Before they'd left Auster, he'd sent his cousin Thalia to scout the eastern side of Boreas, and had reported the basics when she'd returned, but he had not yet gotten a detailed debriefing of the situation over there. He'd met with Abaven's alpha briefly, but he was certain that there was much more that the scout could tell him than he'd picked up on that short trip. Besides, he wanted to get a better feel for her abilities as a Shadow than he'd been able to get so far. He'd assigned Ina to mentor her as much for her ability to be silent and hidden as for her fighting ability, but he wanted to see where she was in her ability to observe others before he sent her out on specific missions. She was going to have a more difficult time than many of her peers, since she was effectively forging an entirely new path without any true mentor to guide her in it.

Lifting his head, he called for her to come to the lake territory.

Being called directly by Eligos was something Thalia would've once feared, and though part of her still prickled in faint anxiety at the prospect of what he might ask her, she felt more certain about things now. She was working hard as a member of Aerie, as a loyal follower of God, and she new she'd been doing her best. Though she'd spent a lot of time settling in, and her brother's arrival had seemingly derailed her, she felt much more confident now. Hopefully her calm, measured stride toward Eligos's call demonstrated just how well she was doing, if he hadn't noticed it himself.

For whatever reason, she didn't anticipate this meeting would be about Abaven. She'd already told Eligos briefly what she'd found during her first scouting mission to the eastern lands, and somehow she'd managed to keep her visits with Theory mentally detached from the rest. It was hard to think of her as anything other than a secret that she wanted to keep to herself, locked safely inside - for what else could she classify her all-too infrequent meetings with Abaven's Alpha as? Her mind though, at least for now, was far from Abaven and even further from Theory as she approached Eligos by the lakeside. "Eligos," Thalia greeted him politely, dipping her head as she approached, only slowing as she neared him.

Thalia did not keep him waiting, prompt as always, and he gave her a faint, pleased smile. He wasn't one for displays of emotion, and the smile was barely visible, but it was there. Of all his family, other than his brothers and father, only Thalia had never let him down. "Thalia," he greeted her warmly. "I was planning a journey to meet with the other alphas, and I was hoping to ask you some questions to help, if you have the time. Your knowledge of the packs in Boreas far exceeds mine." He cocked his head at her, questioningly.

Earning and maintaining Eligos's approval meant more to her than she dared let on. Without her parents around, who she had aspired to make proud since she was a girl, she was left floundering.. grasping onto someone else in hopes of somehow gaining their respect and approval was important to her. Somehow, Eligos had fell into that role for her, if for his role as leader if nothing else. She was nervous at what he might ask of her - curiously not because of the content of his probing at all, but being anxious was annoyingly common for her, especially when she couldn't properly anticipate what he was about to say.

He was planning to meet with the other alphas, which wasn't a surprise. And he wanted to ask her questions. Thalia swallowed hard as she assessed just how she'd respond to him. "Of course," she started after a moment of thought. Did he have specific questions, she wondered, or more general ones? She was reminded then that she'd headed to the east once to visit Theory, under the guise of scouting and gaining information. She had, in a way.. just maybe not in the way Eligos had expected. "I do know a few things about Abaven, the pack to the far east," she started carefully. Telling him the facts didn't feel like a disservice; and maybe he just wanted to ask a few simple questions anyway, or at least that was what she was hoping.

She seemed cautious as she answered him, but immediately offered information about Abaven. His gaze turned intent with interest. "Ah, yes, Abaven," he mused aloud. "I would like you to tell me what you can about them. I met briefly with their alpha and... another pack member." The hesitation before the mention of Poem was minuscule, and he wasn't even certain why he'd have hesitated to name her, or talk about her. There was nothing about her or their encounter he couldn't share with Thalia, and every reason to do so. "Theory and Poem, I believe," he added, cloaking his hesitation in the pretense of being uncertain of her name. Poem was unimportant to the conversation. He needed to move past the way the hesitation had unsettled him. He tilted his head slightly, still intent on Thalia. "Tell me what you can about Theory, if you please. The more I know of Abaven's current alpha, the more I can predict her actions towards Aerie in the future."

Eligos simply wanted information - so why did she suddenly begin to feel nervous about divulging what she knew? She wouldn't refrain; there was nothing worse than lying to family, or withholding information from them. Briefly she adjusted her weight from one paw to the other, hoping her discomfort wasn't visible, at least not any more than usual. She hardly noticed the wariness from Eligos himself, she was so lost in her own thoughts. "Yes, I've met Theory before," she admitted after a brief pause. She knew enough to share with him, but where should she begin? It was hardly appropriate to describe her physically, even though those were the first things that suddenly came to mind. She was beautiful - more beautiful than anyone Thalia had ever seen. Her mouth felt dry as she tried to think more logically of the facts she knew. How they'd met seemed unimportant, and after all how could she explain to Eligos that she'd been basically indebted to her for a short while, over a childhood spar?

"I know she came to rule because her mother died, not long after the volcano erupted. She sounds quite level-headed, in terms of leadership. Recently they were betrayed by one of their allies, a pack named Winterfell in the north. Allegedly that pack made a deal with some slavers, and part of the deal was to raid Abaven, though Abaven won." They were strong - Thalia knew that just from talking to Theory, without ever encountering anyone else from within the pack. "They don't sound like a very militaristic pack by any means, but they do sound very close. I know a large majority of the pack is family." Which would make them a tricky one to figure out. Thalia knew the bond of blood was a strong one, one that was often difficult to penetrate, and imagining a world in which Theory and her pack needed Aerie was suddenly quite difficult for her to fathom.

In many ways it seemed that Abaven's story paralleled their own. As Thalia went quiet, Eligos rubbed one paw over the other thoughtfully. "Do you know more about the raid by this other pack? About this deal with slavers, and how Abaven felt about the whole situation. I don't see them as being particularly pleased about a deal with slavers at all, to judge by the way they were when Father..." He trailed off, still thinking. His impression of them was that as a pack they'd disapproved of things such as slavery and the like by itself, let alone a perceived betrayal in the form of a raid. And yet... and yet Poem and Theory both had seemed very welcoming of him, kind even, even after he'd given his surname, even given the history of their families' interactions. That spoke of a capacity for forgiveness that he, himself, could not fathom in any rational being. He wondered if they had forgiven Winterfell for their own transgressions, and decided he needed to know more, to know if this was information he could use. He focused his full attention on Thalia. "How did you get this information?" he asked, not accusatory but rather curiosity.

"I don't know much else," Thalia admitted, sounding apologetic. Finding out more crucial information from Theory was difficult - especially when talking about her pack's politics was generally the last thing on her mind when she was around her. She felt her cheeks grow quite warm at the thought of the things that were on her mind instead. All those things.. well, she had no doubt Eligos had no interest in any of them. "Abaven's leader seemed upset over it, almost as if she felt betrayed by them. I'd be surprised if she allowed their alliance to continue." It was a shame she hadn't gotten more concrete information, but... this was better than nothing, wasn't it? Trying to reason with herself that she'd gotten enough information felt strange, when part of her felt odd even divulging this information at all. But this wasn't anything personal - this was simply facts she'd obtained. Thalia had to remind herself of that.

"I can try to find out more," she suggested lightly. Her desire to please Eligos and prove useful to him seemed to outweigh her worries about Theory's privacy, at least when it came to this, though her leader's question still caused her to pause. "I've met their leader, Theory, a few times," she explained carefully. "We met when we were young, at the Firefly Festival." Had Eligos attended that? She'd been too young to remember many details from back then, only that her father had brought herself and Saren, and that she'd met Theory there, who had promptly kicked her ass when challenged. "And I've run into her a few times since. I guess.. we are friendly." He didn't need to know that in her losing, on that fateful day, she'd essentially promised herself to Theory whenever she called for a short while... but even now she found herself searching for her, even when Theory hadn't the faintest idea she was even in the area. Calling them friendly somehow felt untrue; they were friends. She thought of how close they'd been during their last meeting and marveled at the fact that she didn't begin to sway right then and there at the memory.