This particular evening found Arpeggio standing vigil beneath a willow tree a ways back from the river, her eyes fixed firmly on the darkening oranges and purples of the sunset. The changes in the pack and the changes in herself were troubling the girl. Everything happening so fast now after a year of stagnation that she didn't know how to cope with it, and the distraction the Abraxas occupation provided as a bulwark against her grief at losing her mother was gone. Melancholy and grief had brought her here, where she had buried her mother a year ago. Alone, a yearling in a strange place with the prospect of needing to learn to fit in and learn to be part of a pack without her mother's guidance, she had buried Harmony here only the day before the fateful meeting that had resulted in Sparrow submitting to the Abraxas. She'd never even gotten the chance to tell Sparrow and Lark about their aunt's death before the meeting. Would things have gone differently? No, probably not. Her mother had always been a gentle soul, and she'd believed strongly in an alpha's leadership. Peggy didn't see it - maybe Bass had been the great leader Harmony had always said, but she herself had never seen an alpha worth following in Sparrow. She'd been left to drift alone and unguided, and resentment had grown in the wake of that very lack. Shaye seemed to think that she would be the leader Abaven needed, and maybe she was right. Peggy couldn't say whether she had those qualities, since she'd only ever seen Sparrow as an alpha and didn't know what to look for. She just knew she was tired of being treated like she and the rest of the pack were useless nuisances who had somehow ruined everything. And she couldn't even ask her mother's advise now, and somehow that was the hardest thing of all to bear. She ought to go find Lilliana and Lark's den and see if she could help, since there'd been no active healer in the pack for some time. But it had been Harmony who had taught her what she knew, and the idea of getting up and using that while she hadn't even been able to save her own mother brought a deep pain to her chest to choke her. But she wouldn't cry. Tomorrow - tomorrow she would go see Lilliana and see if there was anything she could do. For now, she just wanted to be with her mother.

Corvus wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to feel about anything. His parents weren't much help - his mom was still sick, and his dad seemed worn-down in a way that wasn't totally unlike a different kind of sickness. Either way, he wasn't sure how he was supposed to feel about someone who was apparently family coming back after being gone for so many years. Shaye admittedly she'd had come specifically to take over, but seeing what was happening to Abaven had prompted her to take action. She didn't give many details, which seemed to concern some of the pack... Peggy, in particular, who'd been more vocal than he dared to be. Still, she'd promised him things would get better - a promise that comforted him more than he'd expected it to. In the days following the meeting he kept replaying his cousin's words in his head, hoping she hadn't been lying to him, or saying things just for the sake of it. He had to trust her though, she'd been here since he could remember, and she was family. Still, though her words had been comforting, they didn't lift his mood entirely. No, the yearling's head was a busy place these days and finding much solace in anything was proving difficult. He let out an audible sigh as he trudged away from the rapids, not heading any direction in particular. Only when he caught a whiff of Arpeggio's scent did he decide that talking to her might help. She was older, and therefore wiser, and he didn't like the idea of burdening his parents with his worries currently. Even leaning on Aiden and Rhea was sounding less appealing right now, since they were dealing with the same things he was, and talking to them about their mom and dad and everything going on in Abaven would seem redundant. Instead, he trailed quietly after Peggy's scent, offering a faint smile when he finally found her, standing beneath a willow tree. "Hey Peggy," he greeted her, a bit too glumly, before recognizing something strange in her own demeanor that he couldn't quite place. "You okay?" His brows furrowed in worry as he moved to stand near her.

A familiar voice drew her out of her misery, and Peggy lifted her head to see Corvus standing there. She sniffled as quietly as she could to get rid of the unshed tears that had stuffed up her nose and blinked quickly to banish them from her eyes before she turned to meet him. "Hey Cor," she answered him back with an attempt at a smile that came out somewhat more morose than intended. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Yeah, I'm fine. Rough night is all. Can't sleep." She moved closer to her younger, taller cousin and gently bumped his shoulder - or, well, his elbow, anyway, since his actual shoulder was a bit far out of her reach. Despite the difference in their size she felt the urge to curl protectively around him like he was a pup, or a mother hen fluffing her feathers over a scared chick, her soul reaching for something familiar in her protective nature to distract her from her own problems. "How are you holding up?" ""

Were those tears in her eyes? For a moment he was distracted by the way her mismatched eyes seemed glazed-over, but perhaps it was just a trick of the eye. He decided not to dwell on it, knowing fully well it wouldn't make him feel any better if he decided his older cousin was struggling equally as hard as he was. He didn't have many wolves to look up besides his parents, so leaning on Peggy was only natural - and that was why seeing her so glum was concerning. Empathy wove its way onto his features, furrowing his brow as he watched her greet him, not nearly as chipper as he expected. He returned her smile with a slightly glum one of his own, though he perked up as she bumped his leg, his mood lifting a bit. "I know the feeling," he concurred with a nod. Sleeping had been hard lately. Surely he was plenty old enough to leave his parents' den now, but he'd been inclined to stay there anyway despite being fully grown now. Keeping an eye on his mom, and even his dad, helped keep his mind at ease. Maybe it was time to considering finding a place of his own to sleep, but he wasn't quite ready for that yet. He sighed as he reclined to his haunches, grateful for the company, and leaning somewhat subconsciously into Peggy. "I've been okay, I guess. Mom's still sick and.. I'm not really sure about these new family members showing up." Maybe he wasn't really supposed to be voicing these concerns out loud, but he trusted Peggy and he really wanted to talk to someone about it.

Corvus, too, seemed glum tonight, though who could blame him. She nodded when he said that his mom was still sick, then sighed when he mentioned not knowing what to do about the relatives who'd shown up. "And I know that feeling," she groused, gaze turning in the general direction of where Shaye and the various new "relatives" had taken up there various dens with a faint frown. "I mean, your dad recognizes them though, right? He's been here longer than anyone, and they're supposed to be his first cousins or something." Hers too, come to think of it. Sometimes it was hard to remember that she was actually part of a completely different generation than Corvus. She was a lot closer in age, and frankly a lot closer emotionally, to Corvus and his siblings than to Shaye or Rhyme, whose parents were her mother's siblings. "If your dad thinks they're who they say they are, they must be," she concluded, with more certainty about it than she actually felt. "We're going to make sure that all of us, you and me and Cael and your sister and brother, we're going to get trained the way we should have been already. We're going to be able to take care of our families..." she faltered a second, eyes straying to her mother's grave beneath the tree, remembering that neither she nor Cael actually had immediate family anymore, but then her voice firmed again, "and we're going to take care of each other, all five of us. It doesn't matter what happens, we'll always have each other." She gave a firm nod and drew her much-larger cousin into a hug. ""

Corvus couldn't ignore the slight feeling of tears pricking at his eyes when he spoke, and almost immediately he felt foolish for nearly crying. Somehow talking about his mom seemed to tug at his heartstrings, and he was frustrated over the fact that she wasn't getting better as well as that he didn't really know the new wolves that had shown up. But Peggy was right - dad did know them, even if he hadn't seemed very close to them. "Yeah, they are who they say they are," Corvus shrugged, sounding a bit resigned. It didn't necessarily help his worries though, and it annoyed him that he didn't feel more thankful for it. Wasn't it better than being held by strangers, strangers who had a bad reputation? Maybe it wouldn't end up being so bad but Corvus was having a hard time not being stubborn about it. "He doesn't say much, so I don't think he knew them very well." Maybe that was where his own uncertainty came in. Either way, he knew he should stop being a baby about it, but things like that were easier said than done... Her next words seemed to easy his anxiety though. They'd make sure they were trained, and could take care of their families. He watched where Peggy's gaze fell then, noting the sadness in her eyes despite not knowing exactly where it stemmed from. Peggy's assurance, as his older cousin, naturally comforted him. He sighed, leaning into her familiar touch gladly. He was never an overly touchy-feely wolf but he'd grown close to his cousin and he presence was deeply soothing to him when it felt like nothing else was. "I want to learn to fight," he admitted tentatively as their hug came to a close, eyeing her in the dim moonlight. His formerly dreary voice was full of conviction now that he'd somehow found in the midst of Peggy's convincing words. "So that if anyone tries to come and take Abaven from us again, we'll be able to stop them." He was still just a yearling, and knew that was probably a foolish thought, but that didn't stop him from wanting to at least attempt to defend his family in their time of need - and he had a feeling Peggy would be able to relate to him.

Peggy just nodded slowly when he talked about how Lark hadn't known those relatives well. Simply growing up in the same pack wouldn't have necessarily made them close, if Abaven now was any indication - Peggy barely knew Aiden and Rhea, for instance, let alone all the new members Shaye had brought in - and Shaye had been supposed to have been gone for quite a long time. "Me too," she did say, firmly, when he spoke up about wanting to learn to fight. "My mom taught me some healing, but what use is just healing when there are evil wolves out there trying to hurt people you love? I want to help people, but healing just isn't enough. If Sparrow had been a fighter and not just a healer, she'd have fought to protect Abaven instead of letting them take over." She was surprised by the depths of the resentment that bubbled up over that, that no one had fought to protect their home and their way of life. They were forever going to be tiptoeing around the Abraxas now, because Sparrow had let them have their way once and now they thought they could keep doing it, the bastards. She blew out a breath in a slow sigh. "I'll make sure Shaye gets us mentors so we can actually learn how to fight, and I'll keep practicing healing so I can get better at that too. Things will get better." ""

Admittedly, Corvus felt quite a bit better now that he'd admitted some of what he was feeling to his cousin. Even if it didn't change anything, talking about it helped, and even now he found himself breathing a sigh of relief. Maybe he just needed to.. like.. open up to some of the other wolves close to him, maybe that would help his mood overall. He definitely felt a touch less somber than he originally had when he'd headed this way this evening. Peggy agreed that she wanted to learn to fight too. "Knowing some healing helps, though," he offered, though his words were followed by a small shrug. He recognized the frustration in his voice, and despite his lightened mood he felt a similar bit of resentment rising to the surface. "And if she doesn't find us mentors, we'll find them elsewhere." Where, he had no idea, but he wasn't interested in wasting his life away and not learning some skills that would help protect him and his family. "We'll make sure this next year's a better one, Peggy."

Peggy nodded as Corvus spoke of his own resolve. She was glad to hear it, that her young cousin was as determined as she was to take control of his own life instead of depending on anyone else to finally pay them any attention. Their future was their own, and they obviously couldn't rely on their elders to take care of their needs anymore. Sparrow's lack of interest in them had made that clear, and she was wary of assuming that Shaye would be any different. "Thank you, Corvus," she said softly, though she didn't give a particular reason and really she wasn't sure exactly what it was that she was thanking him for. Just... just for being there when she needed someone. They said pain shared was pain halved, and it seemed that just by voicing her frustrations and concerns and hearing his, it had lessened some of the burden of loneliness from her young shoulders. She managed a smile for him, one that didn't feel quite as much like she had to force it. "You should try to get some sleep. I know I will," she added, taking the opportunity to slowly stretch. She'd been sitting there for some time, and even her lithe young body was feeling a bit cramped. "Good night, Cor." She bumped him with her shoulder affectionately, then moved off towards her den, muffling a yawn as she did. Like lancing abscess, talking about it had released a great deal of the tension and turmoil keeping her awake, and without it her body was suddenly demanding the sleep it had been craving. Time and passed to find her den and give in to that demand. -exit Peggy-