Poem never found a good time to mention to Noir about her step up in rank, but Rhyme predicting the fallout, had. Noir was always on his best behavior (for the most part) when he was with his father, and though the boiling anger within had tried to erupt while he was in Rhyme’s presence Noir had controlled it. Rhyme had remained with him the rest of the day, just the two of them. Noir had tagged along on Rhyme’s alpha duties, which didn’t help his emotions when they had curled up in the den that night.

Noir stood on the border of the rapids and the falls, his blue and lavender eyes staring out into the forbidden distance as he went over the conversation with his father once more. The heat of the sun was only just beginning to grow more intense as the day really started. Its rays filtered through the thick foliage above as Noir stood stoically struggling with his thoughts.

He wanted to fight Poem, to feel his teeth rip into her flesh like he might do to a plump rabbit. He still hadn’t gotten over how she had beaten him in their spar the other day either. Noir couldn’t even look at her without feeling the bubbling of his rage beneath the surface. Now that she had ascended to the position of heir? Noir hated her, somehow more than he had before. His life would be so much better if she were gone. Dead even.

He knit his brows as his blue striped tail whipped behind him in frustration. Poem had everything. She still had her mother, she was the successor to Abaven’s throne, she had defeated him in an unfair spar. Noir fostered his hate for her in his heart and clung to it passionately as he tried to decide if there was anything he could do to relieve the emotions.

The foxes had gone out hunting, which left him time to think about what he wanted to do once he had his pack. Shaye had practically given him her blessing in the matter, believing he had what it took to be an alpha. Whether he became a good alpha or bad alpha was up in the air, he just knew he'd have to take it one step at a time. He stepped out of his den and into the sunlight, blinking away the sun for a moment before walking alongside the Rapids. He quite enjoyed this particular better than most. The water did well to ease his thoughts and kept him from overthinking too much. With Actaea and Ignis having chosen their paths, he needed to find others willing to help him teach them the things he couldn't. Fighting was easy, but for Actaea? He didn't have a whole lot of diplomatic expertise. But then again, neither did Shaye when she first started right? He supposed they'd have to learn together.

As he walked along the river, and soon spotted an almost unfamiliar figure ahead. By scent he knew the kid to be one of Abavens, and if he had to guess it was one of Rhyme's kids. Likely from Tana, because he had seen Shaye's two kids when they were younger. Gaze narrowed as he observed the boy for a minute, noticing he didn't seem very happy. Curious, Ace approached him with a cool and concerned look on his face. "What's eating you, kid?"

He was glad he hadn’t stepped over Abaven’s borders as the sound of approaching paw steps drew him out of his wallowing. A huge white warrior appeared along the edge of the rapids. He was much older than Noir, probably closer to his father’s age, and held many a scar to tell of the battles he had seen. ”What's eating you, kid?" Noir shuffled a paw, certainly not wanting to divulge his innermost thoughts to this stranger. Not when he was sure he’d get in trouble for them.

He avoided Acere’s brilliant ruby gaze as he looked back out over the endless lands outside Abaven. ”Nothin,” He murmured, eyes falling to his paws as he swiped it other the dirt again, creating a tiny cloud of dust as he did so. Noir hoped the big white man would just leave him alone. Normally he wanted attention, craved it in all its forms, but he wanted to be alone with his thoughts right now. They were too confusing and hard.. painful even to speak of so freely.

"Nothin," A soft 'Hmm' slipped past as he studied the boy. He wondered what was on his mind, but he wouldn't force the boy to tell him if he didn't want to share just yet. He glanced out over the water, listening to the sounds for a moment before speaking, "My name is Acere, I'm a warrior," He side eyed the boy to see what he thought about that. The child looked like he'd grow to be on the larger side, perhaps even looking at the warrior path himself. He would have loved to train him, but since his own path would soon take him outside of Abaven, the chances of that were unlikely. Unless of course, Rhyme sent the boy over to him for training. He was sure Ignis would love to apprentice someone at some point, too. But even he had much to learn still. Perhaps in due time...he'd have to wait and see how things played out, first.

The white wolf didn’t push him and didn’t comment either, Acere had that going for him at least. Noir continued to remake his miniature dirt tornado as the warrior spoke. Noir felt a heavy sigh fall from him as he side eyed the adult. Now that he was looking he could see the scars and the way Acere was built. Obvious if you looked for it, but Noir wasn’t one for looking first. The pup didn’t want to engage, but Acere didn’t seem like he was going to be away anytime soon. Thankfully he wasn’t as blunt as Ody, that man could see right through him most of the time. It was weird, and Noir hadn’t decided fully if he enjoyed training with the red eyed mentor.

”I’m Noir, I’m a warrior in training.” Even with his blue mood he couldn't subdue the pride he felt in the words. Though he craved Poem’s position. He scowled again as she returned to his headspace and the boy looked away. Okay, Acere could leave now.

Noir wasn’t sure how to handle all the anger he felt towards his half sister. Splashing in the rapids only went so far, and unless he was spraying dirt at someone that activity didn’t do much for him either. He grit his teeth and attempted to subdue the emotions, at least while in the company of an adult.

The boy seemed to have something on his mind, but Ace wasn't really one to press others to tell him what was up unless it was absolutely necessary. Instead, he often preferred a more passive approach and letting others get to it on their own time, if they chose to. While Noir was still a kid, he didn't know if he would open up about what was eating him or not. Whatever the case, Ace would leave the floor open for that opportunity should Noir decide to take it at some point. "A warrior huh? A wise and bold choice," He glanced at him, a hint of a grin on his features. "I had taken the warrior path when I was your age, too. I fought a bear before I turned a year old, that's where this scar came from,"

He gestured to the largest scars he had on his shoulder. That had been a very wild day, and a very foolish choice. He could have died from that encounter, but he was lucky enough to have escaped with his life. "And this one, I got last winter from fighting off a cougar trying to steal my food," He momentarily crossed his eyes at the scars on his muzzle, hoping the brief action would get Noir to smile at least. "Have you started training yet?" He wondered. It was likely that Rhyme was training him, or maybe Ody. He wasn't sure what was going on around the pack anymore since he had been focused on forging ahead for his own.

He should have just ignored him, maybe then Acere would have left him alone with more haste. Acere decided to take Noir’s statement and un with it, praising him for his choice before going on to boast about his accomplishments before his one year mark. Noir felt himself biting his tongue as he wanted to say something about the mountain lion he had fought with Shaye. Of course he wouldn’t mention that Shaye had nearly died and done all of the work. But hey, he hadn’t gotten a scar like Acere had. Noir was suddenly glad he hadn’t said anything as he was told of the cougar that had been defeated more recently.

Absently the boy wondered how old Acere was, ancient probably. His dad was pretty old, but he remembered Tana being much younger. His mom had been scarred rather horrifically, and left him at an early age. So his recollection couldn’t be completely trusted. Thoughts of his mother didn’t help him as his mind returned to her as Acere tied to make a joke. Noir looked away, bows lowering as he looked down the creek again.

There was only one thing the boy was really passionate about, and it was learning how to fight. When the white warrior asked about his training he couldn’t help but answer. And he knew very well how disrespectful it was not to look at someone when you were speaking to them. ”Yes,” Noi answered simply at first. ”Dad’s been teachin’ me a lot more since mom...” He felt his anger flutter again in his chest, it coiled and raged and Noir hit the water again in frustration as he released some of the energy. He grit his teeth and bit back tears, he hated the way thoughts of his mom made him feel.

Noir seemed like the type of wolf that would be tough to crack. Which, in a way, wasn't a bad thing. Ace had been the same exact way at his age, but he had no choice at the time. It was do or die in his birth pack, and when he refused to do the one thing he had been ordered to do, he had suffered the consequences. But it had been worth it...he wouldn't have been able to live with himself if he had forced himself on his own sister. After running away and finding another place and meeting someone, his whole outlook on life had changed. Winter had been the best thing that happened to him...and his heart still hurt after losing her to death.

Yes. Dad's been teaching me a lot more since mom..." Ace watched him carefully. He could relate with the pain and anger and confusion Noir felt. But he wasn't going to try and sympathize or pity him. He sat and looked out over the water, allowing a few moments of silence to sit between them before he spoke. "She loves you, you know. She never stopped loving you." He had spoken to Tana, learned why she did it. While he didn't agree with her choice, he understood the reasoning behind it. "She did what she thought was best...she didn't want to hurt you or your sisters, but...hurt in some form is inevitable." Tana had been hurt by Rhyme's choices. In a way, he blamed him, too, for all of this. Whether or not the slate alpha thought about it that way, he had a lot to do with what was happening now.