It had happened shortly after she had given birth, perhaps it was the rainy season, the cold and early morning frosts. Pyrrhic had begun to sicken, and Riva had waddled her pregnant body around to gather herbs and dry meat in the early stages of it. She had ensured he drank plenty of water, and ate the meat softened in broth. If she had not made those preparations, then perhaps all of them would have starved after Riva, weakened by her pregnancy, caught it also. She got the sickness in a lesser degree to her mate, and healed more quickly, well he was still too sick to rise or eat more than broth. When Riva was well enough to travel, she kissed her mate, left supplies by his nose, and buried the entrance of their den behind woven vines. In her healers pack, she had stiffened a section of it to ensure it would not collapse on her children, kept the flap open, and had her little ones ride on her back in this manner. If she was waylaid, her little ones would starve, she could not leave them behind. Steeling herself against the unknowns to come, she made her way to the pack her mate haled from, and the brother she knew she would find there. She stopped at the borders, and raised her head, howling to Eligos. She needed his help, with a packs resources, Pyrr and her sickly child would heal more quickly. "Riva" & "Pyrrhic"

Eligos had been patrolling along the south side of their border with Valhalla when a call came for him along another border in the same territory. He sent both Cypher and Kida racing along ahead while he followed at a more dignified pace. Both young malinois were back in a flash. "Pups!" Cypher yipped excitedly, dancing from paw to paw as though anxious to get back. The more staid Kida shouldered him aside to give a more in depth report. "A single female around your age, smelling of pups and carrying a pack. We think the pups are in there, you can hear them and smell them. She doesn't seem armed and she smells like plants." Cypher stuck his tongue out at her then, and she stuck hers out back, and in a beat the two were in a roiling, yipping melee that Eligos just sighed and left behind as he made his way towards the call at a much faster clip. An unaccompanied female with pups on their border, calling for him? A puzzle, and an alarming one. He didn't want to keep her waiting any longer than he had to, for the sudden appearance and disappearance of the dogs may have frightened her and he didn't want her to leave before he solved the mystery of who she was, and why she'd brought pups to Aerie.

The second question was somewhat answered as he came into range of her scent and breathed it in deeply, sorting through the many factors it brought to him. The first to catch his attention was the smell of pups, that milky warm scent that was inherent to them and to their mother, and the scent that mingled with that was one so familiar that he almost didn't realize that it was mixed with her own, and not just residual scent along the border - Pyrrhic, his brother. And an odd scent that he couldn't quite place at first, one that reminded him of a healer's den and disinfectants but wasn't quite any of that, an uncomfortable scent. Sickness.

He went stiff with alarm when it clicked in his head, just as he was coming to a stop in front of her, a fair enough distance that she wouldn't feel threatened, and he kept his expression smooth and unworried though he suddenly wondered if he ought to have stayed even further back to protect his pack from sickness. But no, this wolf was somehow to do with Pyrrhic, and the pups were the logical reason why.

He let his gaze take in everything - the female, the pack she bore, the pups hidden within it - and for a moment was at a loss for words. "My name is Eligos Abraxas. I am alpha here in Aerie. You called for me?"

The pups that raced towards her caused her to start in alarm. She had to assume they belonged to the pack in some capacity, if they were scavengers that had trespassed, she was in for trouble. She was only a tiny thing, but very little fighting experience. Her and the pups may well seem like an easy meal. When the pups raced off again, she frowned, leaning forward to watch their departing forms.

Ah they must have been scouts, then. Here they were again, accompanied by a tall, commanding wolf with golden streaks across his face and body. Eligos? he fit the description of her mates brother. He confirmed who he was once he stopped a polite distance from her, and she quickly gave him a polite bow. “Eligos, I am Riva Nightingale, your brother chose me as a mate recently, and these pups are his. He’s been struck by a sickness and lies den-bound. I would ask for your aid, if you will allow us the safety of your pack, his home, and supplies. If you can lend me a cart I can get him here, and into an empty den. His sickness is only mildly catching, but I understand you not wanting to take risks.” she fought the urge to shift from foot to foot. She desperately needed this strangers help. Heaving Pyr into a cart would be a shockingly difficult task for the young girl, but she would do it, if she had to.

From within her bag Asmodeus was trembling with excitement and barely able to contain it. New smells flooded in all around him as his mother walked and soon voices sounded from outside. The stranger's voice was not one he recognized and so he poked his white muzzle from the pack to see who it could be. Whoever it was it couldn't be dad, Deus knew he was sick at home and he was not to play with him.

The man however did resemble his dad, and timidly Deus allowed the rest of his head to break out of the pack's flap. He smelled a bit like dad, too. The pup glanced over his mother's shoulder to get a better look and then hid behind her neck fur once more. "Is this uncle?" He whispered to her. "Can I go down and play?" His tail - still wedged in the pack with his sibling - began to wag furiously but he waited her permission to attempt a dismount, no matter how tempting the puppies at Eligos' feet may be.

Her explanation was further cause for concern, at the knowledge that his brother lay too ill to make the journey home. Before he could reply, a puppy peeked out from the pack on her back before ducking back again. The brief glimpse was of a face with the unmistakable stamp of Pyrrhic's features, and even if he had been entertaining the idea of sending her away his heart would have softened at the sight. There was no decision to make, though, and while the sight of the pup did soften his blood-red gaze it didn't change what already was to be.

"As my brother's mate and the mother of his children you and your pups are welcome in Aerie, illness or no," he assured her solemnly. "You will have the resources you need, and we will fetch my brother home again to heal."

She looked anxious, and given the circumstances he felt urgency was justified. "The details of your stay in Aerie can wait until everyone is safely here and recovering," he continued, gesturing for her to cross the border and walk with him so they could get what they would need to bring Pyrr home. "The pups can ride with you or on the cart, or stay here to rest, whichever you'd prefer." She was, after all, their mother, and in Pyrrhic's temporary absence he was willing to trust in her to make the decisions concerning their well-being though he knew little about her. He'd have to trust his brother's judgement.

She kissed the tip of the tiny nose that pocked out of her healers pack. “Not just yet, little one, just a little longer” she whispered to him. She did not want her little one to run rampant on pack territory, not until they were accepted, and Eligos was comfortable with the idea.

When Eligos spoke, her face burned with relief, and gratitude. Respect was in her eyes, seeing the truth in Eligo’s words. Here was a wolf that would not, could not turn them away. No longer would she struggle to feed her mate, to eat enough to sustain her little ones. She would have access to better resources, and would have a better chance to see Pyrrhic returned to health that much sooner.

At her gesture, she was quick to cross, careful not to jolt her pack and its precious cargo. One pup might be awake and eager, but the second was still asleep, and a little sickly. “I fear Deus here will run rampant if i’m not supervising-” she looked down at her pup with exasperation and love “-But I thank you for the offer” she was walking beside him, her little steps taking two for his everyone. She was accustomed to being around giants. She wasn’t relaxed, but relief had lessened the stiffness of her shoulder, and brought a smile to her lips with better ease. She had been feeling the weight of the world ever since her children had been born.

The pup's tail slowed in it's wagging as his request to play was shot down and he flopped his head down heavily upon the edge of the pack in protest. His nose pointed towards the ground and occasionally he'd scoot himself just slightly upwards, imagining that he could be sneaky enough to slide right on down from her back and hit the ground before she noticed. It was a silly thought, Eligos was standing right there he'd surely see any escape attempt. Deus glanced back over at his uncle as he thought his name, listening to the adult's converse and picking up the end of his words.

"Stay here!" He peeped quickly, lifting a paw and prodding it insistently upon his mom's shoulder. "No I won't, I won't run anywhere! I'll be good, I want to stay!" There was just so much more to see in this new land, Asmodeus was so tired of the Deluge where he was born. It was hot and wet and there were hardly any trees or flowers or grass, already he was excited to make himself at home in this new place and he definitely did not want to ride back to the Deluge in the cart. What if they forgot him and left him there?