The Warlord caught the scent of the grizzled old warrior, and a fleeting smile passed his muzzle. He would never fully get out the image of the bear as it delivered its terrible injury to her. He would never forgive himself for not moving faster, or doing better, when it had occurred. That guilt would live with him for a long time, but it did little to dampen his respect or appreciation for the old matriarch.

He moved further along the patrol, knowing she was completing a circuit of her own, and he would run into her shortly. The winter night was chill, and the motion of his brisk walk helped to warm him. He was ready for winter to be finished, and the buds of spring to begin to sprout. Winter just meant harsher weather, fewer resources, and grumpier wolves. The Warlord included.

The night was chill, but Resin was far from cold. She was used to such weather. She'd run the perimeter for a short time, but had been forced to stop due to her leg and shoulder. It had been troubling her quite a bit as of late. The mock raid had come about too soon after she'd 'healed' and had irritated the injury. So, when Sirius found her, the big woman was walking slowly. She did try to hide her limp when she noticed that a figure was approaching, however.

As he came closer, Resin took the opportunity to stop, gently lifting her left paw off of the ground to give it a break from her own weight. Black ears flicked forward and the one-eyed woman growled out. "Sirius." She never had been one for unnecessary words.

The Warlord did catch the faintest hint of her limp before she stilled it. She was walking slowly, not the easy jog he had often seen her take the patrol at. Her stride was endless, eating up the distances. He narrowed his eyes, but said nothing as he approached.

The lift of her leg was even more obvious, an indication of what had happened to her. He was going to be beating himself up for a long time for letting her get injured on his watch.

“Resin” he returned politely to the older woman. “How's the patrol going?” Polite conversation, space fuller, really. He did have matters to get to, but he was watching her carefully, and wondering at the most diplomatic way to suggest she lie down.

She could tell simply by the look on his face and the carefully posed question that he had noticed her discomfort. The failed fight in the raid had re-injured her snapped limb. The awkward way of walking had irritated her stiff, arthritic shoulder. What she wouldn't give to be a few years younger just she she didn't have to feel her body letting her down.

To answer his question, she simply replied, "Slow." Then the big woman gave a shrug. "Quiet. Nothing is amiss. No sign of the rogue dogs that have visited a few times either." The pack of dogs had been frequenting the area despite having had their numbers dropped more than once. Thankfully, the last battle with them seemed to have scared them off finally.

Call it intuition, but it seemed as though there was something on the man's mind. Arching the brow above her missing eye, Resin folded her haunches to sit, inviting him to do the same. Perhaps he would take the hint and speak.

She gave a simple, straightforward report, and responded with a slight nod of his head. He had heard about the dogs, though he had missed most of the fun. The matter of her comfort became obsolete when Resin sat, and he took a seat across from her. She was almost to his height, more obvious in a sitting pose. It was a nice feeling not to tower over another, and he let out a soft sigh as he got comfortable on his hunches. His tail brushing a slow path in the earth behind him.

“Resin, I feel we haven’t talked much of late, though I've heard of some of your adventures, from saving Mortis from a snake, to chasing off wild dogs. It seems every time there's trouble, you're pulling someone out of danger” he chuckled softly, appreciatively. He had no doubt that if she had been a little younger, a little less banged up, she would be his Reaper today.

Sirius settled in the light snow across from her and began to speak. He spoke of her exploits and the maned woman chuckled, remembering a time when she had saved his skin, pulling him from a mud pit. "I protect. It's what I do." Protecting those weaker than herself had always been second nature to the big woman. It was how she lost an eye. It was how she received the expansive scars across her left shoulder. It was how she had damaged her throat and, most recently, it was how she snapped her leg.

"You seem to be doing a decent job of protecting those around you as well." Resin couldn't deny that she was impressed with the machinations of the Armada. Other than the fact that they ultimately served another pack. She would have focused her efforts on building up her own group without worrying about another, but that was how she worked. Not how he worked. Since joining the Armada, Resin had been able to continue being the gruff, mostly silent woman that she had always been. In return, she guarded the borders, hunted and protected the members of the pack when necessary.

He gave a slow nod of his head, seeing more value in her nature then he might once have. Protecting those weaker than them was becoming something that meant more to him. How strange, considering his roots, where he had come from. Every wolf he meant had a little something to do with the changes in him. Even Resin herself, likely had rubbed off on him, creating the wolf he was today.

He inclined his head in gratitude at her words. Finding her respect meant something to him. As more than just Io’s mother. This wolf mattered to him. Perhaps seeing how she was with Mort was a part of that. He knew she saw family when she looked at his son. “Also, well I have you, the matter of Dunkan, your student. I’ve arranged a challenge for him. If you can help me judge his abilities as a warrior on the day, I would appreciate it. As will he, I am sure, to have his mentor there.”

Sirius spoke of having a challenge set for Dunkan and asked if she would accompany him in judging the boy's skill. The woman nodded. Dunkan had been a bit remiss in his studies and wasn't nearly as trained as she'd like, but if he still wished to learn, then she was always there to help him advance his skill.

A gentle wind blew, ruffling the thick grey and black fur of the fae's coat. Though the breeze had been a whisper, it was a cold whisper. This type of weather didn't used to bother her, but then the arthritis set in. If it was this bad now, she didn't want to imagine how bad it would be when she was ten. Hell, she didn't want to imagine how bad it would be next year. Though she wasn't terribly old, her years and years of battle had taken its toll.

She gave a nod of agreement, and said nothing else. He fell silent with her, letting the sounds of the night grow, the breeze rustling through their coats, reminding him that winter was still far from over. He let the silence grow for a time, finding comfort in it. He was not a wolf that needed to fill it with aimless prattle.

After a time, he leaned a little closer to the older, respectable woman. “I don’t know if I ever told you, but I am grateful to have you here. Both for Io, and myself. You make the Armada a better place” as proven by how many times she had helped to protect his wolves.

An easy silence stretched between the pair of giant canines, only to be broken a time later by a compliment from Sirius. She never had been one to accept compliments with ease, but she tried. Resin gave a nod, accepting the words. "It's... good to be appreciated, but I simply do what I must." She didn't see it as going out of her way to help those in need. She just acted as she always had.

Iolaire was glad to have her mother in the pack and in her life. Resin had a lot of making up to do, but her daughter said that she understood. "Iolaire was on her own for most of her life. Being here with her now is the least that I can do." Mothering had never been her strong suit, but she was trying. "Children are difficult, but so is parenting." Especially when you were a single parent trying to keep your pups alive against the other parent.

He nodded his head once, a motion of appreciation and understanding. When she brought the topic around to Io, he would nod again. He knew how much it meant to his sister. When he had first found her, she had been alone. Now she had a brother, niece and nephews, a husband, and a lost mother returned. Seeing the love she had for all her new family gladened the Warlord every time he saw it. He felt, with a small measure of pride, that he had done right by her.

He let out a soft, gusty laugh at her next words. “Damn right it is. I swear, i’m going to go grey before i’m six because of these kids” he teased lightly.

His sudden laugh at her comment brought both ears flicking forward. There seemed to be some underlying message laced in with his words. "They can't be that bad. Yes, your son tried to kill me and your daughter helped, but I believe he learned his lesson. Indigo is a sweet boy and Mort..." The woman snorted softly, giving her head a shake and her golden eye a roll. "Mort is how I like to imagine my sons would have been." It wasn't something that she liked to think about, however. "Are they giving you any particular trouble?" Perhaps she could speak to the pup in question.

His laughter turned into a sigh, and he gave Resin a tired smile. “Mort is turning out to be a good learner, Indigo is finding his passions. Azure has ice in his veins. I fear he would bring this pack to ruin if he thought it might give him a measure of power. There is strength to him, and I could be proud of him, if he could just learn some compassion. Asla… Asla loves the stars, there is brightness and beauty to her. Love, for her family. But also darkness, and confusion. I fear there is too much of who I was in her. Too much desire to lash out, and hurt others, and she didn’t have my upbringing to cause” a self-conscious, sad laugh followed that.

The older wolf listened as Sirius spoke of his children and their varying personalities. He seemed to have the most concern about Azure and Aslatiel. This, she understood. The two were definitely of a darker nature than their siblings. Resin didn't necessarily see anything wrong with that. She was quite accepting of darker paths.

After mulling over his words for a moment, the scarred dame spoke in her gruff tones. "Children will be who they will be. All we can do is teach, guide, and mold. We can try to instill some sort of values within them, but we can't expect them to feel and act exactly as we do."One dark ear flicked against the chilly breeze. "Teach them balance. Help them create a mask if need be."

He nodded his head with a soft sigh, finding wisdom in her words. Still, it was hard to watch them find their own paths sometimes. He wanted nothing more than to see them well in the world, but they would have to find their own paths, carve their own futures. The best he could do was give them a good starting point, a childhood of love and learning.

He let out a soft yawn, splitting his muzzle with it, and giving his head a quick shake. His days were long, and his nights short, it often seemed. “I would appreciate it if you helped them, also. Also, if you don’t mind me asking, is that why you get along so well with Mortis?’ he asked gently, thinking back to her earlier words.

Sirius asked that she guide his children as well and the big woman huffed lightly, but nodded. Her lessons were hard ones. She lacked the compassion for children and treated them like adults. Of them all, Mort had weaseled his way into her heart, though she felt some affection for the rest. The dire questioned her about her feelings towards Mort and Resin's ears dipped for but a moment. She sighed long and slow, tendrils of steam snaking from her dusty blue nose. "Perhaps," she began. "Valkyrie, Artemis and Boeing were my sons. Valkyrie was quiet, but very smart. Artemis was a little ball of anger and Boeing was the sweetest thing." A soft chuckle left her. "Iolaire was a snobby little princess back then. I could barely stand her." Lips split in a grin, teeth flashing as the woman remembered.

He would watch the result of his question, the dip of her ears, the heavy set of her heart. He knew he was bringing back old memories, and wondered if she would have rather left them in the past. However, she was the one to bring them up, and he wondered if a part of her wished them to be remembered by others as well.

He listened carefully to her descriptions, tail flicking idly behind him as he did so. Quiet & clever, angry, and sweet. He supposed those descriptions could almost fit, in order, to Indigo, Asla, and Mortis. Io however, as a snobby Princess? He laughed softly, seeing none of that in her now. Perhaps there was hope for Azure, perhaps, like Io, he would be someone different by the time he was grown.

Sirius seemed content to listen, so Resin spoke a bit more. "There were others. Another litter. They and their father were lost." She had mentioned other siblings to Iolaire in passing, but she didn't speak of them. Nor did she even like to remember them. They hadn't even been weaned when they were lost.

Another gust of wind blew, ruffling the thicker fur of the dame's ruff and chest. She tried to push away thoughts of her second try at a family. She'd come to accept the fact that she simply wasn't meant to have a family. Not your standard family anyway. At least she still had Io.

His gentle silence helped to coax further information from Resin. She mentioned the death of another litter, of the whole litter and father. He bowed his head softly in thought, and compassion. He tried to think of anyone taking his children from him… but it hurt too much to consider. He placed a paw over Resins, not a wolf that was good at offering comfort, but giving her his own brand of silent understanding. They may not be hers by blood, but she had found a family in the Armada. In him, and his children. With Io and Roan, and the children they desperately hoped for in the future. “I am glad my children have you to call Grandmother. Me and Zee, we have no parents to speak of, and they would not have known the blessing of grandparents without you.” "Speech"

Ears flicked forward as Sirius placed a paw over hers, pulling her from bad memories. She was a little surprised at the act of compassion, but it wasn't unwelcome. His words further soothed a bit of the sadness that had crept upon her at talking about her dead children. The corners of her mouth lifted in a small smile; a rarity. "Thank you. It's good to have some use still." She wasn't terribly old, but warriors aged more quickly. Her body, particularly her leg and shoulder, were betraying her more every day.

Extracting her paw, Resin got back to her feet. The little bit of rest did her good. She shook out her thick, ash and onyx coat before speaking once more. "Would you allow me to take Aslatiel on a little adventure?" That lone golden orb locked on the still prone man.