trai flounced over, fussing over a Khatif hatchling that'd gotten buried over several of its fellows.
"Where's your father? Haven't heard from him in a couple of days and wanted to ask him how he was doing with some tasks I'd assigned him."
"He said he'd be back yesterday." She answered. As soon as what that could potentially mean settled into her, Trai's face fell. Her happily swaying tail stilled, and she looked at me with fear obvious in her every movement. "He didn't report to you? Oh Nievtala. Oh. Nievtala."
As the hyperventilating Khatif swayed on her feet, I stepped forward and caught her. She swallowed visibly as she looked up at me. "Where did he go?" I demanded.
"He said he was going to see what he could find about the approach of the Misti Hawar. He went south."
I looked up to the heavens as well. "Oh Goddess," I prayed, "please guide me to him. Please protect him. If he's been slain, guide me to destroy every one of those responsible."
She didn't answer, and as soon as I'd finished, I stood tall and shook myself. The hatchlings fell off me, looking confused and scared.
"I'll be back." I said. Then, walking out of the nursery, I closed the door firmly before running forward into the center of the city.
"Silf!" I shouted, drawing deeply on my sonilphon. "Come to me, now! Drop everything and come to the center of the city!"
The echoes of my cry rebounded off the walls of the city, washing over me again and again. I didn't want to wait, but a Sik'Tal Keel would be my best bet at finding my missing friend. Less than a minute later, Silf sprinted down a road towards me. Even with the exertion, he wasn't breathing heavily.
"What is it, Zaaktif?"
"We're going south." I commanded as Brutus watched us. "Anyone who can keep up with you is welcome to do so. You're looking for Foire. He was supposed to report yesterday, and nobody's seen him. I wasn't thinking about timelines, and we might be too late. You have two minutes before we leave."
"I don't need any time. I can leave immediately."
"Then we run." I said, leading the way as we sprinted through the street. Hearing my call and seeing that we were coming, there wasn't a single obstruction in our path. Three Keel of three castes jumped to the walls. There wasn't any exit on this side yet. We didn't need one. Drawing on [Spear of the Many], I could vault over the obstacle, while Brutus slowed just enough to gather his strength and jump up twice his height. His elbows caught on the ramparts, and without a moment's effort, he hauled himself up and over. Silf didn't slow as he easily soared over one building and stepped on its stone wall to then simply launch onto the wall.
I landed first on the other side, but my two companions were close behind me. As we ran into the forest, I heard Sybil shout from inside the city. Against the demands of constant movement, I slowed and used my magic to carry her voice to my ears while I stood at the edge of the forest looking back. She stood on the walls, looking at us. I didn't know where she'd been when I'd made my announcement, but it was just a testament to how easily I underestimated her strength by how quickly she'd arrived in a place she didn't know where I would be.
"Do you need us to prepare an army to follow you?"
"No!" I shouted back. "If that's necessary, we'll tell you when we return."
"Be careful, my Zaaktif. Our eggs will need you." came back her voice. Knowing she could see me, I nodded. Then, without further ado, I turned to resume running through the forest. Thankfully, Silf had continued running ahead, while Brutus stayed beside me. Our Sik'Tal had deliberately left a trail for us to follow, and it wasn't long before we were, once again, in step just behind him.
"There's a trail of markers he's left behind." Silf explained without pointing anything out as we slowed to a quick run instead of an all-out sprint. "It's something we both have worked on with our other Sik'Tal. This bears his mark and is about as old as it should be. He hasn't returned to Nievtra, and there's no mark here saying that he has passed by."
"Lead the way." I commanded.
"As you say, Zaaktif."
We continued on our path, Silf dancing easily through the trails and I tried to follow in his steps. Brutus merely kept himself from catching a foot in a tangle of roots or running into trees. Everything else was inconsequential, and his focus was entirely on keeping up. We weren't at all quiet as we went, but that wasn't our goal anyways. Minutes and then hours passed as we continued running. Nievtra was miles behind us before Silf raised a hand and said, "I think we're close. There's no marker here, but there's also no sign of struggle or escape. He was probably just scouting around here and didn't feel the need to mark his passage."
I couldn't help but try to get myself to accept the reality that he'd almost certainly been killed. Why else would he have missed his report time by a full day? Where would we find his body? Would the Misti Hawar have desecrated his body as they had the others? My people were being hunted, instead of the hunters. I wouldn't stand for it. The time was nigh at hand that I'd strike the bastards down.
Before long, I'd worked myself into such a rage that, when we finally found the remains of Foire's camp, I didn't know how to react.