Coming Home

Manea listened curiously as Nirvana began to tell her about some of her adventures, mentioning a land called Lyenne and the similarities it held to Boreas. Of course it was always a bit of a disappointment to put in time toward something and not come up with a result, but she was proud of Nirvana for not settling for anything less than she deserved. If the wolves of that land were lacking then she would rather Nirvana come home alone than with a weak mate at her side. Manea gave a small shake of her head when Nirvana mentioned how she didn't think she was being too critical and replied, "No, you can never be too critical when you're deciding on something as important as your soul mate. It's one of the few decisions we can't take back so be as critical as you want. Of course no one is without flaws, but there are plenty out there that have positives that far outweigh their negatives."

As they walked, Nirvana turned the conversation to asking for advice and Manea gave her niece a small, encouraging smile when she noticed the obvious discouragement in her tone. She gently nudged Nirvana's shoulder with her own, saying, "You'll find them," with certainty before she went on to talk about her own experience of finding her soul mate. Perhaps the search had been harder than her niece would have wanted, but Manea had no doubt that the Ancients had crafted someone special for her just as they had for all of them. She had learned that the way to finding that soul mate was not always easy, as she had witnessed with Deimos and Ikigai quite recently, but they were out there for each of them one way or another.

Thinking back to when she met Alastor, Manea's gaze turned off toward the path in front of them and a small, wistful smirk played on her features. "Well... I know it's not all that helpful to simply say you'll know when you find them, but... It's true. From the first moment that I saw Alastor and I saw his strength in a fight and experienced his passion and his humor... There wasn't a doubt in my mind that he was who the Ancients had made to be in my life." She chuckled softly, glancing back toward Nirvana again, "And now here we are, leading a pack together with three children and hopefully more to come should we be so lucky." She paused as she considered it for a moment, trying to find some nugget of actual advice for her niece, and she added, "In my experience, the one you're looking for always shows up when you aren't even looking for them. I wasn't looking for my soul mate when I met Alastor, I just happened to cross paths with him. You uncle Deimos met his new mate right when he had entirely given up his own search. Don't focus so much on the search. When the time is right someone will walk into your life that will fit what you desire."

"Manea Mendacium"