Nirvana had shown up for the meeting, despite not actually being a member of the pack. Would she remain with Elysium? Would she continue wandering on as a drifter? It had been a year on the road, and a lot had changed. Nirvana had done some growing up, more growing up than she could have imagined. The disease that had befallen the world around them was... well, hell, it was a lot. Even after its passing, it had taken the girl some time to track down and return to her family. She'd returned, but for how long? There were choices to make. In order to make any kind of choice she'd need to speak with Manea as well. Her aunt, her beloved aunt. Though she'd been hanging around for some time now (a week? Two weeks?), they hadn't gotten a chance to speak yet. Nirvana supposed that she'd been busy, the responsibilities barely giving her a chance to step away. It made sense. That, and it wasn't that the young girl had really made herself easy to find. Sure, she'd been studying the packlands, but she still came and went as she pleased. It's hard to prevent the wandering, especially when she's so prone to it. But she'd shown up for the meeting. After it concluded, she'd remained in her seat. Nirvana would sit here until the others cleared away at long last. She'd wait. She'd have the reunion with her aunt that was coming in time. Nearly two years old, a year after departing the woman's side, she'd returned. They had so much to talk about.

As the meeting came to a close and a small group of wolves moved away to gather around Avacyn to work on their event planning while some others left to go about their day one familiar face remained as the crowd cleared. A grin pulled across her face as her aqua gaze landed on her niece and she rose to her paws, hopping down from the stone platform where she had been sitting throughout the meeting. "Well, what a pleasant surprise. If anyone was going to crash our meeting I'm glad it was you," she said with a chuckle as she walked over to where Nirvana was waiting. Her tail wagging gently behind her. As much as she believed in their family's mentality that if they had done their jobs correctly in closing the strongest of the litter then there would be no fear of harm befalling them while they were out of her sight she still couldn't deny the worry she had felt often over her long lost niece. She was the last piece of her dear sister and as much of a daughter to her as Avacyn was.

She affectionately pressed her nose to Nirvana's cheek as she came to sit in front of her with a happy, relieved smile still on her lips. When Alastor had let her know about finding Nirvana lurking around their territory she knew they would come together sooner or later so she didn't rush out to find her. She respected Nirvana's adventurous spirit and the wanderlust the girl had carried from a young age. She knew that when her niece was ready she would come to her and sure enough here she was. "How have you been, my darling? I've missed you." Her paw came to gently hold Nirvana's cheek as she spoke and she turned her head one way and then the other, examining her pretty features and making sure she still looked healthy and unharmed. From what she could see the nearly two year old was doing well, but she also knew how deceiving looks could be.

Manea | Temno | Ciemny

Nirvana's greeting to her beloved aunt was warm, a smile that reached up and colored even her gaze. A warmth that she hasn't felt in what feels like ages... in what feels like far too long. Family would do that for you, after all. Family... as much as she loved to explore, to roam, she loves her family too. It's undeniable. "I figured it might be time to come say hello," the words hold a bit of humor, there was no doubt in her mind that Manea realized she'd been haunting Elysium. She stretched up to nose at her aunt's cheek and ear, the comfort of the shared gesture washing over her. There were few things that she held dear, but family was at the very top of that short list.

How had she been? That was a question she could only consider how to answer. "Lately I've been well, but it was a long year." A seriousness held in her tone, Nirvana considered her words. "I caught that weird illness that went around this past winter, but otherwise there hasn't been anything major," she leaned into the paw on her cheek. Though tenderness doesn't come easily to her, it's with Manea that she can allow it to come through. Was she making light of just how close she'd come to being taken by the ooze? Yeah. But she didn't want to worry her aunt. "I missed you too." The words carry weight, and it wouldn't be often that Nirvana admitted to feeling... well, to feeling much of anything really. This was different, though, and she could let her guard down. Within Elysium, with Manea, she was safe.

"How have you been? Congratulations by the way, on the pack, on the pups... I can't wait to meet them." The words came quickly, almost all at once. The pups were barely children anymore. She thought of her aunt's announcement, and the fact that Avacyn would be planning a celebration in their honor. What a concept it was. Nirvana felt as if she'd been gone for ages, and she'd only just left, all at once. "What have I missed?" There were so many questions, it was hard not to throw them to Manea all at once. There was so much news, and so much to catch up on.

"Nirvana"

Manea nodded with understanding when Nirvana expressed how it had been a long year and a frown pulled at her lips when she heard that her niece had been inflicted with the same illness that had gripped Alastor and Avacyn. Occasionally she did regret not trying harder to keep her niece close. If she had been here she could have at least gotten the same care that her husband and daughter got while they were ill, but there was no point in second guessing old decisions now. It was part of their culture and way of life to want to explore and experience the world at some point. Usually it was to find their soul mate, but she could also appreciate Nirvana simply enjoying her youth. Perhaps she was even a bit envious of the freedom that Nirvana had to live her life as she wished instead of feeling the weight of looking after the rest of their family like she did. Her smile returned gently when her niece said how she had missed her in return. Manea's feline paw gently ruffled the fur on her niece's cheek before she lowered it again with a soft chuckle.

She grinned as Nirvana asked how she had been and congratulated her on her accomplishments in a tumble of words, following it up with a question of what she had missed. Manea gestured around them with her paw and replied, "Honestly, everything you see here has taken up most of my time since I saw you last." Getting their family established and the pack founded had been her only focus for so long that all of her actions had been geared toward that. "Alastor and I conceived Avacyn and Saracyn not too long after the two of us separated... It wasn't long after they were born that I started to find some more of our family and we lived here on the island for a while as a band. After the long night and the illnesses passed we did some traveling through Boreas and Auster to get to know some of the other alphas and packs, start building relationships and alliances." All of this had been a lot of work and dedication, but to sit here now and know that this was theirs, that they had a place to call their own and live their lives how they wished, it meant the world to her.

Her expression sobered slightly as she added, "Alastor and Avacyn also caught the same illness you did. They recovered, luckily, but... Like you said, it's been a long year." She gave a glance toward her daughter that was off to the side meeting with a few of the pack's wolves about the upcoming celebration and tried to picture what would have happened if she had lost either of them. With their mates and children being so few and precious any loss was devastating. She gave a little shake of her head and refocused her gaze on Nirvana with a small smile. She was grateful for everything she had been given, but that illness and the way the world descended into madness truly reminded her of how easily it could all be taken away. "What are your plans now?" she asked curiously to her niece, trying to keep her hopefulness that their separation might be at an end permanently in check. She would never force her niece into anything she didn't want and if being here in Elysium wasn't part of her plans then she wouldn't make her, but she could hope. "You know you're always welcome here if you want it," she added.

Manea | Temno | Ciemny

A soulmate. Nirvana wouldn't say it aloud, but she was disappointed that she hadn't met him in her travels. There was a growing theory, one that she was too afraid to share, that he wasn't out there. After all, the girl felt she'd cheated death by surviving the sickness. What if her soulmate had succumbed? What if it had taken him from this planet, leaving Nirvana cursed to be alone. A knot formed in her stomach every single time she thought of it. What if he'd met the same fate she was supposed to? What if she was cheating by being alive at all? She'd push the thought from her head, at least for now.

The grin they share is tender, soft. Nirvana wears her family name with pride, and there's something to be said for that. Manea's tale of the last year had her eyes wide, gaze dancing softly. The hard work, it had really and truly paid off. There was something beautiful-- more than beautiful about that. She's breathless from it, and it's absolutely wonderful. More of their family was here too... damn. She really had missed a lot. Her uncle, her cousin, they'd caught the illness too. Nirvana's gaze grew a bit more serious, nodding once. To have lost either of them to it... she couldn't imagine. "I'm glad they made it through okay," she murmured. There was no telling what the lasting effects of it all would be. Time. Only time would tell.

And there was the question of her plans. Nirvana settled back on her haunches, thinking for a long moment. A slow, deep breath, in... and then out. "I didn't even think that far ahead." The words were a quiet admission. "We talked about me coming back for my second birthday, and I guess I just... didn't picture it being like this." There was a bitter tone that colored her chuckle. She didn't picture coming back to her aunt alone and empty handed, in all of the exploring she'd done. Sure, she'd learned about the land and those that lived here. She'd learned all about them. She'd learned, and here she was... but she's still alone.

"I want to be here, with you, with our family... but I want to do something big." Nirvana's gaze returned to meet Manea's. There was something coursing in her system, terrible and brilliant. Nirvana, in fact, is both terrible and brilliant. Young, high strung, and deathly ambitious. That ambition is a fire in her chest that can't be put out. She burns for it, and she aches to do and be everything she can be, and more. Far, far more. "I don't wanna just be like everyone else, Manea." Though she'd try to keep her voice from cracking, maybe she'd failed. Nirvana was at a crossroads... she'd be two. Coming of age was such a weird concept. She needed to be someone. The girl was for an identity of her own, however she'd define it.

"Nirvana"

Manea couldn't quite picture what was going through Nirvana's head, but she could tell that something wasn't quite sitting right with the young woman and she wished she could alleviate whatever concerns had grown in her niece's bright mind. The dark-coated girl mentioned the desire to be here with her family, but also the desire to be her own woman, to so something big with her life, and Manea could understand those desires. It was the same train of thought that had led Manea to establishing Elysium and wanting more for their family than just being a fractured group of wolves that occasionally clustered together. She wanted to stake her claim on something that could grow and outlive her. She wanted to know that when she eventually went on to rejoin the Ancients there would be something here to help keep their family safe and grounded here—something that could continue on for generations to come. She appreciated Nirvana having a drive and a desire for more and she didn't want to tamp down those dreams.

She smiled softly as Nirvana insisted that she didn't want to be like everyone else and Manea reached over to rest her paw over Nirvana's as she brought her aqua gaze to look into her niece's violet gaze earnestly. "I don't want you to be like everyone else either. I want you to be yourself and nothing else. If being here doesn't fit with your goals and what you want for your life then don't sacrifice those things for me. What I want shouldn't be your deciding factor." She lifted her paw away as she sat up again, thinking the situation over a bit to try and find a middle ground for them that might work. "If you want, you can call this place home and keep a place here in our ranks, but you could come and go as your please. I'll support you in whatever ambitions you have and help you train for whatever you want to do." She let Nirvana absorb the offer for a moment, not wanting to rush her to come to a decision. "You can think it over if you want. The offer will always be there."

Manea | Temno | Ciemny

The search, the ache, the hunger to create something and be part of something that would live on far after they were gone. They all had it. They were all living it. Yet here, in these moments, Nirvana wasn't so sure that she could make it happen. Not in the same way Manea had. She'd been building her legacy for so long... Nirvana got to be a part of that. Where would she be able to leave her mark within it, among those of her family? She'd be able to do it with them, right? With them, and yet she still longed to do for herself, as well. She needed to. Longed to.

As her aunt rested a paw on her cheek, Nirvana leaned in. It was comfort. It was familiar. It was what she'd been missing the entire time she'd been on her own, and it's that tenderness which allows thoughts to slide into place. "I don't want to be far away from you again, at least not for that long." The words were quiet, a soft admission. It wasn't homesickness, no. It was something different, a longing for the nearness of family. Her family. The offer that comes is something Nirvana wouldn't have even thought to ask for. Holding a place within Elysium, but being able to come and go as she pleased. It's an idea that brings a glimmer to her eye, and a flutter of excitement to her chest.

"That sounds... even better than anything I would have thought up, really." Nirvana can't help it, she moves forward to press her cheek into the side of her aunt's neck. She's happy. She can keep her family, she can continue on her quest. She can do everything without having to give up anything... how did Manea get to be so smart, anyway? Nirvana is grateful for her, and grateful for her family, above all.

"Nirvana"