It had been so long since he had been back here. Memories washed over him like a bucket of icy water. Her verdant gaze swept across the place he had grown up, the place where his mother had passed. Anger rose up in his chest, threatening to consume him. He shouldn't have come back, but he wanted to see his uncle. Toes pressed against the border his uncle had so diligently marked, not daring to enter without permission. His russet skull tipped back, his voice filling the air as he requested his uncles presence.  Eyes slide close as his call came to an end. The familiar scents filled his nostrils, clawing their way inside his mind. He missed his mother dearly. Everyday he longed for her presence, her guidance. But he would never have that. Shoulders sagged as he struggled to push aside the memories that assaulted him. Moments of him and his brother playing, their mother ever presence. Her stories of their family, their father. He grew in a shaky breath, trying in vain to steady himself. Would it ever get easier? Speech,

Walk | Talk | Think
 
Had it been any other neighboring caller coming to visit him, he might have ignored the call entirely. He was still working, still building his pack up to the level that he felt they should have been at right now, and was too busy to tend to visitors who wished to steal him away from his duties because they were feeling social beyond their borders. In fact, he did hesitate for a moment, the initial, reflexive urge to bristle and walk the other way catching him as it tended to when he heard those voices at the edges of his territory. But the voice... It was the voice that eventually got him. It was familiar, if not more mature, strange only in that it had been too long since he had heard it last. And it was not one he could simply ignore. 

His dark paws moved quickly as they rushed him through the Fern Gulley and upward along its rising sides, clawing and climbing his way toward the edge of the treeline and the edge of the territory's border. The way was familiar and well known to him so traveling through the dense vegetation came second nature, but still it felt like it took an eternity. He had to get there, needed to get there already, minutes ago, before the call had even gone up. He needed to answer this call. 

In his rush, in the growing nervousness that had settled within him during his climb while his thoughts had wound themselves into tangled suspicions, Rune was somewhat winded by the time he exited the thick forest, worried about the state of the boy he would find there waiting for him. To Arcanum's credit - he could not and would not associate anything positive with Kylar - the russet colored boy looked to be in good health. He was not scrawny and underfed, though he was clearly still growing. He did not look as if he had suffered much during his time away, though he did appear just a little bit strained. Rune could not conclude why, but seeing his nephew in good health was good enough for now. He could find out how the boy was being treated in more detail later, if the kid wished to disclose it.  

Signs of physical affection were not something that he often partook in, and admittedly he felt awkward with it at times. Considering he was still unsure how his nephews viewed him, he dared not try it now. "It's good to see you, Colten," he stated instead, letting the warmth and comfort he wished to express to the boy enter and coat his words, hoping the message would still be conveyed. True to his word, he added, "Please, come in," and turned slightly where he stood, an invitation for his family, one of the few he still considered as such, to join him within his home. 
 

He had thought he was being ingored, that his uncle no longer wished to visit. A sigh would slip from his lips as he lingered only for a moment, prepared to return home defeated. But the crashing of paws would halt him, ears swiveling forward just as his uncle burst forth, appearing rather winded from his trek. Russet lips would twitch in a faint smirk as his uncle closed the distance between, though didn't reach out to touch. He didn't mind, he had never been overly affectionate with anyone aside from Ekko, and his mother. So no hard feelings lingered as his uncles voiced filled the air. He felt his uncles gaze search his figure, probably looking for any signs of distress, though he would certainly find none. A smile would stretch across his lips as legs brought him across the threshold. Its good to see you too, uncle, its been to long. His tail would wag steadily at his hocks as he met his uncles gaze. It was rarity to hear such warmth in his uncles voice, but he knew he was simply expressing the love he didn't express physically. Tension slipped away, though memories still haunted the back of his mind, temporarily halting their task to consume him. Speech,

Walk | Talk | Think
 
He was glad when Colten smiled upon seeing him, and even more glad when the russet colored youth did not hesitate to cross into Secretua lands when he opened that door to him. It was his goal to keep Amarant and Colten feeling comfortable here, no matter how much time passed between their visits, no matter the tragic means of their leaving. They were family, the last remnants of his deceased sister that he had, and no matter what his demented father said they were still, in his mind, his charges. They were still his nephews. He only wished he could have had them around so that he could keep a better eye on them - especially since he dared not venture near Arcanum to see them within their home. 

Despite his joy, as Colten crossed into his territory Rune's gaze shot out and away from them, searching the open lands that surrounded the Gulley with a quiet suspicion. The boy he could, and did, trust, but he was still openly wary of the wolves Colten now associated with, sensing within their leaders something off and unpredictable. He did not trust them not to take advantage of the relationship he had with Colten and Amarant if they felt the need to, but to his relief the coast appeared clear this day. Maybe they were too busy currently harassing their other neighbors to bother him and his. 

"It has," the grey Guardian agreed as he redirected his attention back upon his nephew, turning his back on the border and on those others outside of it he wished not to think about. Now his attention needed to be fully on his nephew. As further invitation, Rune began to walk back into the Gulley proper, his pace slow as to allow for their conversation to continue as they made their way toward the pack's central location. "I'm glad you decided to come. The kids will be happy to see you. Your aunt too," he confessed. As a mother, he knew Alamea worried about the boys as much as he did, so much so that she had even wandered off without him to get them back, and he suspected seeing at least one of them again with her own eyes, whole and healthy enough to smile, would do her nerves some good. 

Though it did bring to light the absence of one other that he would have thought to accompany Colten on his visit, and admittedly raised a little worry inside the protective uncle. "Amarant didn't want to come?" he questioned with false calm, fishing for a reason Colten's brother was not here with him. They had not been on the best of terms when they had left the pack lands - though nothing about their leaving had been on the "best of terms" - but he had hoped they would have stuck together. He was not there to watch them; they were all they had to protect each other and he hoped they knew it. 
 

His uncle would agree, claiming that the kids and his aunt would be happy to see them. A smile would touch his russet lips, he missed them, even though he had never been really close to any of them. I've missed them. They would walk comfortably, until his brother was brought up. He didn't know I was coming. We havent really gotten close again. He would admit, his tones sad. He wanted to be close with his brother again, but everything was so awkward between them, neither knew what to say. He would sigh. But he didn't want to linger on the negative, he wanted this to be a pleasant visit. How's everything been here? He would inquire, verdant gaze turning towards his uncle once more. Speech,

Walk | Talk | Think
 
Rune found as he walked that his gaze was drawn more and more to the boy's vibrant green eyes, so much like his mother's. Did he realize it, the resemblance there? He might have inherited his father's bright coat, might have taken after the man in every other respect, but the Guardian was certain that Maia was there in his eyes. He wished more than anything that she was there with him, that she could see for herself how her children were growing up, so she could put in her two cents when it game to their upbringing. Had she really given their father permission to take them away? Though he doubted it vehemently, refused to believe that there might have been some truth to the statement that had led to Amarant and Colten leaving Secretua, a part of him wondered and worried whether he might have had it wrong this whole time. 

"I see," he answered quietly, drawing himself back into the conversation with his nephew. The boys were not as close as he wished they were. He had hoped, at least, that being taken and then choosing to live in a place that was different and unpredictable would have driven them closer together, made them lean against one another rather than the wolves who shared their pack. Rune did not label a one of them trustworthy enough to hand the care of his nephews over to them, but the children had made their choice. But that in no means meant he needed to be happy about it, or the fact he could not influence that choice or the situation at all. 

His brow had dropped, his frown deepening, and as Colten questioned the state of Secretua he found himself unable to change his expression at all. He wanted to answer the kid truthfully - he was family; he could be trusted - but remembering where he came from, who he had chosen to align with in the end, Rune refrained from answering right away. What were the chances that everything he said about his pack would get brought back to the psychopathic leaders of Arcanum? For just the briefest of moments he questioned his blind faith in his nephew, glanced at the youth from the corner of his frosty blue eyes, but had to continue with it. He could not bring himself to alienate the boys simply because of his paranoia, and nor, did he hope, would they compromise their extended family's safety because of their pack. 

"Things have been well, for the most part," he answered at length, opting for honesty in the end, "though good help is hard to come by." He hated to think of how many wolves he had actually drawn into the pack over the last few months only to have them leave or disappear in the end. It was disconcerting, and made him rather reluctant to even try recruiting again. "But we do have a few who have stepped up and are trying to make a difference," he added, thinking of Akemi and his own daughter, both vying for Advisory positions, "I expect things will only get better." With his piece said, Rune turned his head to more pointedly glance at Colten, the question he longed to ask the most finally being given a voice. "And what of you? Have you been well?"