Well, she hadn't been back too long, but she figured she should let her siblings know she was home. The problem was, she wasn't really sure which siblings would be here. She rarely saw any of them when she lived here, and she didn't really expect them to suddenly come back when she left. There was always one wolf who stuck to the pack lands though...

Lark.

Sparrow sought him out, noticing how often his scent intertwined with Lillianna's. Her nose wrinkled a bit at the stench of the other woman. Were they... friends now? Sparrow shook the thought. There was no way Lark would let himself be manipulated by her.

Still, the gross amount their scents mixed was making Sparrow feel sick. Settling to her haunches, Sparrow called her brother. Yup, good old howling across the pack to find your sibling. She wondered if she needed to make sure to mention that she wanted to see him alone, but then she decided that might be going a little too far.

For now she would wait for her brother and see how he was doing...

And who he was doing.

Hearing Sparrow call for him was rather surprising. Hadn't she, like Starling, decided to abandon their family? At leat she'd given them some reason, and some warning. It still didn't sit well with him. What was Abaven, and their family, lacking? Why did everyone keep leaving? It was deeply frustrating to him, especially after the talk with his father. Bass felt as though he'd failed them, when in reality the failure had been a group effort.

Warily, and a bit uncertainly, he headed toward Sparrow's call. He'd never been as close to her as he'd been with Finch, for example, but he loved her just the same. He offered a ghost of a smile as she drew nearer with each step, nodding his head. He couldn't help but feel a pit forming in his stomach as he got the impression that she might have more to say to him than simply telling him she was back.

"Sparrow," he'd offer her as he settled before her, debating on whether he ought to greet her with more affection or if her time away had grown the distance between them enough to consider that uncomfortable. "I'm glad to see you're home. However long this place remains home, I guess." He didn't know if his sister knew about the plans for the future, or if she intended to stay here - hell, maybe she wouldn't go with Karabela either. The future was a wild mess of uncertainty, it seemed.

Sparrow smiled as her brother approached. No matter how much they had or hadn't spoken, they were still family, right? The small girl felt that way, but also she could almost feel the distance between them as Lark settled in front of her. Her smile faltered, but she decided to close the gap between them, offering him a warm- and not quite as sloppy as Bass's had been when she returned- kiss on the cheek.

He did stink of Lillianna.

Sparrow nudged his cheek once more, breathing out the scent and putting it back where it belonged- not anywhere near her. She didn't need to bring that up. She didn't want to bring that up. The thoughts and smell of Lillianna could get lost in Lark's cheek fur.

Sparrow tried to put on a much more pleasant smile as she pulled away from her brother.

"It's been a while. I'm glad to be home- for now." She couldn't ignore the passive aggressive tone in her brother's voice. One ear flicked back, "I think home is wherever you feel most comfortable, right? So, if you choose, this can always be your home." Sparrow understood it was a big change. Did Lark feel like the alphaship had been stolen from him? A pitying look crossed the small girl's face, "I guess you aren't so thrilled, huh?"

Sparrow tried to throw on a crooked smile. She wanted it to seem like the effortless grin Ashmedai used to wear, but she could feel that it was all wrong so she just dropped it.

Okay, this wasn't going to be easy, was it?

"What would your ideal situation be, Lark? Were you really happy with how Abaven was- is- whatever? I mean- maybe you were, I really don't know. I mean, even I was a little surprised to hear you weren't going to be the next alpha, but..." Sparrow sighed, shrugging her shoulders.

A sad smile crossed her face,"I guess none of us turned out how we were planned to, huh?"

Lark knew so little about how he felt about Lillianna that he continually hoped no one in his family would ask. Starling had been unabashed about it. He didn't know how to explain it - saying I fucked her seemed too crude to say, especially to his family, but he didn't know how to justify it beyond that.  He was grateful that Sparrow didn't say anything, but he also didn't know how she felt about his friend, either. He was grateful for her welcoming touch, and he felt a sigh escape that he hadn't realized he'd been holding it. Since their mother had all but rejected their family, it was a terrifying reality that his siblings might someday decide to do the same. So much was changing, and the rapidity with which their world was being shaken up was disconcerting. He leaned gladly into her touch, though she pulled back soon enough to face him. "I guess," he'd mumble in reply, not agreeing with her positive tone much. Home would never be the same again, soon - not if his packmates left, and not if his siblings left. And sure as hell not if they abandoned these lands all-together. He cringed silently at the thought. "Honestly, Sparrow? It sucks," he started, his gaze dancing away from her to focus on something in the distance. He didn't want to be pitied, even if he felt pitiful. "I don't think Karabela deserves Abaven. I don't want it, either. I mean... I do.. but I'm not ready." He had more growing up to do, he knew that, though he was well into adulthood now. He shuffled his paws beneath him uncomfortably as he struggled with his thoughts. "I think we should stay here," he answered with certainty. "Even Tinaro would be a fine leader, in my opinion. We should stay and all work on contributing even more, and bring Abaven to greatness again." Running away from their collective failure wasn't a good idea, not in his eyes. "It sucks how much everything's changed," he mumbled with a sigh, bringing his gaze back to Sparrow. "What about you? What do you want to happen?"

Lark didn't bring up Lillianna either. Sparrow was a little grateful, but it felt more like the subject was an abscess waiting to fester and pop. She was glad her brother didn't reject her touch. She didn't really know what she would do if he did.

Lark opened up to her, saying the whole situation sucked. He said that he didn't think Karabela deserved the pack, "Well, why doesn't she," Sparrow protested a little too fast. The small girl licked her lips, "Sorry... I do want to know your reasoning though. Father sought you to be the leader, so maybe you have another position on this that I'm missing." Her words were honest. She wasn't too keen on keeping so many secrets from her family at this point, but she was tired of dancing around feelings, too. If they had to hash things out, Sparrow just wanted to do it openly from now on.

"If you're not ready now, but Dad thinks Karabela is, then I really don't know what to say. I mean- You've always supported Dad, so I'm unsure how to feel now if you two are at odds. I'm usually the one who disagrees with him." Sparrow chuckled a bit. It was true, she thought. Lark and Bass were fairly alike in personalities.

"If you stepped up, I'm sure you'd be a fine alpha, but if you don't want to, then I guess whatever Dad decides is what we should deem as best... but maybe having two wolves compete wouldn't be a bad idea, either."

Sparrow shrugged, "I mean, Dad favors Karabela and you favor Tinaro. Why not, if the two are willing, have a competition of sorts?"

Lark asked what she wanted to happen, and Sparrow gave it considerable thought before speaking, "Really, if you really want to know," Sparrow began, a sotr of twisted smile coming up on her face, "I kind of wish the whole pack was just our family and no one else. If we never met anyone else, wouldn't we have stuck together, and been closer to each other?"

Sparrow shifted, her eyes dropping to the ground, "It's unrealistic. We were raised to be good and to be this or that, but every time we did something, the pack was there, judging us as the alpha's kids. Looking back, that really sucked. If we disagreed with Dad, then how dare we, but if we agreed with him, then we were blindly following him, it always seemed." The chocolate and cream girl sighed, "I don't think I even had any friends ever really. I thought having my siblings would be enough forever, but then even we grew apart. What about friends? Lovers? None of us have pups, Lark. I mean, that's fine, but I can't help but feel like we missed out on something crazy important.

"I really do love this pack, but when I left, when I met other wolves who didn't know who I was, when those wolves became friends, and when I realized I cared about them, it was a totally new feeling. I didn't care about them because they were in my pack or in my family. We even had different ideals and it was completely okay. We weren't competing to be the best or the most right because we were each separately in charge of our lives. It was... nearly intoxicating to have that freedom."

Sparrow thought about the pack. She had really liked it, hadn't she? There were benefits to being in a pack, sure, but she was unsure of how she would have felt if her father wasn't the alpha.

"You were always expected to lead and become the alpha, but I felt like I was always expected to just follow and any time I spoke my mind, I felt like someone was always behind me telling me I was wrong. For that, I hate this place, but because it's where I grew up, and where the ones I love the most live, that's home enough, pack or no pack. But also..."

But also what? How could she explain the conflict she felt thinking about choosing between here and Aerie? How could she possibly explain that? Her family, or some strangers that made her feel real and not like she was a huge mistake? Her blood, or some wolves that made her heart beat fast at times, and her blood boil at others? How could she possibly explain that?

"What if you fall in love with someone, Lark? What if Finch falls in love and she and her mate decide they want to live, or even run a pack of their own? Rhythm left our family. A lot of our family has turned away, but I don't think it was always a bad thing like we were led to believe. What if Starling found happiness when he left? What do we do or think then?"