To stray from the packlands was not something she expected to do, and yet found herself doing anyway. Why? She wasn't sure why. To recruit? Possibly. To think? A good chance. So many wolves had left - so many claimed they they inteded to leave anway. How much of that was turh? Lies?The outright hostility of some made her realize that her not-uch interaction just ed to worse and worse, and she didn't kow the first thing to fix these relations.

Agh. Groaning, she flopped down at the edge of the lake, watching over it. The sky was pretty clear now after the raining; it was nice that it had gotten warm enough to rain. Of course,he weather till being difficult, but it was still better than before. Ah, well.

Ooh, the alpha's scent away from the pack? That was interesting. What was she avoiding? What was she up to? Ashmedai followed her scent until he could see her. The man didn't bother to hide his presence as he came up. Here, they were on level ground, alpha or not.

"You running away too?" he asked almost playfully. It must be hard inheriting a failing pack filled with such animosity huh? Ash made note to drag Sparrow out of the pack at some point. He wondered if he'd really have to drag her out, or if she'd eventually come around. He guessed he'd find out later.

The voice broke the tranquility, and Vali withheld the groan that threatened to emerge. Her ears flicked. Not him again. She remembered this... jerk, to say the least. She glanced over to the side, eyeing the massive wolf with a neutral look. What did he want? To harass the pack again? To fuck with them all more? Was there a purpose, or was he just a general jackass wanting to start trouble? She really just... didn't want to deal with it. "Running to a nap, anyway," she replied lightly. Yes. A nap would be greatly appreciated. In fact, this guy leaving to let her in peace to possibly take that nap would be greatly appreciated. Highly unlikely, but... one could hope.

Miss grump was no less grump today than she was when the two last met. What a shame. She said she was wanting a nap. Ash flopped dramatically on his side, "Yeah, naps are pretty nice but don'tcha think that an alpha napping outside of her pack lands is a little... tempting to a not-so-well-intending passerby?"

Obviously this was not said with malice or anything. Ash was flopped on his side, though his guard wasn't completely let down. He wasn't trying to stir her up or anything- he honestly was considering how bad of an idea that might be.

"I think you're in a tough spot. I can't dig Sparrow out of the pack and usually she's begging to go on an adventure. Whatever's happening beyond those borders must be pretty intense."

Ashmedai rolled onto his stomach, "You know, if you're feeling too tired, I could always take over."

The blue male paused for a bit, a goofy grin on his face, "Just kidding, though. I don't think those guys could keep up, really. I just have to keep an eye on y'all to make sure y'all don't go charging into any more wars. Besides, if I'm roamin' around, maybe I'll catch up with one of your strays, or maybe I'll stop one before they go missin'. Like when you circle large prey to make them move where you wanna."

Maybe he should have stopped there, but he could imagine the old woman biting him for relating her precious pack mates to cattle.

"I think running a pack would be similar to herding prey except maybe if they were all, like, rabbits or- well wolves or something instead of dumb, large prey. Like medium, very hostile prey. Or something."

Her ear twitched - she had.. semi considered the consequences. Not fully, though, and Ash's words did make her realize more. Hm. "I would hope not," she said softly. "But I do understand what you say. It's why I won't stray too far now - not like I was as a healer." Oh - should she have admitted that? Admitted that at this time, the alpha wasn't a fighter, but rather... a healer? While good for diplomacy and talking with others (on occasion), she would likely fall to an experienced fighter, unless lucky.

As the boy - young man - flopped on his side, she glanced over at him. One day - an aggressor, challenging her at the gates of the pack. Another day - relaxing, somewhat, around her. She couldn't read him. She read him first as an upstart, and a complete jerk, but he wasn't acting like that now. In fact, he sounded... even understanding. How strange, but she would roll with it. She didn't... really want more conflict. She'd gotten enough from... everyone else.

"Just a bit, yeah." Understatement? Maybe. Most of the pack had left the moment Bass did, despite the fact he was supposed to return. They said it was because Bass was no longer there, but all of them... they all knew he was supposed to come back, and they abandoned Abaven anyway. When Bass did come back, she wondered how She glanced away as he mentioned Sparrow, and sighed just a little. "Sparrow is... she took it hard. I don't blame her one bit. She thinks I'm lying, or her father lied. She's suspicious of everything I said. I don't know if she actually thinks I took over the pack and was lying about Bass, or if... she's just taking her anger and frustration out on me." Her tone was sad - she hated this. She hated the conflict, the anger at her, the anger at Bass.

When Ash rolled on his side, she shot him a sharp glance, a glance that only intensified at what sounded like a sincere offer. Her eyes flashed, and she opened he mouth to reject - when he spoke again, saying he was joking. But was he really? Her eyebrow raised as he continued, though, and she snorted briefly. "You don't need to worry about us charging into any more wars." Not for a long while, anyway. She had... no intention of ever really doing that." She didn't respond to the rest of it, though it made her wonder - why? So, she asked. "Why are you trying to look out for Abaven?" He wasn't part of it, and Sparrow, well... if she came to the edge of the pack lands, she could leave too.

Her thoughts were interrupted by his continuation, and she snorted in abrupt laughter. "Medium, very hostile prey that actually can think. Most of the time." She snroted again, shaking her head. Yeah, in a way, that was true.

So the woman was a healer. Ashmedai smirked a little, "I know who to go to if I'm injured then," he said as if the two were old friends. An acquaintance healer, or even a healer that slightly disliked you was better than no healer, right? He never expected she was a fighter of any sort. No scars really. No fighter stance. She had that "Mom" vibe a lot of healers had.

Vali spoke of Sparrow and a wide smile rose on Ashmedai's face. He chuckled lightly, "If there's one thing I know about Sparrow, it's that she's suspicious of everyone. Everyone she ever trusted left her, so what do you expect?  Her mind's always working to connect the dots in the minds of those around her. I guess you could almost say she tries to put herself in everyone's pawprints, but..." Ashmedai shrugged. He wasn't really into the whole over-speculation and overthinking thing that Sparrow did. It was probably good when she wanted to be a healer, but then it convinced her she shouldn't be a healer, then that she should. Because of her thoughts, she seemed as if she was almost always conflicted. Then again, Ashmedai guessed a lot of wolves were sort of like that.

Vali reassured Ashmedai they wouldn't be charging into any wars any time soon. Ashmedai scoffed lightly. Good. He really didn't have any confidence in those wolves' fighting skills.

Now she asked why he was trying to look after Avbaven. Ash shrugged, "Am I?" Ashmedai rolled onto his back, "Maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. It's hard to say really and it kind of depends on what you mean by 'looking after Abaven.' That pack and Imperium are the only packs I knew." Ashmedai decided to leave out the part where his mother- maybe also the rest of his pack- made fun of Abaven and generally viewed them as weak.

"Because of that- and because of some strange familial relations, including Sparrow- I stick around a bit. Don't really wanna join. Not my type of pack. I thought about challenging for it when Bass was here, but right now that feels like a low blow- no offence, I mean for Bass, not you."

Ashmedai stretched for a moment, standing, "But if I ruled Abaven, it wouldn't be Abaven anymore. I'd change a lot; too much for it to still be Abaven. I'm not like those wolves. I don't even consider myself a good wolf half the time. Isn't that kind of Abaven's thing? Even though I never wanted to join, it kind of feels like a part of my life too."

Ash shrugged, "I don't think I would mind if it just kind of fell apart- I half expected it to when I found out Bass was gone. I don't really know why, though. I guess I just want to watch and see what happens. I suppose if any one wolf threatened to ruin it, or hurt the pack, maybe I'd be inclined to fight them, but who knows? It's like that bone you have as a pup. You're not really interested in it, and it doesn't taste good to you anymore, but you'll fight anyone that threatens to chew it."

Ashmedai smiled goofily, "Maybe that's a bad analogy."

He tried to grow a little more serious. "Tell me. Do you really think Bass is coming back? If he doesn't, how long are you willing to hold and protect the pack. If it's yours, will it still be Abaven?"

She said nothing in response to his half-joking about who to go to, only offered a slight smile. In the past, she'd sy of course - she was a healer, and would help anyone in need. Now that she was an alpha, though, was that really the most appropriate response? In a way, it could be seen as inviting trouble, or as weak. Ugh. She really wasn't the most cut out for this whole leading thing, but she'd do it for as long as she could.

Ashmedai explained something about Sparrow, and something dawned on Vali. So in reality, Sparrow was a lost little girl desperately trying to figure out why, and trying to find some reason to it all. She nodded slowly. "She's just trying to figure out why things keep happening, and how it possibly could have happened." That made sense, though it wasn't the most logical course of action. Really, it happened with Vali a lot when she was younger, after she went to search out family. In the end, she learned that sometimes things just happened, and that random strangers can just be... not good. So she stopped the overthinking and overanalyzing. If Sparrow never learned that...

She listened quietly to his words. Was he looking out for Abaven? Despite his words, he was, in a way. She shrugged a little about Abaven being good - what really were they? She barely even knew anymore. A pack that would fall apart if anyone attacked, that was for certain. They had more healers than fighters, more pups than anything. He used another analogy, after trying to explain normally, and she smiled as well. It was a bad analogy, but it worked, didn't it?

She glanced at him again as he grew more serious, and his tone changed. She hesitated before answering, hesitated just a second too long, and that in itself might answer a lot of questions. "He said he would. In my heart, I believe he would. I do not think he would just abandon the pack. And yet, as you've likely noticed, wolves left in droves. Each of them claimed to be loyal to Bass, but left immediately. Bass claimed to come back, but every single wolf who he trusted and were close to him left anyway, and didn't believe his quick return." That had to mean something, right? "And I will hold on to it... as long as necessary. However... Sparrow wants the pack. She was quick to protest and fight what her father said, and I asked if she would want the pack. She said she would. I do not know if she simply accepted to see how I would react, or if she was completely serious about it. But yes, for as long as it's in my possession, it will remain Abaven. And while alpha, I will try my best to make sure the pack stands. No more of the lounging around. No more of the being weak. No more of the not-showing-up to trainings, or not taking it seriously. It would be the same pack, but... " she trailed off, sighing. She'd try harder? She'd try to be the alpha that Bass couldn't be in those last few months.

Ashmedai nodded along as Vali responded to him. When she went to answer about Bass, she hesitated. Ash flicked his ear. He noticed, an maybe she should take note of her own reaction, Ashmedai thought.

She spoke about how these wolves left. Maybe she shouldn't admit that to a stranger. Ashmedai decided to take it as a token of her budding faith towards him. That was nice. Maybe she wasn't such a hard-ass after all.

"Yeah, but maybe they ARE loyal to Bass, but not you. If YOU say he left and is coming back, it's a lot different than HIM saying it... If that makes sense. They might think 'well I was loyal to Bass, but was he loyal to me in the end?' If he comes back, they can answer themselves and find it in themselves to come back, maybe."

As for her wondering about Sparrow, Ashmedai shrugged, "As long as I've known her, once she sets her mind on something, she sticks to it. She tries to think before acting, though. Sometimes she thinks too much before acting and ends up holding herself back, so I'm just as surprised as you are that she took you up so suddenly."

Ashmedai laughed a little, "I wish I could go dig her out of the pack and see what's going on in that head of hers."

Vali gave a small speech about how she wanted to keep Abaven the same and how she wanted to drive it better. Ash shrugged, if he had been closer to her, he'd nudge her on the shoulder for support. Instead, he nodded upwards in the direction of her pack, "There ya go, that's the spirit! Go lead by example and keep Abaven standing. Hell, even improve it. I believe in you, now go make your pack believe in you."

He offered a genuine smile. Ash wasn't sure if she'd accept his advice, but even if not, it wouldn't offend him.