Gwen had decided to go introduce herself to Regulus' relatives in Lirim. It was less about official business and more about the fact that... well... they claimed her family's name, and she didn't even know any of them. She knew the pack had been founded by Regulus' sister, and since passed to her son, but that was all she knew. She'd never even met Faite. She had met Faite's former mate, though, and gotten an interesting tale from him that she'd adopted a child who was a bit of a brat - another addition to the 'family' that she didn't know or approve of the idea of. It was, frankly, faintly ridiculous for already-adopted wolves to be adopting more wolves and giving them a name they didn't even have a legitimate claim to. Still, Gwen put on a friendly face as she approached the border to meet her 'cousins' for the first time and introduce herself to them as Aurielle's co-alpha.

With Frostbite very much tied up with his new children Torin had taken up doing more patrols; though perhaps some of that was also to do with trying to make up for all the time he'd missed, feeling at least somewhat guilty about his lack of presence. So it didn't take too long to find the ginger woman, unrecognizable as any Adravendi he'd ever known, taking a deep breath Torin adjusted his course to close the gap between himself and the unknown woman. He kept his face even, neither overly friendly though not aggressive... he hoped. "Greetings Stranger." He called out before getting too close, as he approached however his brows lowered slightly as he caught a familiar scent on her fur. That of his cousin's pack, something he'd caught for himself when he'd last visited. "You're from Celestial, correct?" He didn't want to assume, though his senses gave him a certain level of confidence... though if recent events were anything to go on he probably didn't want to bank to much on that assumption. "What brings you to Lirim today?" "Silent Treatment" & Deep thoughts

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She was not kept waiting terribly long before an unfamiliar face appeared to meet her. He was young, though older than Aurielle, and much of his features were unfamiliar to her. The eyes, though, the eyes put her in mind Regulus' mother, Surreal. She'd had blue and yellow eyes, if she remembered correctly, though the colors had been segregated one to each eye rather than two colors in both eyes as this young man had. She kept her frank appraisal behind a polite, friendly mask so as to not come across as insulting, and turned her smile on him. "Hello," she began. "Yes, I am from Celestial - my name is Gwenevere Adravendi, and I am Aurielle's secondary alpha. I felt it wise to introduce myself here, since the packs are so close." Geographically, and relationship-wise both. "I understand that many of you here are related to Regulus and Aurielle?"

The woman spoke and Torin felt a wave of surprise roll over him to hear his mother's family name come from such a different looking wolf. The only sign of this being his brows twitching upwards slightly. He has heard that the Adravendi's had once been widespread but he'd never met any outside of his immediate family or his cousins. He had been told of aunts and uncles he'd yet to meet but none by the name the woman before him had given, so he would assume she was a distant relative then. Still, he would keep his tone even as he spoke. "I am Torin Adravendi-Valentine." Perhaps it was the distance he perceived from his branch of the family to hers that meant he'd include his father's name as well, or maybe it was his innate desire to reconnect with his father but either way it felt fitting, right, to say his full proper name in this situation. Gwenevere spoke of his cousin and uncle and Torin sighed, unable to stop the deflated feeling from washing over him. "Only my siblings and myself can make that claim."  He spoke carefully, "And we hardly make up the bulk of the pack."   Less and less with each passing moment it seems. Of course once his aunt Zuriel and her children had also occupied the pack... for the briefest of moments he wondered how she and her family were doing. But he brought his attention back to the present, to the woman standing before him. "Regardless it is a pleasure to meet you." He gave her a gracious dip of his head, he was also glad to hear that his cousin had decided to bring aboard someone to help her. It had struck him how young she'd been when he had met her the first time. "I trust Celestial is fairing well?" It was a bit awkward perhaps, but he did ask with the best intentions. "Silent Treatment" & Deep thoughts

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She nodded her understanding as he spoke, filing his name away in her mind. Adravendi-Valentine, eh? She and her siblings had once gone by Adravendi-Mathias, though time and distance had slowly led to her dropping her father's family name. There had never really been anyone else that held that blood in common with her, and she had never really felt as close to that family as the Adravendi blood. It was a strange sort of comfort to her that the boy went by Adravendi-Valentine, rather than just Adravendi. It made it feel less of a violation that his family had hijacked her family name.

The smile she gave him was a touch warmer than it had been, less impersonal. "Yes, Celestial is doing well enough. We have young pups now, my own litter." She didn't know when Torin had spoken last with Aurielle, or if it was even recently enough that she had already been alpha, so she wasn't certain what he would know of their current situation. She tilted her head inquiringly. "What of Lirim? Has all been well here since you spoke with my alpha last?"

There was a slight shift in her demeanor and Torin had to focus to stop his from from deepening. Gwenevere seemed less... Distant? He pushed those thought from his mind however as the woman spoke again and he allowed a small smile to pull at his face. It was always heartening to hear that their sister pack was doing well, not just well, thriving if the new litter was any indication; and some part of him felt a small tug of joy. Distant as he assumed they were he couldn't help but feel happy knowing his family was out there thriving as well. Gwenevere asked of his own pack and Torin nodded. "We've been well as well." Torin briefly ran through the notable events of the past few months, excluding his own personal drama there had in fact been very little to comment on, except... "We also continue to grow, Frostbite, my own secondary alpha, is expecting his first litter any day now." It felt strangely serendipitous. Though he knew it wasn't nearly as coincidental as it seemed, Frost's children hadn't been born yet and he highly doubted that Gwenevere's litter were all that young, otherwise he expected she wouldn't be standing before him right now; still it brought him some amusement to note the similarities. "Silent Treatment" & Deep thoughts

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The young male gave news of his own pack's wellbeing and growth, and Gwen smiled to hear of it. Of course, she had no way of knowing that, rather than the proud young man newly made a father that she imagined, his secondary was fully as old as she was. "It's always a blessing to welcome new life into a pack," she said. "Please do congratulate him for me."

She tilted her head slightly to study him. "Forgive me for being forward, Torin, but if you don't mind me asking, what did your mother teach you about your family history?" He was fairly young, so with her being gone as he said, he only had a couple years at most to have learned from her, and that was assuming she had left fairly recently. She had to wonder what, if anything, he knew about his family.

Torin nodded as Gwen told him to tell Frostbite of her regards, smiling despite himself at the thought of his second and his burgeoning family. Awkward as he felt, he was grateful for all the wisdom Frostbite offered and he was happy for the man getting to finally have the family he'd obviously always wanted. Then Gwen shifted the conversation toward their family and Torin frowned as he thought, wracking his brain for what exactly it was his mother had shared with him. "Not much." He spoke finally, "Certainly not as much as I would have liked." There was a bit of a bitter admittance there. "I know that Lirim was founded as a sister pack to Celestial which was run by my mother's brother, at least at the time. I've never met Regulus though; the only one of my mother's siblings I've ever met was my aunt Zuriel." He watched Gwen carefully wondering exactly where she slotted into his family. "I know that the name Adravendi was once more widespread, I heard some rumblings of an old kingdom but that's about it." "Silent Treatment" & Deep thoughts

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Torin admitted to knowing rather little about his family history, and Gwen gave a slow, thoughtful nod. "No doubt you know more about your family's recent history, since up until a couple years ago, I had been away from Boreas since before your mother was born. Since before your grandparents met, I'd imagine." Though perhaps not - she hadn't been particularly close to her mother's adopted siblings, so she'd hardly have known if Surreal had chosen a mate at that point in her life. "What I know for certain of the Adravendi name starts with my grandfather, Cairo Adravendi." Her voice grew distant as she sought to recall a history she had learned at her mother's paws, but had not spoken much of in many years. "He had adopted a male named Collision, and given him the Adravendi name before he and his mate had a litter of their own, with my mother among them. There was a healer that he'd grown to be close to, Erani by name, who birthed a litter only to have the sire absent for their raising. My grandfather chose to give those pups his surname as well and helped her to raise them alongside his own pups. One of Erani's pups was your grandmother, Surreal." She refrained from sighing, but the smile she gave him was faintly wry as she added, "My grandfather had a habit of adopting strays that it seems several others down the line have picked up, so there are a few other unrelated branches out there as well." Collision's line, as well as those descending from Erani, and those Erani had adopted, and her adopted 'uncles' Preston and Neo if they'd had pups though she certainly doubted any of the Adravendis would tolerate it if Neo's offspring had chosen to continue to claim that name after what he'd done. Arian, among her own mother's line. And who knew if any of Gwen's siblings had picked up the habit as well? She shrugged eloquently. "There is a great deal of history there, from my mother's generation particularly. Kingdoms, wars, star-crossed lovers." She smiled fondly, recalling the story of her mother and father. "Betrayals. Deaths. Everything that a good saga requires."