After hearing of Fia's return, Cerb too returned back to the island after a long journey nearly across the world, or their known world at least. He was as good natured as they came, he would never feel like the Mendacium's owed him. He wanted nothing in return for his search. He was just glad she had made it back safe. He'd want that for any of his own family.

He had taken a couple days rest around the island, keeping to himself as he usually did. He'd be back to work soon, though nothing ailed him. Instead of calling for Avacyn on the third day, he waited for her near the bases of the cave dwelling pack. Not uncomfortably but during the hours most would be traveling to the stores or switching for patrols. It seemed he had a lot to catch up on as he was notified from time to time. He assumed Ava might have most of the answers, or clue into everything going on. Soon he'd have to meet up with his siblings too. When he spotted her coming down from the mountains he rose with a gentle wag in his tail. Clearly he was waiting for her.

"Cerberus Kline"

It took longer for her to get ready for the day these days with the pups so she never got as early of a start as she had once been accustomed to, but soon enough she and Saracyn and the trio fed and ready to release onto the island for their usual adventures. She watched them go and hung back for a moment to pull on her armor and give her mate a kiss before they parted ways to divide and conquer their work. She intended to meet with Deimos again today to see if he had decided to accept her offer or if she would need to work out another solution, but first she wanted to do a quick patrol around the island. Now that all of her siblings were finally home it felt as if a heavy weight was lifted from her shoulders, but it was only one weight of many and if she was being honest she was looking forward to the possibility of sharing that weight with another set of shoulders.

However, as she approached the central part of the island where the various paths into the mountains converged she noticed Cerberus waiting, his attention immediately on her and making it clear that she had been the one he was waiting on. She looked at him with surprise and greeted him with a warm smile. She had sent word to him after Fia's return that he could stop his search, but she hadn't realized that he had returned. "Cerberus! It's good to see you again," she told him genuinely. "I hope that the search for my sister wasn't too hard on you. I do appreciate all the effort you put into the attempt." In the end Fia had found her way home on her own eventually, but that didn't mean she didn't feel indebted to the Klein man regardless.

"Avacyn Mendacium"

He would meet her half way once it was clear she saw him waiting for her. He nodded briefly before she thanked him for venturing out to search for her younger sister. "It was my pleasure, I hope she is doing well." He showed a warm grin she may have been familiar with to him, even though it had been some time since he was last in Elysium. Still, he felt like he was needed here in some kind of weird way. His heart would always be where his three closest siblings were. He wouldn't know of the harsh feelings that brewed between Scylla and the twins. "I have to admit I've missed Auster." The two families had lived completely different lives in their youth. He preferred the warm beaches of The Forgotten Isle, but he was easily adaptable. "Of course there were other things I missed too." Subtle, what was there for him to miss here? His brother and sister perhaps.

"Were you on your way somewhere?" He asked, maybe inviting himself. There were no hard feelings if she asked for privacy though. He didn't need a reason, he was simple.

"Cerberus Kline"

She gave a grateful nod to the well wishes for her sister. "I think it'll take some time for her to get settled back in, but she'll be fine," she assured him with a smile. She was less confident in the well being of her sister than she let on considering the state she had found her in recently, but that wasn't information that Cerberus needed to know. She chuckled softly at his comment about how he had missed Auster and gave him an understanding nod. She knew the mountainous terrain and typically chilly temperatures of their island wasn't everyone's preference, but she had grown quite accustomed to it. She was sure he had a similar preference for the warm weather of Auster having grown up there himself.

She managed to keep a smile as he mentioned the other things he missed while he was away and her thoughts immediately went to his siblings who were no longer here. She knew she'd have to have the same conversation with him that she had to have with Albion and she already knew how it was likely to end so she wasn't looking forward to it, but she would do it regardless. He asked if she was on her way somewhere and she nodded, replying, "I was about to do a patrol before some of my other meetings. Will you walk with me? I can fill you in on what has gone on in your absence."

Avacyn walked with him toward the island's shore and as they walked she tried to decide where to begin. Cerberus was one of the few wolves she told about her miscarriage shortly after it happened so that much of the story she wouldn't have to tell him. That made it slightly easier in a way and harder in others. She decided it was best to just cut to the chase as they began to walk along the beach. "I have to tell you that Scylla decided to leave Elysium in the time you were gone. Albion also returned recently and has left to find her." That was perhaps the most simplified version of things, but part of her wanted to leave it at that. "I was told that she was spotted somewhere near Valta recently and that is where Albion was going to start looking... I'll give you the same freedom to leave that I gave Albion if you want to take it. I understand the need to stay where your family is and I support that decision if that's what you want."

"Avacyn Mendacium"

He was glad to hear that Fiametta was mostly alright so at least his failed search didn't mean anything bad happened. It would be out of his paws anyway. Avacyn would invite him on the patrol which is what he figured when he had asked. He'd gladly walk a step beside her as they moved on to the outskirts of the lands.

As Avacyn had mentioned that Scylla had left and Albion had also returned before going after her he went quiet. Much like his brother did to the news. His usually more welcoming warm expression went stale as they proceeded in steps across the island. He wondered what drove Scylla to leave though he could have assumed it was because both him and Albion were gone. He just took a moment to process that the two he felt as littermates weren't 'home' when he came.

His expression turned back up a little as Avacyn had offered to let him and Albion leave Elysium if that's what they wanted. He was smiling for the gesture, not jumping for the opportunity out. "Thank you for considering Avacyn, I'll try to get you an answer soon." He didn't want to make a quick yes or no but he had strong feelings he would most likely be joining his siblings. Cerberus had an urge to find a new way of life, strive for more than what he had now. He loved his siblings, more than anything. But he felt like he was coming to an age where he needed to start having goals for himself. It wasn't a one way plan, but he had to ask himself what he wanted rather than where he felt he was needed. It would be a hard balance.

A cheek turned toward her as his brow raised while they walked, "I appreciate the update, but I wasn't really asking about them. I was thinking about you." Clearly she wasn't expecting that. Easy enough a man would like to know where his family was. But he thought of Avacyn as a good friend, at least one wolf he could truly relate to in her position. And with the coming change of the tides, he could hope she'd find time to take a step back and keep herself afloat.

"Cerberus Kline"

Avacyn nodded as Cerberus said he would get her an answer soon for whether he would leave or go. She had a feeling she already knew the answer, but she had always appreciated Cerberus' manners. She knew she wasn't one to talk since her siblings all had drastically different ways of approaching the world, but that also seemed to be very true for Chimera's children as well. She had encountered many more of them recently with Chimera and his mate moving in with their youngest children and all of them seemed unique in their own way.

Cerberus caught her off guard as he went on, mentioning his appreciation for the update on his siblings, but pointing out that he had in fact been asking about her. She blinked with surprise and glanced up at him to make sure she had heard him right. She had never thought that there was any kind of animosity between them the way there was between herself and Scylla or Albion, but she hadn't been expecting him to care about her wellbeing that much. She smiled a little and shifted her gaze back to the path ahead of them as she replied, "I've been... okay," a bit uncertainly.

There was a reason why he had been one of the only wolves outside of her family that she had initially told about the miscarriage. He was easy to talk to and at least gave off the air that he did care. Maybe that's why it was easier for her to go on to add, "Scylla agreed to be a surrogate for Saracyn and I so I've been learning how to be a mother while also still trying to be a leader. Having pups that I didn't have myself..." She sighed and shook her head, a frown crossing her lips as she looked down at the ground in front of her paws as she continued to slowly walk along the beach. "I'm so happy to finally have a family that I wanted so badly and I love them dearly, but... sometimes it feels like I'm raising my niece and nephews more than I am my own children. Plus, I'm... beginning to feel more and more like I wasn't meant to be an alpha, but I also don't want to let my mother down."

She shrugged and glanced over at him again. "I have everything I could have ever wanted so I'm not sure why it all still feels so hard."

"Avacyn Mendacium"

He raised a brow in step as she nearly avoided what was under the rug. But as she spoke about Scylla, his grin faded and he went completely silent. He didn't stop their walk along the patrol, but maybe she would at least catch what the news did to him. It wasn't plain and obvious what was going through his head, but the wheels were turning. He didn't know how to feel that Scylla had kids... Sara's kids. It was maybe expected given the circumstances of their family matters, but he didn't expect it so soon and especially not while he was away even if it was for a long time.

He tried to brush it off the best he could, it wouldn't ruin the friendship he felt for Avacyn. It would still take him a moment to snap back into reality, pulling up a softer grin as she went on to talk about what was really troubling her. He had to admit he felt for her, even if he couldn't relate exactly to her situation. He felt like they had similarities in their lives, but when it came to this... addition, in some strange way related to him, he couldn't put himself in her place."Avacyn," he said her name as if he truly cared about what she was going through. Because he did. He lifted a paw up to gently grab around her foreleg, causing the both of them to stop on the beaches, "There's no shame in feeling that way." He assured her, though it was probably hard for her to accept herself. Chimera disband Fenmyre, it wasn't up to Cerberus. This would be Avacyn's choice and feelings. He couldn't say so for Saracyn's children that she was raising as her own, but the statement still stood. He'd try to make her feel like she wasn't doing anything wrong. That whatever was stirring around inside herself was valid.

He dropped his paw from her, but still offered her an accepting grin when she looked back at him. "Just keep trying, I'm sure it will come naturally in time." A part of him felt like he wanted to see these kids that were Scylla's but most of him didn't. He had a natural familial urge to want to be with his blood relatives, especially the young ones. He really was a pup guy. But he didn't think he could bring himself to look at them, and look at Scylla again. The idea that they may have meant nothing to her, or everything to her. It would probably hurt to actually get to know them, from everyone's end. So he wouldn't ask. He'd try not to even consider.

"Cerberus Kline"

Avacyn hadn't been paying very close attention to Cerberus as she confessed to all of the feelings she had been wrestling with that had been too difficult to admit to those closest to her. Cerberus was a friend, but he was disconnected from he rest of her family enough that she felt safe confessing the things that might disappoint them to him. It wasn't until his paw caught her foreleg and forced her to stop that she blinked and looked up at him with a little confusion. She hadn't really expected more than a bit of sympathy and reassurance from him if she was lucky, maybe some ridicule and judgement if she wasn't, but instead he stopped their walk to get her full attention and when she looked up at him she saw a genuine interest and care in his expression.

He assured her that there was no shame in feeling the way she did and her ears flicked back uncertainly. Being in power, leading their family, being a mother, crossing all of the boxes of what it meant to be a successful Matriarch... All of that had seemed to come so easily to her mother and she had felt fated to walk that same path. Instead, she had struggled to step into the power that was given to her and she had to go down a path she really didn't want to follow in order to have a family because she had followed her heart instead of her logic and duty. She had been given every tool to be successful, but she chose to go against so many of the things that were expected of her. How was she not supposed to feel at least guilty about the choices she had made?

Still, when Cerberus gave her a grin and told her to keep trying she let out a slow sigh and returned his grin with one of her own. "I don't know about naturally, but... I know have to keep trying," she replied, still feeling uncertain but at least feeling a little bit of relief from finally getting to get her concerns off of her chest. She glanced down at the ground between them for a moment and there was a pause before she added, "I know I don't deserve friendship or acknowledgement from you or any of your siblings after what I did to Albion or after all of this with Scylla, but... I do really appreciate you listening. You're a good friend. They're lucky to have you."

"Avacyn Mendacium"

He could tell, and was glad that Avacyn could feel trusted in him. As much as Albion and Scylla were everything to him, that didn't mean he didn't care about anyone else. He wasn't sure if there would ever be a day he would find more priority over them, but he still hoped that others like Avacyn could find him as that safe space.

He could still understand, that Scylla's, or Saracyn's kids may not have felt so naturally her's even over time. But he hoped that caring for them every day like her own would help that. He did after all see all of Chimera's wives as his mothers in their own way. Siren was who mostly raised him, but he believed them all to be just this big happy family. That may have been overshadowed and maybe he was naive but all of his siblings had a special place in his heart regardless. He was too kind for his own good.

It seemed they both knew the answer of what would happen next, but Cerberus didn't want to jump to any conclusions. The idea that Scylla would shun him for being away for so long or while she had gone through this so unexpected experience in life didn't really seem possible to him. But it was in the back of his mind. "I don't want this to be goodbye, Ava." He spoke genuinely. As much as he was tied to them there would be no deception. He'd always be true to her as she had been to him. "I will see you again soon." He promised, not wanting to leave anything on such a bad note. He would return to her with his answer. But there only seemed to be one way. At least that's what he saw.

"Cerberus Kline"