Avalon

The start to her day had been anything but a good morning. Summer was here again, she was in heat, she was irritated, and she was pissed. For seasons now she had done her best to curb the emotions that plagued her since Newol disappeared. The sting of betrayal still felt as fresh as ever, and she had been done crying long ago. Now, she had been caring for her sick children. The other two as strong as ever, and with Dragon no longer grounded, he was out and about doing whatever his rebellious mind desired. That was the least of her worries for now. Her tail lashed, her fur bristled as her thoughts became harder to control. She was itching to release some of her pent up anger, but even after the mention of raids in the meeting not too long ago, well...she had a feeling not even that would satiate her fury. Yes, she was upset with Celestial. Surreal in particular whether she was supposedly family or not. (Not that she acted like it since Avalon had been adopted into the family), and it was because of Newol, she severed herself and her family from the Adravendi name. Her own name would not be dragged down with them. As she paced back and forth, wearing a path from the den to one of the blooming peach trees, she abruptly stopped and lifted her head. A powerful call for Valentine was sent out, not too demanding but more so saying that she wanted to talk to him. She needed to talk to him to try and sort out what she should do. He was younger then her yes, but he was wise. He had been running Imperium at a young age, and he always seemed to know what to do. Besides...she had no one else to get advice from.

Valentine moseyed down the aisles of the Orchard in search of Avalon. Her call had come from this direction but he had yet to scent her. With summer upon them the Orchard was filled with the sweet smell of sun warmed fruit. Very little had fallen and rotted at this point, so the scent was pure and clean. He moved slowly, taking in the heady scent deeply and simply enjoying the serene beauty around him. Avalon's call hadn't been tinged with urgency so he felt confident he could enjoy the search without rushing.

Ah, there she was. Even from a distance he could see she was on edge. Valentine frowned thoughtfully. Had he misinterpreted the nature of her call? It looked like she'd been pacing. As he neared her, he called out, "How goes it, Avalon?" Clearly something was amiss.

The woman's pacing would abruptly stop when she heard the male's voice. How goes it? If only better. She took a deep breath to try and calm herself, not wanting to act like an out of control crazy woman in front of him. But even if she did, would be blame her? Not only was she in heat, but she was pissed beyond words could describe...or so she felt, anyway. Fiery amber gaze met blue as she tried to force herself to relax. But what she really felt like doing was maybe score her claws across a few trees...ah..if only she were a bear. "Things could be better, Valentine. I hope I haven't disturbed you?" She was sure he had better things to do, but who else could she turn to? "Talk" "You" Think

”I hope I haven't disturbed you?” Valentine was quick to assure her, ”No, not at all.” Clearly something was up. Avalon had more than her share of problems. One after another, bad things kept befalling her and her family. He'd never lost a child so he could only imagine what kind of hell that was. Even if he had, Valentine would have had someone to lean on, someone to grief with. Avalon didn't even have that. She had packmates, sure, but that wasn't quite the same.

For a moment he studied her in silence as he tried to gauge the depth of her...unhappiness? Anger? Frustration? He wasn't sure what he was looking at. She was upset, that much he knew. Whatever she was feeling, Avalon stood in stark contrast to the serene Orchard around them. ”Alright, out with it. What's wrong, Avalon?”

Ah Valentine, always so understanding and patient. At least, that's what she'd come to see so far. She frowned as her mood quickly became obvious, her fur bristling and her tail lashing. She could feel her heart pumping with barely contained emotions, and she felt like she could explode any minute. "Alright, out with it. What's wrong, Avalon?" She huffed as her frustration grew. He was her alpha, almost a friend if she could call him that. They had spoken a few times and it seemed like more then just pure business...she felt she could trust him the way friends could trust each other, but maybe it was just her. At last, she turned to him with her voice coming out sharper then she expected. "I've wasted so much time! And for what? For that bastard to turn his back on me and my children? If I had known what would happen, I would have told him to go fuck his master Surreal and that would be the end of it!" Her voice became colored with anger as she began to pace. Yes, she disliked surreal because she believed she played some part in it. Even when Avalon had joined one of her meetings to potentially join when the Adravendi woman was planning celestial, surreal had given her a look like she didn't want her there. In the end, Avalon had left and never bothered to speak to the woman despite her previous efforts. It was clear surreal wanted nothing to do with her, and with Newol being so close to the woman, she knew She had something to do with his leaving. What was wrong with her? She never talked like this! But somewhere along the line, everything had piled up and it was beginning to take its toll on her. She paced from one tree to another and back, her face showing obvious anger as she bared her teeth and snarled."I could have had my home back! I could have started my life in the North like my father had for us! I swear if I ever see that traitor again he will lose his rights as a man!" At that, she snapped her jaws around a low hanging branch that had been getting on her nerves everytime she turned around. It snapped violently before she spit out the remnants. Her ears flattened, she didn't think about how she must look now. Crazy, probably. But would he understand? "Talk" "You" Think

His question triggered an explosion of anger and in an instance Avalon was spitting mad. After her initial outburst the woman took up pacing before him. Passively Valentine tracked her angry movements with his gaze as he waited for her to finish. He didn't get the sense she was done speaking and was willing to wait a few beats to test that assumption. Clearly this meant a lot to her and the wounds loosed upon her by the disappearance of her mate had festered with time. The mention of Surreal earned a slow blink; the gesture outwardly ambiguous and brought about by surprise. He hadn't the slightest idea what the alpha of Celestial had to do with Avalon's MIA baby daddy. Perhaps he'd been a part of her pack? Avalon's use of 'master' implied some kind of authority held over him at some point, but then again it was possible that the scorn that emphasized the word undermined its use.

Avalon unleashed another torrent of venom on the absentee daddy before taking out some of her aggression on a nearby branch. With the branch severed she fell silent. Valentine frowned thoughtfully. He wasn't exactly a counselor - mainly he solved his own problems with beatings -  and he didn't feel like the best person to be giving advice. "Wherever he is, he would be wise to stay here," Valentine observed.

He eyed the pieces of the broken branch. Perhaps he could say one thing... "You may not be where you'd hoped to be at this point in your life, but I see no reason why - what was his name again? - why the disappearance of this man should keep you from reaching your goals. You've had setbacks, sure, but who hasn't? Are you not still as capable as you were then?" he queried gently.

Her shoulders dropped with the weight of her emotions, her sharp gaze dropped to the ground as she breathed deeply to try and reign in what she was feeling. She must look stupid acting like this in front of him. But she'd held it in for far too long. When she finished, Valentine spoke, and he was right. It would be wise for the man to remain where he was. Otherwise, she'd have no choice but to show him the error of her ways, and she knew it wouldn't be easy for her either. Taking a deep breath, she looked at Valentine, a look of mixed emotions as she quietly listened. His voice was gentle, more then she had expected, but then again she wasn't sure what to expect to begin with. "Newol is his name. " Her ears fell back a little, even saying his name left a bad taste in her mouth. Shaking her head, she frowned. Yeah, she'd had tons of set backs, and she felt like for every step she took, she was pushed three steps back. It wasn't fair, but she never gave up. " No. I won't let this stop me. " She felt a little more relaxed now, like a small bit of weight drifted away. But what would she do when the time came? When she was ready? She had a lot more confidence then she used to. And it only grew since she'd been here. " I will keep going. But... I've been thinking too... What do I tell my children when they decide to ask where their father is? I never thought I'd find myself in this situation, it's only ruined my senses...I don't like to be angry like this... " Sighing heavily, she wondered if he'd been through anything similar, if he'd ever been as angry as she had. But she didn't want to pry into his personal life. "Talk" "You" Think