Navigation: Monument Rapids Aranea walked down the river's bank, watching as the fish struggled to swim up stream in the heavier rushes. Her legs crossed each other and she felt like she could have fallen in just looking over the edge but she managed to keep herself from getting dizzy and falling over. She wasn't sure how to impress Vali, yet alone Sparrow at this point. The way she had been feeling was a strange change to her. She was always happy-go-lucky and wanted to do her best to help those around her. Instead it seemed like she was lonely and felt demanding to ask for friends. Tyranis had been there to cheer her up and though she was starting to grow a great relationship with him, she felt rude interrupting his day. She came to a halt in the dead center of the Monument Rapids, sitting down and still staring at the fish and aquatic life. Must be so... simple to be one of  them. Walk "Talk" Think

Sparrow thought it about time to check on the newest member of Abaven. The young woman had seemed to take a liking to Tyranis- something Sparrow was glad about for both of their sakes. Their scents often intermingled through the territory, but for now the young woman seemed to be alone.

Sparrow came up to her, a cheery smile on her face, "Aranea," Sparrow called. "How have you been doing? Have you begun to settle in well?"

Sparrow drew near the woman, though she kept a respectable distance between them. She waited for Aranea to answer, peering into the rapids.

"Do you think it strange that water, the thing that gives us life, can also be so treacherous and dangerous? Or do you think it was meant to be balanced in such a way?"

It was a casual question, one that Sparrow hoped might lead to a intriguing conversation.

Aranea looked gently at the new-found Alphaess and gave her a slight smile. "Hello, Sparrow." She had to think about the woman's name a quick second, she only knew her, Vali, and Tyranis so it wasn't too hard. "I've been... better." She didn't want to discourage the woman that she wasn't happy living here, but she couldn't lie. At least she knew her expressions would tell a different story. Looking back in the water, she listened to the woman's description of the ever changing water flow. But she would tilt her head and look back at her with a raised brow, "Dangerous?" She questioned. She usually saw this natural life as a beautiful. Little did she know that these rapids have taken the lives of more than a wolf. It was like a bandit in disguise. Walk "Talk" Think

The young woman said she wad doing 'better' and Sparrow nodded with a long hum in response. "I've been there, for sure," she said, almost in afterthought.

The two looked at the water for a while. Aranea questioned the water being dangerous and Sparrow nodded, "If you were to jump in there right now, you'd probably be swept under and drowning would be... likely," Sparrow said almost flatly. "Perhaps a larger wolf might be able to fight the current. Maybe."

Sparrow looked a little closer, "The fish, however, are built for this kind of thing. It's incredible. It's like... these fish can do something we wolves can't, but there's things we can do that they can't."

The alpha looked to the younger wolf and gave her a smile, "I used to be so upset that I was a smaller wolf. I thought I couldn't do anything really, but I feel differently now. I just have to do things... differently than a bigger wolf would I guess."

Sparrow shrugged now, looking back to the water, "I don't really have a point in all this to be honest. I don't know if you got a good chance to show off your own skills earlier with Vali, so if you think of anything you'd like to try, I'd love to see it."

Aranea would listen to Sparrow's words, though still drowning her eyes in the river. She herself never saw her tiny size as a fault, but she was getting what she was saying that the rapids could take her over without an effort. "Well," she took a breath, not sure if she should be comfortable or not with sharing her thoughts with the new alpha. "I always find boys more attractive when they tower over me." No relation to Tyranis, just a statement. "Almost like I could crawl under them and hide." And quickly she held back a giggle in the moment. Here somber mood was turning around slowly just from the woman's presence. Sparrow would change the subject to Aranea's skills, which she still wasn't sure what all she should tell her. Vali had the girl frightened of being left out in the cold again; by herself, without a wolf in the world to care about her... "I used to be in another pack." She spoke quietly at first, "I had a mentor there and he believed to take the enemy packs by surprise rather than risk our warriors in the field." Looking to the new queen, she  gave her a thin smile, ""Poison the water," he said, "leave an elk sprinkled with a large dose of fresh Alder Buckthorn bark,"" A single laugh came from her throat, "They didn't agree." "But he still taught the ones he trusted. Me, I was his favorite." She shrugged her shoulders slightly, a small weld in her eyelids that she tried hard to hold back; not enough to let a tear fall. "I slipped up and told them how a felt... And now, here I am." She shared this part of her life, pretty much her whole life other than being abandoned. But not even Tyranis had heard it yet, if he ever would. The woman should have felt honored. Walk "Talk" Think

The young girl admitted she found it attractive when guys towered over her. Sparrow giggled a little, "Okay, when someone towers over me, I either find it incredibly annoying, or incredibly attractive." Typically it was annoying when guys did it and hot when women did it, but Sparrow wasn't going to say that out loud. Her mind dipped to Peregrine for a moment, then to Kanja. She shook Kanja from her mind. What was her relation to Ashmedai anyway? Better not to complicate things. Besides, Kanja was most likely not even into that. Or into wolves like Sparrow. Either way- yeah it was pretty hot when women were tall and strong.

Sparrow reminded herself not to drool.

Aranea began to talk about her past life and Sparrow's attention was drawn back to the young lady. So she had been in another pack. That wasn't uncommon. Sparrow listened as the woman spoke of poisons, her ears flicking back only slightly as her mind shot to Finch for a split second. After Aranea was done speaking, a moment of silence passed between the two.

"My sister was poisoned," Sparrow said dryly, her eyes looking off in the distance. "She lived. We never found the culprit."

Aranea was much too young to be involved. Sparrow knew that.

"After that, I was very interested in learning about poisons, but I didn't think I could ask anyone..."

Sparrow turned to Aranea, eyes nearly glittering.

"Do you think you can teach me what you know? I'm sure some of our navigators could go get them, or we could go together sometime."

Sparrow nearly lost herself in her excitement. She collected herself and took a breath, her eyes tearing away from Aranea.

"I'm not commanding you to. Not as your alpha. I'm asking as Sparrow. You can say no, but I'm really curious to know..."

Attempting to put on that fake smile, over and over, she would try to turn her emotions top side. She wanted to look forward to teaching her "elder" things rather than the other way around, she really did. But she was just noticing her strike of depression, something she had never felt before. "Yes... I would like that." She spoke from the heart and it was definitely believable. Would her and the new alphaess- no, "Sparrow" as she said, would they become friends? She would enjoy going on collection hunts with her regardless of her pack status. But wait... "Won't you be a little busy though...?" Sounding kind of down again, she would turn her eyes back away from the woman. Yeah, an alpha needed the time to spend with their pack mates and get to know them, but what if there was a raid or something and Aranea drug her away when the pack goes down in smoke? "Maybe I could bring things here and tell you about them. Tell you where they like to grow and what they can do." She tried to find the upside to it, hoping for an alternative. "What about your sister? What kind of symptoms did she have? I don't know if you figured out what poisoned her, I could always try and "diagnosis" it now so you know.." Walk "Talk" Think

The girl suddenly seemed sad and Sparrow gave her a look of concern though she decided not to press the issue.

She said she would like to teach Sparrow and Sparrow's tail wagged behind her. If Aranea was good at teaching even at this young age, then perhaps she would make a good head healer once she became two years old.

Aranea expressed doubt about Sparrow's availability and Sparrow chuckled, "Now that's for me to worry about. Alpha's travel a lot and if they don't then they won't be able to know what's going on outside their pack. It's important to be informed. That's why we find out who we trust an let the guard the pack while we're gone. That's what packmates are for."

Sparrow knew she would have to train up wolves to watch the pack while she was gone. There wasn't anyone she particularly trusted with the job right now besides Lark, but that wasn't for Aranea to worry about.

As the woman asked about Finch's sickness and Sparrow shrugged it off, "I was obsessed with finding out for so long, but now I've learned it doesn't matter really. She's well off and she's left now. There's no real way to find out the culprit now anyway."

Sparrow forced a smile, "It's something best forgotten now."

Sparrow really didn't want to revisit that part of her life. She shook off the feelings.

"So, have you thought about what you want to do in or with Abaven? I think it's good to have a goal to run towards, right?"

Aranea was a bit disappointed that Sparrow wasn't interested in finding out what happened to her sister. But she understood of course. It wasn't something she wanted to dig up and fret about, so Aranea let it slide. She also would give a nod to her response about giving time outside the pack, but Aranea wouldn't understand that. She felt it important that the Alphaess stay inside in case of emergency. But she would just believe what she said. As for how she wanted her place in the pack, she wasn't sure what the alpha wanted her to do, but she did know what she wanted to do. Healing. But she wanted to talk about her interests and see if Sparrow would come up with something. "I do like to travel a lot, other than finding herbs and learning their properties. I like to find things out like... I don't know I like knowledge." The talk of her ranking had set her sad emotions aside, but she was neither happy. Just plain and answering the woman's questions. Walk "Talk" Think

Sparrow listened to the other woman silently. After she spoke, Sparrow let silence fall between them for a moment as she thought.

"Can I ask you something else? I was just remembering when I was your age and it made me wonder... Where do you see yourself when you're my age- when you're five years old? What do you desire to have accomplished and experienced by then? I think it's worth considering. You're at such a wonderful and pivotal age."

Sparrow remembered wanting nothing more than to have pups and be surrounded by her own family here in Abaven. How things had changed and shifted since then.

"I think you have wonderful potential if you drive yourself," Sparrow said and flashed a heartfelt smile at the woman. "I'd love to have you grow with Abaven. You're just as new to Abaven as I am to being an alpha, so it would be nice to encourage each other as we grow, huh?"

Sparrow, at least, thought the idea of having her first non-family friend in the pack was promising. She only hoped the other felt the same way, even though they could technically be mother and child.

Aranea would take a moment to think about the woman's question. And really, she only spoke what she thought, "Well... I don't know. I'd like to have some pups of my own, maybe they'd be grown by that time." Which was all the truth but she wasn't rushing it. She also wanted a mate to take care of her and their children, that would have taken time for her regardless of how many boys she felt fond of. They weren't all mate material. "I'd definitly like to tell stories of the births I aided in and the wolves I've saved. And stories of the places I've been..." She paused for a moment, thinking of probably her biggest dream. "I'd like someone to look up to me and think, "I want to be just like her."" Though it could be one of her children, it could have been anyone. A pup, an elder, it didn't matter. She just wanted to feel like her life had some meaning before she died. "I'm sure it may change even a little, but I guess that's where I'd want to be." "Yeah, I guess we could do that." She gave the woman a more meaningful grin. She liked this talk with the Sparrow, who she didn't see as her Alpha when she first came to the borders. She even felt like it was an understanding towards each other but she couldn't tell how. She could only hope to grow with the pack, like she said. But not only that, she wanted to grow with Sparrow. She hoped the two could share many more moments with each other, and in a near future they could be good friends.  A secret from the two that Tyranis was bound to try and steal it out from under them. What could that do to them? "I suppose I'll go scout for some herbs and go back to my den. I'll be seeing you around?" She joked, but the Alpha would start to get busy, she knew it. She just wouldn't become nonexistent.  -Exit Aranea- Walk "Talk" Think

Sparrow smiled at Aranea's dreams. They were so similar to her own at one time. Now, Sparrow wondered what she dreamed of. She had reached a point many wolves- like Tyranis- dreamed of, yet this had not been her dream. At this point she was running off of what her family and her pack needed, not what she wanted.

Sparrow's smile held as she spoke to Aranea. The woman got up to leave and Sparrow let her. She had no reason to hold her back. Aranea suggested she would see the alpha around and Sparrow chuckled, "Yeah, I'd suppose so."

After the woman left, Sparrow decided she should probably get her own herbs situated away in her den. She would spend her evening doing that. Sparrow rose and left, her chest a little happier than before.