So much has changed PACK MEETNIG

She looked to the members of the pack that arrived. She knew she was missing a few faces, a thought that added to her sadness. But, she had not been tendering well to the garden that was Abaven of late. With her sister and brother-in-laws death, with their children being passed on to her.. With recovering from the fire, her daughter missing. She had tried to keep Abaven running, but things were slipping through the gaps. Another reminder that passing this on to the next generation was the right thing to do. The Alphess was feeling her age, so very clearly.

“Thank you for coming,” she said, looking out at the wolves, seeing Vail’s children.. So many pups among them, and the adult members. She gave them all a smile. She gave Leonce an especially bright one, seeing sadness in his eyes, and the way he seemed to stand alone. She knew he had done his best to help during the fire, had she thanked him for it? She wasn’t sure… so much, slipping through the cracks.

“I want to thank everyone for the work they’ve put in after the fire. The Thicket is growing again, and before we know it it’ll be blooming as brilliantly as it once was. As some of you might have noticed, we have a lot of new, young faces among us. They are too young to go far from their dens, so if everyone can keep an eye on the little paws running amok, that would be wonderful. As some of you know, Vail and Solor are no longer among us.” she didn’t expand on that, she would not rub it into the little ones noses who where here among them, but the pack would understand what she meant.

“Now, some important pack matters… with the disappearance of Motif, Rhyme will be stepping down from Alphaship and searching for her” a sudden thought chilled her. She was told that was why Bass had left, to search for lost little ones, and he had never returned. But no, Rhyme would never… he would come back to them, she knew it. “Theory will be stepping up as Heir, as Poem will be helping Rhyme. I will be going through some vigorous training with her, and then stepping down to raise Vail’s children, once Theory is ready” and to give herself a chance to mourn she managed to say it and keep her composure, it was a start. “I will still be here, in a Tier two capacity, mentoring her well she learns. I know that everyone in this pack will help her along the way to learning. She said, looking at her members with pride. Abaven had been through a lot of rough patches in his existence, but they got through it, they always did. “If anyone has any questions or concerns, speak up so I can address them.”