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Mother was gone. Just.... gone. No, not missing, she'd realized quickly. Left. She'd told Auntie Snuh to keep an eye on them, much to Magnolia's chagrin. They were a whole year old now! She didn't need someone to keep an eye on her anymore! She'd considered running off after Saga, but she didn't want to leave Laurel all by herself, and she couldn't rightly figure out where her Mother had exited the territory. Too many smells, many of the trails hers even, but old.
Left.
Now, Magnolia wanted to let her wrath consume her. She wanted to be mad at Saga for leaving without a word, and she wanted to be even angrier that Papa and Auntie Snuh, they weren't even following her! Nobody was! And oh, she was mad. She was exceptionally mad. She'd tried to find her Mothers scent on the way home to no avail, but she blamed much of that on, again, Jaxxon and her Aunt. They were doing an unfortunately good job in keeping at least the most wild Fox in hand, even now. She caught the scents of and even sometimes saw her sire on the borders, and she knew that if she stepped foot outside of their land, he would be whisking after her in a heartbeat. It felt like they were hiding something! Avoiding something. Did they know something? Where Saga had gone, perhaps? Why? Mag wasn't sure. Maybe, she thought, she was even seeing things that weren't there because she wanted an explanation so badly. But it wasn't like Saga to just.... wander off. In all her life, she thought she could count on one paw how many times her dam had left the territory alone, and always just to hunt.

But so much time had passed.

She still wasn't back.

Magnolia laid in the den day after day, waiting for her fellow crepuscular Fox to join her at noon for their midday nap. She never did. Magnolia ranged out night after night, searching, holding out some childish hope that the silver-pelted woman was hiding just under their noses in one of her own haunts here at home. She wasn't.

The ember ghosted along the misty mountains, tail crooked angrily over her hips, her ginger ears pinned.

She was grown now. The snowy tones that'd shrunk along her spine as she grew older had finally faded completely, and her legs had grown long in the weeks since returning home. She was a big, heavy beast, her glowing scars intimidating! She didn't need to be kept home, like a baby. She should be out there looking for her Mother!

Magnolia rumbled a soft sound, nearly under her breath, and broke into a lope just as she turned sharply over the borders. The night was an especially dark one; the new moon blended into what little sky peeked between heavy clouds, and even the mist seemed more shadow wreathing against the ground. The only light, faint, was the blue glow of her scars.

How did parents just seem to know when their spawn was about to do something ill concieved? Jaxxon, always around at the point of the borders when she wanted to leave. Saga had a gods-awful habit of showing up near the berry stash when she thought she was in the clear, and when the litters were young both of them seemed to be waking all the time when she was readying to harass a sibling. Always!

It was not, then, much a surprise to hear his bark snap into the air behind her, the call of her name following. As quickly as she'd tried to break away, Magnolia found her steps slowing again. Frustration bubbled at her lips with a rumble, and out of spite, she kept on walking.

She would not, however, ignore him entirely -- especially given she didn't seem like she was going to turn around. Too old, she thought, she was too old to be corralled back home!

Papa, she snarled under her breath, almost too quiet to be heard.

Magnolia side-eyed her sire as he loped up next to her, briefly but with bombastic attitude. She figured he would've yelled already if he was fixing to, but she wasn't in the mood to be playful. She hadn't been, since returning home to find Saga wasnt here, either.

He asked why she was running, and her jaws tightened.

She considered for a long moment, chewing on all the potential things she could spit at him.... or not. As it stood, she didn't have anything to blame him for other than being here and not with her, but the very fact of not understanding made the dark yearling wroth. She was a searcher of information, and she didn't enjoy that someone meant to be her's was now gone.

'Come'on, stop.'

The growl grew thunderous and in the next moment, she did stop -- but anyone who knew Magnolia also knew that silence was when she was serious. Noise meant she wanted to be heard. She whirled in place, hackles rising and every ivory fang baring to the world.

To her Fathers face.

For just a split second, she seemed almost surprised to realize she was nearly face-to-face with him. Gods, she did tower over Saga now, didn't she? Not the runt anymore, she wanted to be proud.

But she was just distressed.

Someone has to look for my Mother.

She stared him down in challenge.

All her life, Magnolia fought fire with fire. She was the ember of the Fox's, smoldering and dangerous and full of vile spite to those who thought to stand too close. Not even Joxer beating her ass, taking her captive, and beating her ass again had cowed any of her vicious attitude. Saga's fragility was the only one she tolerated thusfar in her life, a snake in the grass that let her venom kill before she ate and snapped at noses that dipped too close to the runty child she'd once been.

When her Father's face fell, she was so surprised that her anger faded.... just a little.

She expected him to snap back, perhaps stand taller and remind her what would happen if she put teeth to him again. To tell her to stop being stupid and go the fuck home where she belonged, where Saga had so painstakingly and at massive personal cost returned her. Where Saga herself had asked Snuh to keep her, no doubt expecting her most wild daughter to do... well, exactly this.
But he turned his face from her, and Magnolia didn't know what to do with that.

'That's not your job,' he said. Magnolia's chest puffed indignantly, her wilting lips peeling back again as if to begin arguing -- but Jaxx kept going. It wasn't her job... it was his.

Because it was his fault she was gone.

He had to find her.

Magnolia's jaws snapped closed audibly, her dual gaze narrowing to slits of blood and ice. So. They really didn't have any idea where her Mother was, and there was someone to blame. But he looked like he knew that -- that he was shamed, by whatever happened. The young Fox's hackles rippled as she shifted in place as if uncomfortable. Her tongue swiped around her maw.

The need to know warred with the fact that she didn't care. He didn't seem to think Saga was in imminent danger considering he hadn't yet left, but that only told her that they'd fought or something along those lines. What could they have argued about? Was... she mad Fairytale and Joxer had been there? Mag's ears laid back for a moment, feeling guilty now for talking with her Aunt -- for liking the dark princess. Joxer was a douchebag, sure, but for all he was savage he hadn't done more than keep she and Laurel about for... trophies? Hostages? His biggest crime to Magnolia was how terribly he had treated Saga, frankly. And he'd turned Laurel into a coward, too, but that felt more a testament to her sisters fortitude.

I'm not a kid anymore, she hissed at him, tears welling in her eyes though she blinked the shine away quickly, before the wetness beaded and fell. She wasn't a baby! So why did it matter where Mommy was? Because that was HER mother.... and she had already suffered enough at someone elses paws. Suffered for Magnolia's sake. Even if it wasn't her fault this time, didn't she owe it to Saga to go after her?

Why didn't she take me with her?

A deep heave of a breath.

Why won't you? She didn't have to ask. He was already here, trying to turn her back.