Manea reached the island after her trip to the southern continent fairly late in the evening. The sun was dipping toward the horizon and the sky was beginning to show the colors of a sunset, though there would still be a good amount of light to see by for a while at least. After such a trip she had half expected to want to just hurry back to her den to be reunited with her family, but the trip had given her lots of time to think over the last couple of years and what had gotten her to this point. She knew that her family alone couldn't make this pack what it was and it made her start thinking about the wolves that had been with her from the very start—including the two boys that had nearly grown into men at this point.

As she started making her way up the mountain passes toward the dens that the pack utilized as their dens, she made a small detour toward where she knew Ricin and Chade had made theirs. As she stepped up to the entrance of the cozy, lived in cave she noticed that Chade wasn't in at the moment, but Ricin certainly was. She still fondly remembered comforting Ricin as a pup and to see him fully grown and taking on his own responsibilities in the pack made her proud. She caught his attention as she stepped into the cave, giving him a warm grin. "Ricin, how are you doing?" she asked, genuinely wondering about the lighter of the two brothers.

Manea | Temno | Ciemny

The day had been pleasant, the weather perfect, and Chade had taken the opportunity to go out and hunt for food for the pack. Ricin had opted to stay behind, puttering around their shared den, tiding things up, shaking out furs that need it, and make sure their elevated beds are secure. The work takes almost all day and it is dipping into late evening by the time he can finally set asides his tasks and gaze in satisfaction at his work.

Rudy gaze sweeps the den but it is a shadow near the entrance that pulls the light blue boy’s eyes over to find the purple form of the Elysium Matriarch waiting at the threshold. A smile immediately bursts across Ricin’s face and he waves his paw to usher her in, her warm grin melting the blue boy. She had saved their lives and the night he had spilled the brothers dirty secret still lives in his memories in vivid detail. The comfort she had given the lost pup had cemented his love for her and her family and the light blue boy knows he will live out his life in Elysium lands.

Manea’s question takes the blue boy by surprise and further warms his soul about how caring a leader she is. For so long he had wished that she was his mother but, as time moved on and she further established her own line, Ricin shifted his focus and has become determined to help the pack and family in any way she needs. With a warm smile he says, “I am well Mrs. Manea. Just been puttering around, doing little things. How are you doing? Is there something I can help you with?” Ushering her to the furs, Ricin sits across from her with a wide grin and curiosity burning in his gaze.


"Ricin Dauner"

Ricin always seemed to have a smile on his face and that warmed her heart. He hadn't always been so joyful, but in the time she had known him she had seen him come out of his shell and more and more of his kindness shown through. She never thought of herself as someone who deserved someone as sweet as him in her life, but she was glad he had decided to make his home here with her. When he looked at her and immediately began to smile she couldn't help but smile back, letting him usher her in and taking a seat on the furs with him without complaint. She was glad to hear that he was doing well and chuckled softly as he told her how he had been keeping himself busy doing little things. "I feel like it's always the little things that slip through the cracks for me so I'm glad you're making the time to do them."

When he turned the questions back toward her she smiled and replied, "No, there's nothing really in particular I need help with currently. I was just thinking about everyone on my way back from Fenmyre and got to thinking about how long its been since you and your brother joined our family." Ricin and Chade were not family in the sense that they shared a name or blood, but everyone that had come to live with her felt like family in one way or another. She still cared for the blue-hued boys like they were her children regardless. "It's hard to believe it's been... what... nearly two years now? A year and a half?" She chuckled softly with a shake of her head. "You're all growing up so fast." Avacyn, Saracyn, Ricin, Chade... They had all been pups when they were still living as a traveling band and she was moving from place to place trying to gather enough support to begin their pack. Time had flown by her in the blink of an eye and it didn't seem like it had any intention of slowing down.

Manea | Temno | Ciemny

Ruby eyes watch the purple wolf as she enters and sits upon the fur, his smile warming with each passing moment. The conversation flows easily, the light blue boy always eager to help out and he is pleasantly happy for the social call. She speaks of the little things and he chuckles, nodding his head in agreement as he says, “I understand how busy you are and it is completely understandable to miss them. However, sometimes it is nice to slow down. It is easy to forget how beautiful the world around you is when you are only focused on tomorrow.”

The boy doesn’t realize he has gone off on a small tangent until his brain catches up and he ducks his head, waving a paw through the air as if to dispel his words and quickly changes the topic. Her words about how long it has been since the two brothers had joined her family pulls a huge grin to his lips and he straightens up, dipping his head in agreement as he excitedly says, “Yeah! Been a whole year now!” It is such a juxtaposition, the wise words of mere moments before are eclipsed by the unbridled enthusiasm of the puppy she had found all those months ago.

Tail gently wags as Ricin puffs out his chest, beaming in pride that she, the Matriarch of Elysium, remembers the blue brothers birthdays. But when she then speaks of them growing so fast and he lets the air out he had been holding in a soft sigh. The wise wolf makes a reappearance as he looks to Manea and muses, “So much has changed and so much will continue to change. Packs rise and fall, Mrs. Manea. Some of the wolves you know and love might leave to live their lives but, I know you that you will always be loved by your family. Blood or not.”

A soft smile is offered to her, ruby gaze falling to his paws as he adds, “Two years old. At one point… I didn’t think I would live to see one.” Looking back up, he captures her gaze and smiles, trying to show her how one action changed the course of two lives and bound the boys to her. For better or worse, Chade and Ricin will follow Manea and her family where ever they go. For the rest of their days.

"Ricin Dauner"

Despite his young age and the hardships he had faced Ricin always surprised her with the depth of his view of the world and the brightness he seemed to see it with. To her it seemed like if there was anyone that had the right to see things for the darkness that they were it would be Ricin, but he never did. Perhaps that was why he was able to see so much good in her despite the depravity in which she lived her life. She smirked a little and nodded as he spoke about the beauty of the world that could be missed if they always looked toward tomorrow instead of living in the now. "You're certainly right about that." As he dipped his head with a bashful dismissal of his rambling thoughts, she reached up and caught the paw that was waving them away, giving him a smile as she gave his paw a gentle, reassuring squeeze with her larger paw. "Don't be sorry for sharing your thoughts. They're far more insightful and wise than others that are twice your age. Be proud and share them when you have them." Releasing his paw she gave him a smile before their conversation shifted to the length of time that he and his brother had been a part of their family here.

There was a glimpse of the excited pup she had helped to raise in his excitement over how long they had been together and she chuckled, grinning a bit at his enthusiasm. There was a part of her that wished that he, Chade, Avacyn, and Saracyn had been allowed even more freedom and the ability to just be excited pups longer. It was simply a result of the situation they were in at the time where she had no real choice but to rely on these young wolves as a crucial part of her pack. She tried her best to let them enjoy their younger days as much as she could and hid the worst of the stress that building this pack had created for as long as she could, but it was still a small regret for her.

He showed this older than his years side of himself again as he spoke of the changes that happened in their lives and the wolves that came and went around them. When he mentioned the love that her family had for her—blood and not—Manea couldn't help the touched smile that pulled at her lips, her ears flicking with a bashfulness that was unlike her. Her whole life had centered around service to her family and all she could really hope for was to make them proud and do right by them. Hearing things like that from Ricin made her feel like she must be doing something right. "I do hope so," she replied quietly. She knew that she couldn't make everyone happy or do everything right all the time, but if she could just manage to get through this life with all of her loved ones happy and healthy then she hoped that would be enough. If she ended up with their love at the end of it then that was just a bonus.

Manea watched Ricin glance toward the ground as he mentioned how at one point he hadn't thought that he would even see his first birthday and her expression softened with understanding, emotion sitting heavy on her chest as she thought about the state the boys had been in when she found them with Avacyn. In the grand scheme of the Mendacium family and the tenants that they tended to live by she knew that taking these boys in as her own and loving them the way she had was unlike much of her family's views on the world, but she didn't care. She felt confident that she had given them a good life here and she was proud of the young men they had grown into. Swallowing past the emotion that was threatening to form into tears, Manea got up and stepped forward, slipping a foreleg around his shoulders and pulling him into a tight embrace. "I'll be forever grateful that I found you that day. I'm so proud of you and your brother." She leaned back a bit, her aqua gaze catching his ruby eyes with a warm smile. "And I love you both very much."

Manea | Temno | Ciemny