After managing to track down Aryn Torin turned his attention towards his other daughter, the as of yet unspoken for twin. He hadn't managed to find a fresh trace of her in the valley and turned his attention towards the willows. It was still raw the pain being here brought him, though it was starting to fade. He'd left the den he and Derecho and their pups had shared untouched, but also unlived in, he supposed he had partially suspected one of the pups might have wanted to use it and he wouldn't stop them but he'd avoided the area around it like the plague for a while. Still he wouldn't let a little something like losing the woman he thought would be "the one" stop him from doing his duty and raising their children right. "Silent Treatment" & Deep thoughts

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Sio was humming quietly to herself, her tongue occasionally out of the corner of her mouth as she focused intently on the task at hand. Ever since she and Lachlan had brought back the bounty of mushrooms for the glowing cavern she had focused all of her energy on creating perfect paint mixture. Thick enough to coat a surface, easily mixed, but still maintaining that faint, effervescent glow... it was hard to find the right balance. The yearling was completely engrossed by the time Torin found her. As she heard him trotting about the willows she turned and called out to him, beckoning him over for a look. "What d'you think?" she asked, spreading a splash of color across the dirt in front of him with a paw. It was a brilliant shock of red. Sio had discovered that crushed beetles lent a particularly vibrant shade of crimson.

It seemed for all his searching his daughter would find him first, her sweet voice calling out to him and beckoning him over. Torin happily trotted over to Siobhan, following her gesture as she asked him what he thought... what did he think? Torin was mostly unaware of the joureny his son and daughter had been on, only aware that they'd both returned around the same time and had presumably been together, their scent trails told him as much. As such he had no frame of reference for what it was that his daughter was trying to accomplish. "It's very vibrant... very... red." His response was awkward, clearly an attempt to encourage whatever it was his daughter was doing but mired in the uncertainty and confusion of being unable to tell what, exactly, that was. He turned his attention to his daughter again, watching her for a moment and feeling his chest swell with pride. Despite it all, she was still the little girl he'd spent those early days playing with, whom he'd vowed to protect with everything he had. He wanted to do right by her, by all of them. "Do you have time to talk right now little bean?" He asked, using the old nickname he'd come up with for her. "I just want to hear what you might have to say." He wanted to reassure her it wasn't anything too serious, though it was their future he was looking after he wasn't going to pressure her into an answer. "Silent Treatment" & Deep thoughts

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"Thank you," she replied, beaming with pride. His uncertainty was lost on her. Sio was just glad that he liked it. If she had it her way, she'd spend all of her time painting. Now that she wasn't on lockdown it felt nice to be able to share her favorite thing with the rest of her family. Lachlan had also been a bit dumbfounded but she'd thoroughly enjoyed exploring with him. They'd have to head out again soon to collect more mushrooms and other supplies. "Oh, well, sure," she replied, giving Torin a funny look. What was he on about? Sio wagged her tail quickly at hearing her childhood nickname and settled down to hear him out. She tried to surreptitiously wipe off the rest of the red on the ground. It felt like an official conversation. "What do you want to talk about?"

His daughter settled beside him agian and looked up at him curiously. Torin took a moment to breathe before he spoke, his voice even his gaze watching Siobhan as he spoke. "You're old enough now to start thinking about what you're interested in pursuing." He glanced past her for a moment before he spoke again, bringing his attention back to his daughter. "Either in Lirim or, if you'd prefer, outside the pack." Torin paused for a second, wanting to make it clear he was serious about not forcing her to stay if she didn't want to. "If you have any ideas about what that might be I can help to find someone who can help train you in you're preferred rank. And if you don't have an idea about that yet, we can talk and I can maybe help you find what it is you're passionate about." "Silent Treatment" & Deep thoughts

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