His haggard appearance was nothing to the shadows in his eyes as Liam staggered back into the terra. He'd gotten no closer to discovering who'd murdered Aaka than he'd been before he left. It had been nearly four months, and the young buck was now fully grown, enormous in size, and an adult in his own right.

His attention wavered every couple of moments as he wandered aimlessly about the terra, feeling a pup's pain in his heart as the familiar sights peirced him like a knife. Here they'd played, there he'd slept beside her... and once they'd spoken there in silence...

She moved quietly her paws making almost no noise. Eight months old now, she was gangly but still beautiful. Aaka's deadly cunningness was in her every move, but her anger was just like her fathers. Explosive and unexpected. The one thing she had inherited from her mother, however, was her eyes. How they could speak. Her hackles were raised, slightly, and her tail was held slightly stiff but was not raised. Hello, Liam. She said softly to him. Liam. She knew his name. Knew who he was. She knew everything.

His eyes darted to her as her greeting reached his ears, and he barely supressed a snarl that threatened to rumble from his throat. This... this was Aaka's daughter. Her real daughter. She was better than he was. More important. It was just a fact.

There was fire in his eyes as he turned to her and spoke in silence, not really expecting an answer. What do you want?

Her bright blue eyes fell upon him, and if it weren't for those eyes she would be Aaka's double. Her right eye, however, was clouded over but it still held the same fire as the other. What do you care, Liam? Even her silent voice sounded like a snakes hiss, and her white coat bristled slightly. Its not like my opinion matters anyways. She had never really spoken to her mother, nor her father. She just assumed she was like everyone else. Another mouth to feed. Well, she'd show them. She WAS different. More different then any of them could ever imagine.

Wait a minute... she'd heard him? That.. wasn't possible... was it? It startled him a little out of his fury, but not enough to wipe the silent snarl off of his face as he fired back an eye-statement. It matters more than mine. And there was a sense of bitterness there, a sense of many long months, forced to beat the knowledge that he was less, and nigh unto worthless. Aaka had loved him, but now... without her, he was less than nothing.