Things had been emotionally fucked for Aslatiel as of late. She had stabbed Indigo through the heart and thus, impaled herself as well. Mojito had basically said that she was good enough to be his friend, but she made him feel bad about himself. With all of the strangeness of having two family members return and forging relationships with others, Asla was an emotional mess. She wanted spring to be here so that she could leave it all behind. There was nothing keeping her from taking the children and leaving now. Nothing but her word.

Naiche needed to know. At the moment, she didn't care if Mojito knew, but Naiche needed to know. The day was late and she had already put the pups to bed. Asla had started a small fire that crackled merrily, keeping away the darkness. Above, the moon was absent from the sky and clouds covered the majority of the stars. It didn't smell like rain, but the air felt a little thick, so there was the possibility of a storm. That was okay. This wouldn't take long.

Aslatiel let out a low howl for the golden wolf. It wasn't an urgent call, just a simple beckoning. When he had a moment, she would be there laid out on a fur by the fire, waiting.

"Aslatiel"

Naiche had been roaming the pack border when the howl came.  The golden wolf kept his days long between work and kids.  Resting was a thing he would do when he was old and grey if he had to.  Stopping to rest for more than a night's sleep to recover energy seemed a waste of time.   Naiche took a few more minutes to follow a scent of a coyote but found it had left the area.  They had pups around which made coyotes more of a threat in the pack land than an adult wolf would be concerned about.  Turning around he jogged to where Asla was.  Her call had no note of concern to rush.  Certainly, he would have run if there was any cause for concern.  Spotting the fire Naiche headed towards it, slowing to a walk as he got closer.  Naiche had never actually learned how to make a fire but he also had never felt a need to.  Perhaps someday. “Asla,” Naiche sat down near her lowering his head to gently nudge it against the side of her head for a moment before lifting it up to a relaxed level. “What's going on?” She really wasn’t one to just call for a casual chat so something must have happened.  Whether she was upset and needed someone to talk to or action needed to be taken, neither of them just hung out to ‘chat’ to kill time. "Speech"

Asla waited and had no problem doing so. Her call hadn't been one of urgency and so she didn't expect him to hurry. Instead, the young mother lowered her head to her paws and closed her eyes to half mast, watching the slowly flickering fire. In time, Naiche arrived, settling down beside her and nuzzling into her cheek. He wasted no time in asking what was going on and she would waste no time in telling him just that.

With a long exhale, Asla got right to the heart of the matter. "Naiche, I'm leaving the Armada in the spring." The woman curled her neck, fixing him with her celestial gaze. "I'm taking Satira and Arcturus with me. We're going to travel and I'm going to teach them to survive on their own. To depend on themselves rather than a pack." Her gaze drifted towards the mouth of the den where their children slept soundly without a care in the world. "I need them to be able to take care of themselves and I need them to be able to think for themselves and they can't do that here." The pack had too much influence on its members. Asla was adamant that the pups have no outside persuasion to mold their personalities as an alpha saw fit. She wanted them to be free to choose who they were.

"They'll still be accessible. Everyone will be able to see them if they wish. We'll just be gone for long stretches of time." The woman's brow furrowed as she searched the man's golden features. "My father was going to fight me to keep them here against my will," she informed him. "Lately the Armada makes me miserable. Out in the wild... we would all thrive." How would he react to her words, she wondered?

"Aslatiel"

The calm manner on Naiche shifted to tense muscles, ears moving forward having of course surely having heard Asla wrong.  She had his entire focus from the moment she said ‘leaving.’  Leaving with the pups?  With Arc? It took an effort to keep quiet the few moments it took for her to get out the explanation.  The simple answer ‘No’ hung in his mind with a strained desire to put the whole notion to rest without debate.  Too bad he didn’t like Asla because she was easy to sway, even as he wanted to fling it out there Naiche was well aware that wouldn’t get him anywhere.  Muscles tensed with strained self-control. “Glad I get an opinion in what happens with them, with my own pup.” there was no way he could hold back all his agitation, at least a dry note of irritation wasn’t an outright challenge.  Naiche took a slow controlled breath, working to suppress his emotions. “Asla,” An exhale that seemed to help blow off agitation to something softer, “I grew up in a band with several members.  Mom died.  Group broke up.  Grandfather died.  I was alone.  That sucked.”  It was a very short diluted summary of something he had no intention of thinking back on further.  It had hurt a lot more a year ago.  Now it was mostly a remembered pain he had shut off as a thing of childhood.  Kids clung to past pains, it wasn’t a proper thing to do now. “As I recall my family was less inclined to find trouble. That could have just been safer lands maybe, I was younger.”  How often did the two of them find danger when they had been out together?  “Getting past how it would affect me to lose them or you, or affect you should something happen to you, what about the pups?”   “I have no doubt you’d put your life before theres.  So I’m not saying you wouldn’t protect them.  What if you died?  What if you become too injured to hunt or defend?  What if you needed care?  Even if they managed to survive, could they survive without you?  If they could what sort of scars would it leave with them?”  Defensive of his son and horror at the scenes in his mind had agitation wanting to slide back in.  Love was a cruel thing.  What sort of idiot hoped for love?   Mom’s death had put a coldness in his gut and stolen any sort of carefree demeanor Naiche had as a pup.  Losing his grandfather and being alone had put a nail to the coffin of his emotions for a good while.  It was why formality and some extent of distance were best.  Protect, respect, care for but not get so close losing could hurt.  Arc should never have to deal with that.   It apparently took time for the last part to sink in.  Fear for losing his son came first.  “Why are you miserable here?” What had changed lately?  Their mother and brother's death and their return were both changes that had happened.  Did it have to do with that?  Perhaps something about Indigo and the pack?  Was it him?  Naiche didn’t think he had done anything personally though Asla did surprise him at times. "Speech"

Naiche's words sounded and Asla scoffed lightly. Of course he would have something to say. He was Arc's father and he could have an opinion, but Asla was the primary caregiver. She was the one that spent the most time with them. She would argue the fact that she loved them more. Arc and Tira were her soul. A soul that she hadn't known she'd been missing.

As the golden man expressed his concerns based on his past, Asla could understand why he was so nervous about them leaving. Horrible things had happened to him. Of course he would be hesitant. His mother and his grandfather though... she wasn't them. There wasn't a wolf alive that was more determined than Aslatiel. She placed a grey and white paw on one of his larger golden paws. "That's why we need to go. They need to learn to defend themselves. A pack isn't everything." The fawn colored fae shook her head. "We won't be alone either. I have two friends that are coming with us. They're staying at my tree in the Soulless Forest." Friends... lovers... whatever.

Naiche's last question brought Asla's brow furrowing. It was a loaded question. "Everything is different. The golden children have returned and I'm forgotten again. I can't be happy here. I won't be used and thrown aside when the "boys" come home." Naiche had been here through the whole thing. Couldn't he see what had happened? "When my father lost his mind, I was here to pick up the pieces. I held the pack together. I hunted. I filled the stores. I protected our borders. I ran the Armada while he was off galivanting around because he couldn't control himself." Asla rose and began pacing back and forth. This was obviously a sore spot for the woman. "I never received one thank you. And now that his precious heirs are back, I'm swept under the rug again." A low growl ripped from her. "Did you know that my own fucking mother hasn't even tried to speak to me since she's returned?"

"I can't stay here, Naiche. I'm only staying until spring because Sirius asked me to, or else I'd be gone already." She stopped and was facing away from him, into the darkness of the waving grass. Turning her head ever so slightly, the firelight caught the edge of one eye, making her gaze glow. "You could come with us if you'd like." Anyone was welcome to join her and leave the prison that had once been her home.

"Aslatiel"

It was bad enough not being a larger part of the pup's lives.  Had it been up to him Naiche would have been sharing the den with Asla and his pups.  The best he had managed was to get to take Arc occasionally to his den for a night but it was true Asla got the majority of their time.  It was good Naiche never gave himself too much time to brew on unpleasant thoughts as that one was a rather bitter topic. “Two friends? Who?” It really shouldn’t matter but somehow merging the fact in that the two wolves he didn’t know about were already aware of Asla’s plans and were set to travel with his children mattered to Naiche at this moment.  Between anger, fear, worry, possessiveness all wound up in a ball of frustration plenty of small details mattered right that moment. The latter part seemed to surprise Naiche a bit at least.  There was no dramatic reaction from the wolf but he was never one for drama.  The muscles relaxed a bit, his brow knit a bit to show this information got mulled over.  What was there to say on that?  Naiche had sworn his life to Sirius and the pack.  His life not just by risking death if need be but to put in the sweat and time to support, to put the pack before himself.   Asla was giving him a different point of view on how the family connections were laid.  Sirius had always seen protecting and loving of his daughter from the times when it was mentioned to Naiche.  Certainly, the threat of what would happen if Naiche let her get injured was real enough.  A memory came to his mind of the first time he’d sparred with Asla and how she had warned him not to take her lightly for being small or a girl.  She didn’t want to be protected, she wanted respect.  She was still the same wolf as she’d been then.  When Naiche spoke to randomly he had a way of saying the wrong thing and this was something Asla was clearly upset about so Naiche was in no rush to answer till he’d considered everything. Naiche had imagined once right and wrong were as simple as black and white.  It seemed there was no right or wrong here but a choice of which was the lesser of two evils.  Either he betrayed his son or he betrayed his pack.  At least, in his mind, it was a betrayal to leave those you swore to protect for life. “No, I didn’t know your mom hadn’t reached out to you yet,” the words were soft and if not filled with emotion it was only because Naiche was mulling through the details very carefully.  “Nor do I understand why you haven’t been recognized for what you’ve done.  I don’t understand a lot of it.  You’re better than those two put together.  You'd make a good alpha if you ever decided too.” Naiche didn’t bother with casually whimsical compliments, it was truly meant.  They had left the pack for all this time.  Asla took her work seriously and had shown an impressive mature side of herself when having to care for everything more when Sirius had gone off.  Naiche had already loved Asla but these things had helped him to respect her more.  Why wouldn’t her family then? “I don’t like it,” how could he?  It was putting him in a bad spot and in Naiche’s mind, it was better living in a pack.  Certainly, his scarred past was the reason for it but that didn’t make it untrue in his mind.  Regardless, ‘not liking it’ wasn’t an argument.  Naiche let out a slow exhale, “I’ll let Sirius know.  I won’t have my son grow up without his father, I won’t abandon him.”  A statement of fact.   At least he would have more time for his kid now.  That much would be nice and really he’d love every moment of that.  Leaving the armada for a time he wouldn’t love.  It was his duty to remain but it was now also his duty to leave.  “When Arc is an adult I’ll come back though.  Once he’s old enough to choose whatever he wants for his life and I’m sure he can protect himself.” "Naiche"