“Whoa, whoa, Willow, slow down,” Shakti puts his hands out towards his friend, palms facing the earth, his face twisted in great concern as he takes in the panic on his dear friend’s face. He’d been found in the midst of working on a yak hide, and had quickly forgotten about it when Willow arrived– normally, he would carry on a conversation without ever looking up from his work, but the strain of urgency in her voice was quick to yank him from his task. “Well, it’s a city surrounded by walls, Will, I’m sure he hasn’t gone too far,” Shakti offered a meek smile beneath his unkempt beard, tentatively landing a comforting hand on her shoulder, “Come on, lets go, we’re only an hour from sunset. I’m sure we can find him in no time.” With that, he moved his hand between Willow’s shoulder blades and gently led her out of the tannery, and towards the sharper edges of the city, where the older kids tended to wander off to, in search of mischief. Truthfully, Shakti was more worried than his steady voice let on. He had always had a penchant for hiding his true emotions, sure, but he was purposeful in not steeping Willow’s own panic. He knew that she loved her boys more than anything in this frostbitten world, and the least he could do, as her friend, would be to allow her the grace of hope. Besides, everyone knew everyone in Jericho, right? Surely someone in their right mind would have spotted Willow’s son by now, and be escorting him back to his mother’s arms in no time. “When was the last time you saw him, Will?”
She was a stress crier, an anger crier, even a happy crier. Any overwhelming emotion and the tears began to run down her cheeks. It was frustrating but usually she was able to get them under control quickly. This time, the tears were freezing to her skin as they continued to spill and there was no sign of it ending. The four bedroom home they took over was usually full of noise. Yelling, playing, even making noise while sleeping somehow. It was a level of background noise that she grew to expect whenever they were all home. But the house had been much quieter than it should have been when she returned home after a quick trip back to the lumberyard for something she forgot. Maybe it was something in the air of her dark house that caused the hair to stand up on the back of her neck. Twenty minutes later, August was sleepy-eyed and already falling asleep on their neighbor’s couch after she employed him to search the entire house for his brother. Rowan was gone.
Automatically, her feet took her to Shakti. He knew the entire compound, knew the kids, and always projected a sense of calm. Plus, and maybe most importantly, she knew where he would be. Using the back of her gloves to wipe her face, Willow nodded. She needed a clear head. “Not that long ago, maybe an hour. I had to walk back to get my notepad because I’m trying to study some new techniques and then Harley sidetracked me and when I got back, he was gone. Rowan didn’t say anything to August, he just left out the back door.”