He was declared dead for several reasons. For one, he was too much of a dimwit to survive on his own, that much the league was sure of. The last time he was seen he was bleeding out on the ground after trying to defend Severine E'tani. For second, he was completely and utterly devoted to Primal Instinct, he had been since he was a kit. It was a major reason why he had never left Primal Instinct, even after his beloved Severine was on the verge of being dethroned, to live with his mother in the safety of Dayclan. For third, not even Senescence, the most observant of his sisters, could pick up on his whereabouts. She had heard rumors of a abnormally large tom who matched Vale's description lumbering around the city, but past that she never could locate him. At least not until this point. The tom barreled up the stairs, the rotting wood cracking loudly under paw, and was now on the verge of splintering away at any second under the tom's weight. Somehow holding up as he skidded to halt in front of his sister. "Senescence! Senescence! Guess what!" It was almost as if he thought he hadn't been gone for years, or at the very least he was pretending he hadn't been.