i've given you all and now i'm nothing

He wondered if she'd known just how long he'd gone looking for her, how he'd put his life on hold to search for her. It'd been ages, but he'd finally decided to settle down somewhere more permanent, knowing he couldn't go on looking for her forever. Part of him wondered if he should have, though - but surely she wouldn't want them for him either. Part of him hoped the topic would never come up. He didn't want credit for how religiously he'd searched for her, nor did he want to be wracked with guilt over not searching just a little bit longer.

Corvus felt her sway and his embrace only tightened, wrapping his neck tightly around hers as his tears continued to fall, turning a cry into a full-blown sob. He couldn't be mad at her, couldn't be disappointed she hadn't found a way to send word that she was okay. All he could be was grateful she'd returned. Grateful she'd get to meet his children. Grateful for a little more time with the few family he had left.

He pulled away just slightly when Jay found them, asking who this was. The concern and empathy was written plainly all over her features. "Jay, this is my cousin." Theory wasn't quite an aunt, but truth be told she as close as any sibling had ever been to him, so did the words used really matter? "She's your aunt." Was that okay? As if searching for her reaction, Corvus tilted his head back toward Theory.

There was so much to say, and somehow so little. All this time, when he hadn't been looking for her, he'd been trying to settle down. To raise his family right. There wasn't much more to it than that. "Why don't you go see where your sisters and brother are? Maybe you all could help me fix a den up so Theory can stay awhile," he asked, as much a gentle command as it was a question, pointed his cousin's way. Surely after whatever journey she'd mad she'd want to rest before... whatever came next. He didn't need to think about that. "I'm sure they'd be delighted to meet you. All six of them," Corvus commented, between bouts of sniffing back tears. "All girls except for one," he added, a little tentatively, hoping this wasn't an overload of information for her.