Samara Klein Samara was hitting the wall of old age while having Suspense around to help was one thing the truth was she wanted to give her daughter a chance to live her life without feeling like she needed to take care of her mother, and that's the thing that brought her here. It would have been easy to go to Ashen, to go and live with her family but she also was acutely aware that Suspense would never have been a good fit for the empire. So here they were. Samara led her daughter to the borders and gave her a gentle smile. "Promise me that you'll not let me hold you back." She said softly, Suspense nodded a little absently and Samara leaned into her daughter to get her attention. "It's my job to take care of you, not the other way around, okay?" This time the nod was more focused though Samara was sure that her daughter would worry anyways. She hadn't yet fully bounced back from her father's death and her mother's progressing age no doubt only exacerbated her feelings about it. Still, she would not push the subject and tipped her head back to call for an alpha. "Speech", Thoughts & You

Suspense had been with her mother since Abaven's fall, they'd done a little wandering which had finally helped to ease her pain, she wasn't back to who she'd once been but she was no longer in a dark place. But she was also hyper-aware of her mother's age, and it was giving her anxiety. It was clear her mother didn't want her to be so focused on her, she'd told Suspense multiple times that it was important that she get out there, and meet others, Suspense was 4 years old and had no social life to speak of.

So it had been decided they'd join a pack, find a place where her mother could settle down, and would give Suspense a place to start unsticking herself from her mother. She had conflicted feelings about it if she was being honest but she also knew she needed to make sure she was ready for her mother's death, and being alone when she passed would probably kill her. And so she went. The short conversation at the border felt like a million years but once she'd given her mother a response she seemed to accept they finally made themselves known, Suspense suppressed a shiver, she wasn't sure yet what she was getting into.


"Speech!"

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A call came for the alpha, and... well... the alpha was her, so Corbie set down what she was doing and stretched until her back popped. She'd been at it for some time now, anyway, going through the kit for lambing to be sure it was all in good condition, so she could have used a break anyway. It was a reminder, though, that she'd need to start shuffling some people into higher ranks where they could assist with these sorts of calls in case she was busy. If she was paws-deep in a sheep struggling to birth a lamb when someone decided to join, she couldn't leave to go greet them after all. But this was not at all that situation yet, so she left the barn for the border with a spring in her step. Upon reaching the caller - callers - she saw that it was an older woman and a younger who was closer to Corbie's own age. Mother and adult child, perhaps, given the degree of resemblance. She smiled to them both and inclined her head in greeting. "Hello, and welcome to Avalon. I'm Corbie, the alpha here. How may I help you both?"

Samara Klein They were not left to wait for too long, it was no surprise that the woman that approached them was taller than either of them, that wasn't exactly hard to do and was more likely than not in her experience. She gave the woman a smile, in her youth it might have been a facade but time and her family, not the Kleins but her children and Rhyme had softened her much, her siblings would likely have been surprised to see her now. Not that she had lost her edge, she simply didn't see the need to use it as much anymore. The young woman gave them an introduction and Samara dipped her head. "Greetings Corbie, I am Samara Klein and this is my daughter," she'd give Suspense a moment to introduce herself before continuing, "we are former members of Abaven, we spent some time on our own but have decided it is time to return to pack life. Unfortunately travel is not easy for either of us, however I am not keen to join just any pack, would you mind giving us some information about Avalon?" The truth was if they wanted to be in a pack there weren't many options, they both could not travel particularly well and she already knew that Suspense would not do well with the Klein way of life, but she wasn't about to let Suspense walk into a den of snakes. "Speech", Thoughts & You

Suspense would stay mostly silent, she wasn't sure she knew exactly what was needed in this situation, she'd been born in Abaven and while she was not normally a shy wolf she felt very out of her depth here so she was glad when her mother took over when Corbie arrived and gave the pair of them an introduction. "Suspense." She added when she realized that her mother was waiting for her to provide her own name and listened to what her mother said, trying to absorb it all. Y'know just in case. She did not hold her mother's reservations about other packs, she was admittedly quite naive still, unaware of the vast majority of the evils of the world and so unaware of what she needed to be wary of. Still knowing what a pack was about was probably a good idea right? What if they were all about rocks or something and she just wasn't into it?


"Speech!"

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Corbie smiled in genuine happiness at the wolf's words introducing herself. "We have a few former members of Abaven among our ranks that I am certain would be pleased to hear of your well being." She dipped her head in acknowledgement o the daughter's introduction as well, before turning her attention to the question of Avalon. "You wouldn't find much terribly different from Abaven, as I understand it. We are a completely neutral pack, politically, and seek out neither allies nor enemies. We provide a safe place for our members to live and ply their trades, and to train others in them. Mostly we concentrate on sheep and bees, and the products we can make from them, but all are welcome here."

Samara Klein Samara smiled as Corbie spoke, her words helping to reassure her. It seemed a decent enough place for them both. Samara so she could finally slow down and maybe start to enjoy her twilight years and Suspense so she would be less likely to be exposed to much of the conflict that had once defined Samara's own life, and former Abaven members would probably help her to transition. She nodded when the younger woman stopped speaking. "Avalon seems a lovely place." She chuckled, it felt a little flowery but she was genuinely enthused to have found a pack that seemed to fit her needs so well, and on her first try. "I have decent knowledge of healing, herbs and other uses, and I've shared much of these skills with Suspense." Much, not all. While she knew it was likely naive of her to keep an ability to protect herself from her daughter Samara had not found it in her to teach her sweet girl the art of poisons. Though she would not deny that yes, she did know how to make those as well. "I can offer my knowledge to Avalon and Suspense is much more spry than myself, better able to put it into practice." She laughed again, Samara had no intentions of not helping if she was needed but she had to admit she moved slower than she used to, urgency would only show her weakness more, and urgency was often a part of the job. "That is, if you'll have us." "Speech", Thoughts & You

Samara explained that they were both versed in healing, and Corbie felt a happy relief at the knowledge. Even if Samara herself proved too elderly to do much in the way of healing physically, her knowledge alone would have been welcome to pass on to the next generation. Her daughter's more youthful ability would give them a second very capable healer as well, taking pressure off Alarr. "I'm very glad to hear it. We could definitely use trained healers, we only have one, so if anything happened to incapacitate him we'd have a real problem. I'm more than happy to welcome you both to Avalon."