Oh how long it had been since she had laid her eyes on this place. She stood outside the opening to the caverns, her violet gaze staring blankly at the place she had once called home. Her torn ear flicked dismissively. There was no such thing as home now. There was no life, no love, no home. Even as she stood here, the oh so familiar scents of two of her children too obvious around her, she found it hard to care. It had been a struggle to even make it back to stand here as she sun broke over the horizon. The early morning winter chill tugged at her bones, but she made no move to go inside. She stood there, stock still, the breeze tugging at her tattered fur. Alena, former queen, former mother, now felt only deadness looking at this place. Her tail flicked and she turned, ready to make her leave. Her children's scents were here, they were obviously thriving without here. There was no need for her to interrupt that. But, she heard a movement behind her, a sound coming from the caves. She stopped in her tracks, sighing as she turned back around, knowing that if one of them was there they would stop her anyway. She waited to see the reception her sudden appearance after all this time would earn her. Would they care to hear why she had been gone? Would they care that she was now riddled with new, freshly healed scars? Speech Thought Others

For the most part Lel had not given a care about his mother, she had disappeared one too many times and with her out of sight she was very much out of mind, in fact with her gone his life had gotten tangentially easier. He was the only family Jian needed and with Alena gone he was all she had, just how he wanted to keep it. So when a familiar scent roused the ivory giant from sleep it came with a flurry of emotions. Anger that she had left them, that she dare return; now of all times. What he wanted wasn?t so clear, he wanted to greet her, to lay eyes upon the woman that had birthed him, he wanted to hurt her, he wanted to chase her from his sight forever. Rolling to his paws, a growl already forming in his chest the yearling stalked towards the entrance of the caverns. He arrived in time to see her swing back around and as he laid eyes upon her Lel began to chuckle darkly. "You look like hell." There was amusement in his voice, violet gaze sweeping to her new scars. "Speech"

It was her son Lel that would appear from the darkness of the cavern, the gaze that he had inherited from her shining with amusement as he commented on her appearance. She'd scoff, giving a little shake of her head as she shot back, "Yes, well, that tends to happen when a few of my enemies catch me and they think that it'd be a great idea to take turns torturing and raping me for several months." She chuckled softly, her own violet gaze sparkling with its own kind of amusement. Perhaps at one point she would have tried to soften such news, but she couldn't bring herself to give a shit about much of anything. She looked him over, noticing with approval that he had grown into a beast of a wolf. "You look like you're doing well. That's good. And Jian is here with you. You two were always close." None of it was a question, but merely observations. "And Amenti is gone. I should have known better, thinking that scrap of a man could keep a pack together." She sighed, her gaze drifting from Lel to the opening behind him. "And where is Jian? She didn't want to come out to see mommy dearest?" Her tone held a hint of sarcasm, though she was curious. She hadn't really wanted to see either of them really, but now here he was and she might as well see how their doing while she was here. ooc: You can call Jian in if you want or go all Lel crazy on Alena or both or he can start going all crazy and she can over hear and come out! I'll let you decide how f'ed up it gets xD Speech Thought Others

Just what exactly was it with the women in his family being kidnapped? Not that Lel cared much about what had happened to his mother, he had learned early enough that he didn?t need her, they didn?t need her and he certainly didn?t want her here now. Still the amusement she displayed at that statement intrigued him. Perhaps it was a normal response? Not that the boy could know, not yet anyways. Had he thought about it? Certainly, but he had not found the right target, not yet? He stiffened as his mother ran her gaze over him, commenting on his progression. Though his demeanor shifted even more as she mentioned Jian, even in passing, she had no right to utter that name, she had lost that right when she had left them and would never get it back. Lel would scoff a cover for just barely contained rage. "And why should she?" He would take a step towards her, puffing out his chest, tail raising above his rump and head held high. "She doesn?t need you.? He wanted her gone, hackles were already raising, fangs glistening as he pulled his lips back, ears pulling back as he continued to approach her. "Speech"

Lel's response to the mere mention of his sister's name was both surprising and intriguing. Her gaze went back from the cave opening to him, her violet gaze glinting with curiosity. Of course, she had expected him to be protective of her, he always had been, but his snarling, declaring, angry reaction was a whole different level than she had been expecting. She smirked, wondering just what had happened between them while she had been gone. Alena chuckled, watching him come toward her without as much as a flinch. "She might not need me, but you need her, don't you?" A sly smirk crossed her muzzle as she rose to her paws and stepped toward him, closing the distance that he had already begun to cross. She leaned in close, only a hairs distance between them. "What have you done to my little girl?" she whispered, her voice low and harsh, her matching gaze meeting his with a hard glare. Speech Thought Others

Lel suppressed the urge to jump to the side and block his mother?s view of the cavern, he would not show weakness to this woman. He certainly wasn?t intimated by her, keeping his expression stony as she smirked. It did bother him that she wasn?t intimated by him though, he had grown so much since she had last seen him and he was used to his new height being a tool against others. He glared down at her, lips quivering as he let out a few breathy growls. Then the bitch spoke, rising and closing the gap between them. Lel mentally reeled for a moment though he did not show it. He wanted to tear that smirk off of her face, to taste her blood and chew upon her insolent tongue. She was leaning in close and it took all his strength not to snap his jaws shut around her muzzle right now. "What have you done to my little girl?" Lel chuckled darkly, grinning threateningly down at her. "Nothing, or at least nothing she didn?t want herself." The boy licked his chops. "She?s doing perfectly fine, if that?s what you are so worried about. Without you." Those last words were a hiss, she was not welcome here. OOC. Jian can wander in at any point now me thinks. Lel won't call her he wants to keep her away from Alena but she can come in whenever if you want, obviously. XD "Speech"

Jian blinked open her eyes and to her displeasure she noticed that her brother was gone from her side. She frowned, her drowsiness perhaps making her a bit more grumpy than usual. If there was one thing she didn't like, it was him leaving her while she was sleeping. She pulled herself to her paws, shaking out her tri-colored pelt as she yawned and shook her head to clear the sleep from it. She heard voices outside and her ears perked curiously. He left her alone and found someone to talk to without her?! She huffed, stalking outside and spotting Lel first. She saw him from behind and it wasn't till she looked past him that she saw her. Jian froze in place her icy gaze widening with shock. Her fur was a little more unkempt than usual and there was certainly a few new notable scars, but there was no denying it. It was their mother. Even more confused than before, Jian padded up beside Lel, pressing her side into his without really considering that she was doing this in front of Alena. "Mom? What... What are you doing here? Where did you go?" She surprised herself with how little she cared that her mother was here. Through everything she had always craved her mother's attention, but now it seemed that was no longer the case. With her side pressed to Lel's, that was all she could care about. She glanced between the two of them, noticing the tension between them and grew even more curious and concerned. Speech Thought Others