She had been sick for some time. Nearly two seasons if she remembered right, but time had been a blur since she fell ill so she wasn't completely sure. All she knew was that Eli's scent was weak and stale within Aerie's lands and she wondered what the cause could be for that. She was out of the loop on alot these days, and she was determined to figure it out sooner rather than later. But first, she would tend to her children. She had left them to their own devices for too long while she was sick, and there wasn't a whole lot she could do while she had confined herself to her den to avoid getting them sick with whatever she had fallen ill with. But now, her strength had returned and she was itching to be with her children again. Morax was independent, so she didn't feel the need to seek him out right away. Instead, she sought out her daughter. The cursed child she had been blessed with. Though she didn't see her as cursed like others might...had Eli seen her? She supposed that if Eli had caught wind of her mushroom-eyed daughter, he would have come down hard and swift on them. But as it stood, her alpha and cousin seemed to almost disappear...almost. She figured he was still around somewhere, just not in pack lands. Shaking out her fur, she uttered a soft woof for her child, urging her to come to her, or at the very least let her position be known. Ina had much to catch up on, and her kids deserved her undivided attention now that she felt like her normal self again.

Onoskelis had mostly been alone, she hadn't really known what had happened to her brothers. Morax she'd spotted around a bit but she hadn't seen Zepar much in seasons. In truth, she wasn't really sure where that left her. The girl was lonely, she felt like she didn't really know who she could even turn to for when she needed help. She longed for the gentle care of her mother from her early days but since Proserpina had gotten sick she'd been mostly left to fend for herself. Still when she heard the small chuffing bark for her Ono couldn't help the feeling of her heart soaring. She turned from her play, wrestling with a curved stick that felt really nice to chew on, rushing off to her mother's side.

"Mom!" She exclaimed as she rushed towards her mother, surprised to see her out of the den. She pushed herself into her mother's legs, as she might have done when she was younger, but unlike a tiny pup she was nearly tall enough to reach the middle of her mother's chest. "How are you feeling?"

Speech

Art by Adam-Jackson-777

The sound of her daughter's voice set her to hurry her pace and her world brightened up the moment she saw her. Ono rushed up to her and pressed herself into her legs, and while Ina was still taller than her daughter, she realized her child wasn't as small as she thought she might still be. It saddened her to know that she had missed a significant portion of her children's lives since she'd been sick. She still had no idea what she had come down with, though considering her luck during the long nights....she wondered if there were lasting effects that still lingered around. Whatever the case, she had finally shaken it off either with the help of her companions doctoring her or if it went away on its own, she wasn't sure. But she was here now, and she hugged her daughter tightly and kissed the top of Ono's head before letting go. "I feel much better now, dear. Better than I've felt in a while," She sighed as she looked at her, a brief sadness in her gaze that she had missed so much and basically left them on their own. She didn't know if the pack was helping take care of them, but with the deafening silence of the pack, she highly doubted it. "Ono, I am so sorry I haven't been able to do much for any of you...I hate that I fell so ill and left you all alone...I promise I will do my best to make up for that, okay?" She offered a soft smile to her before looking around, noting the quiet. "Has...Eligos come around to see any of you...?" She honestly had no idea if he knew about their presence. She figured he did, after all, how could you not notice the new (when they were born) scents in your lands? If he knew about them, had he seen any of them? She didn't know what Eli thought or would think...though she knew that Abraxas demanded they cull the weak and "ill", but she knew she simply could not do that to her children. Even with their disabilities, and all they'd been through during her pregnancy and the birth, she felt fiercely protective and would do anything to make sure they were safe. "Speak"

The girl giggled as her mother hugged her close and kissed her. She nuzzled happily into her mother's legs. It had been scary when their mother had first fallen ill and she hadn't been sure why they were kept so far from her for so much of the time but now she hoped her mom could maybe play with them? Her mom apologized and Onoskelis whined softly, she didn't like the sadness in her mother's tone or gaze but wasn't quite old enough yet to understand it so instead she just hugged into her mother harder, wanting to comfort her. She nodded at the first question. "Okay mom!" Her little voice lifted with the sort of conviction only a child who took promises seriously could.

The next question made her cock her head to the side, she had met few enough of her packmates, didn't even realize most of them were her cousins by some degree or separation but of the wolves she'd met she hadn't met any that called themselves Eligos. She shook her head, looking up curiously at her mother. "I haven't met anyone named that... Who is that mom?"

Speech

Art by Adam-Jackson-777

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ She was glad, at least, that Ono understood and wasn't mad at her. She still felt terrible about the whole thing, but at least she could now make the effort to make up for the lost time. And when Ono replied about her question regarding Eligos, she relaxed a bit. It seemed Eli had yet to meet her mutated child. Though it was both a good and a bad thing...on one hand, had he come across her, he likely would've come straight over and questioned her and probably made demands about dealing with it. On the other, since he hadn't...her fears about the packs quietness only raised the question of whether or not Aerie would survive, or if they'd disappear like other packs she had heard about. Still, despite her skepticism now, Eli was still their alpha until he wasn't. "Eligos is Aerie's alpha, as well as my cousin. I was raised mostly with him and his siblings, almost as a sister to them. Malleus - that was Eligos' father - was like a father to me after my mother abandoned me." She wondered if Eli was still around, or if he had gone on some sort of mission or something...she was concerned about him, but her concern for her children overrode that. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Speech"