Walk | "Talk" | Think
It had only been a couple days since Aranea had her run in with Nuada. She still couldn't really make sense of what happened and since then it was the only thing on her mind. She had been happy for what seemed like a whole season at least and now that her thought-to-be-dead daughter appeared back into her life she wasn't sure how to shuffle the emotions. In her past she pushed Nuada away, only unknowingly due to her state of depression after being left behind by her lover and thieved of her son. Still, she blamed herself for what happened. And now looking at Nuada's beaten and frail body, she couldn't feel any more guilty.

She came to the cliffs to sort out these feelings. She wasn't on the cliff's edge but was sitting facing the ocean's horizon. If Allegro was out or even around his den in the Serpent Plains, he could have caught on to her scent nearby. She didn't expect him to come, but there was still a longing for his comfort. She would have never entered Abaven without his escort or without asking permission herself. But she wasn't entirely sure if she wanted his company. Of course she craved his embrace but she felt she was continuously a nuisance with all of her emotional baggage. Not that he really cared that she drug it along.

Her ear was noticeably clipped and would remain torn for the remainder of her life. Though there was a lot more attention drawn to it now while it was scabbed and irritated and still a little bloody from time to time. Aranea thought highly of her appearance but surprisingly the clip didn't bother her too much. It was only thinking of the worry her small maim would put on Allegro. She already had to deal with putting the attack off as nothing serious to her pack. But it seemed her explaining would go a little differently in the eyes of her lover.

Lingering near the border between the Serpent Plains and the Moontouched Cliffs was something he had found himself doing more and more since Aranea began going back to The Hallows whenever he wasn't busy with something around the pack or doing something with the pups. He knew that Aranea wouldn't come into Abaven's lands on her own even though he had insisted that she was welcome to, but because of that he always wanted to be around to catch if she was somewhere near by. He didn't want to ever miss out on a chance to see Aranea or get their children more time with their mother so he had no problem with lingering on the border closest to The Hallows to make sure he was there whenever she called.

Today there wasn't a call though. He was walking along the pack's border when he caught Aranea's scent on the breeze and it made his head pop up with interest. Without hesitation he turned and trotted off into the freshly snow dusted slope that led up toward the cliff, his blue eyes scanning for her pale form with a little smile on his lips. He deeply missed her constant presence from the time she spent with them after the pups were born so any moments he could have with her were extremely precious to him. However, as soon as he spotted her and ran over to her with a grin, he spotted the tear in her ear that was clearly still healing and it made his smile fade with worry. He slowed to a stop in front of her, his ears flicking with concern as he looked over the wound. "Aranea, are you alright? What happened?"

Walk | "Talk" | think

Walk | "Talk" | Think
She sensed the presence of Allegro as he neared, not only by the scent of him and Abaven and their children, but it was almost like she felt a sixth sense as the distance closed between them. The tension of his wanted or even needed affection as the scent grew closer.

She turned her head to face him, but her eyes dropped down quickly from his as she felt an embarrassment or disappointment of her appearance. Strange for her to not think she wasn't beautiful enough for him, perhaps a leap in their relationship or her true feelings for him that had blossomed over time. She was more worried about his own concern on the small maim, because surely he wasn't happy about it.

"It was... Nuada. My daughter." If there was anything Allegro thought he didn't know about Aranea, there was really not much else she could tell. He knew about her deeper secrets, or really the things she just wished to keep quiet and move on from. A young and naive girl who ran after love, had pups at a young age, and lost them. All that she felt was her own fault not that it was or wasn't. And where she was healing those emotional wounds, she wanted to and was taking Allegro's advice seriously with looking forward into the future with him and their children. "I truly thought she was dead, but I found her at the Rio Grande. She attacked me, I don't know why. She ran off towards the north." Her voice and expression showed great worry, that of what was wrong with her first daughter and that of what Allegro would feel about the situation itself. Though she somehow didn't have any tears to shed over it, maybe still processing the whole ordeal. "And she wasn't well, Allegro. She was covered in maims, she was frail. I'm worried about her, but I'm scared to go after her."

Psalm, for all she loved her father was not happy that her mother was around less and less. She stuck much closer to Allegro for this reason, though she didn't always do so obviously. She shadowed the man, she may not have looked much like him but anyone that spotted her couldn't deny the obvious attempt to copy his movements or his path, even as she did her best not to be caught by him...

There was some part of her that she was the reason their mother was pulling away... after all out of all of her siblings Psalm knew she looked the least like either of her parents. Balthier was so much like their father and Solo carried the obvious reds of their mother... and Forte was like both of them... but Psalm did not think she looked anything like her parents... and somehow that was the reason her mother was leaving them.

This reasoning was enough for her to assume her father wouldn't like to find her following him as much as she was. Still that didn't stop her, and so when her father left the packlands it only took a moment of hesitation for the girl to do the same, trailing further and further behind him as she felt more and more guilty about leaving... But as she drew closer and she finally realized the trail she was following was a mixture of both her parent's scents the girl picked up her pace, racing up the hill. Then stopping short when she saw the scene unfolding out before her... Psalm wasn't sure what was wrong... but she knew something was.

"Momma?" She asked, timidly?

Since they'd been allowed to leave the den more often now, Solo had taken to racing around and exploring the pack lands. Though he remained close to the den and didn't go far. Despite all his energy and sure attitude, he was hesitant to go very far on his own. However, as he sat there gnawing on a stick he had found, he spotted his sister wandering out of pack lands. His rigorous chewing had slowed to mindless chewing as he watched her go, and honestly he was a little confused. She normally stuck close to their dad like an annoying little shadow, which meant...she was following dad! He popped up onto his feet and raced after them, not quite keeping quiet or trying to hide his steps though he didn't care if he was caught following after them. With the stick in tow, he hurried on as he wondered what they were doing. He assumed his dad was taking his sister out on an adventure, but he didn't think it was fair if he didn't get to go! As he drew closer though, he smelled his sister and father. "Hey! Why does she get to go adventurin' and not me!" He exclaimed as he closed the distance between him and his sister. It wasn't until he came up beside her that he saw his mom. He had been so focused on why his sister was coming out here that he had failed to detect his mom's scent until she was practically right in front of them. The stick slid from his mouth as he tilted his head towards his parents, "Momma? Were you comin' to visit us?" He was bothered that they didn't see her every day like they did dad, and honestly he didn't understand why she wasn't with them every day. "Speech"