They'd recently returned from the South, though she should have been ecstatic about having not only Shaye, but her father return with them. Both of these instances would trouble her much more than they should have. Getting to know her niece had further caused her to regret that she would never be able to show the world to them. Surely if she had been a more skilled healer she could have saved them, something.. she could have done something. She'd not spoken a word of these thoughts since that day, her siblings urging that none of it had been her fault. She wouldn't take the blame, but she would forever feel as though she'd failed those poor puppies. Unintentionally she would find her way to where their tiny bodies were placed to rest. The girl would stop within sight of where they were, bright spring flowers had sprung from the disturbed dirt. A twinge of a smile crossed her maw as she lowered her head and made a slow approach. Before she came to a halt before them tears were streaming down her milk chocolate cheeks. A heavy sigh left her lips as her form lowered to the earth her head shifting to her paws. She would sob quietly beside them, the ugly emotions she'd kept inside spilling out with ease. ""

Shaye could barely remember the Abaven pack, and every step into it was seen through new, bright and excited eyes. Abaven was beautiful the fresh stream that ran through its territory, and the open plains with silly snakes that acted funny when she pounced on their tails. More then once, already, she had gone sheepishly to Rhythm sporting bites from the snakes retribution. It was a great coincidence that the woman she wanted to spend most of her time with was also the packs healers – any time Shaye's entertainment turned bad she always had an excuse to her newest friend, through she had never before had a serious injury and seemed barely to notice the 'owes' from the small ones she gained. They hadn't been in the pack very long at all and everyone seemed busy with whatever responsibilities they had. Shaye was yet to meet her young cousins, and her world still consisted of a very few select wolves. Knowing how to entertain herself she started up a game of stream-jump where she found a rocky part of the stream and leaped from rock to rock until she was on the other side. She missed a few times and fell into the shadow water, but having grown up for the most part near a beach she new the basics of swimming. She was now soaking wet and bored of that game, when she decided to go in search of Rhythm. She would find the much older girl in the plains, she was lying in the grass looking at a boring mound of earth when Shaye came up to her. She stopped just before the girl and peered down to look at her properly. “Rhym, Rhym, your eyes are raining” she told her in wonder. "Speech"

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Many hours had been spent with her sister's young daughter already, and though she hid the thoughts from the little girl as well she couldn't help but to think them. She'd not seen the tyke today and figured that she was with her mother, not that Rhy had planned on coming here at all. She was almost certain that the last wolf she wanted to see was Shaye. Not because she didn't love her dearly, but because explaining herself would be so very hard. Shaye was innocent to the pain of the world, and she would have kept her that way forever if she could. The squishing of wet paws would barely catcher her attention she was so caught up in the grief that washed over her. Not even realizing her niece was now beside her Rhythm had no time to dry her tears or gain any kind of composure. Shaye was exposed and it was her fault. Rhythm wanted to start crying all over again her response was so innocent. "Oh, goodness they are aren't they," She would manage to sniffle, using her paws to wipe the wetness from her cheeks. She would pray taht Shaye didn't ask what for. "What are you doing out here, love?" the girl would ask to get her niece's mind off the tears. ""

Rhythm seemed slightly surprised by her presence, and the rain stopped falling from her eyes. She gave a little sniffle, and Shaye wondered if Rhythm was getting sick – she sure hoped not! If she was, then she wouldn't want to play any more! She watched the other girl wipe away the tears and Shaye moved to touch one of the wet spots on her Auntie's cheek “Did you stub your toe Auntie Rhym? Last time my eyes rained I stubbed my toe” she explained helpfully, bouncing back on the pads of her hind legs to give the older woman some room. She would offer to help sooth the sore toe, but, Rhym was a healer so she probably didn't need any help. “I have no one to play with, but I don't mind, I want to play with you ” she said happily, moving around Rhy so that she could rub up against the older girls side affectionately, the young pup nuzzled her once before pulling away again. “Can you play with me today?” she asked hopefully. "Speech"

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Shaye's sweet touch would do little to comfort the distressed she wolf, but once again Rhythm would take a deep breath and supress the rampant emotion. Bottling everything back proved quite a task for the girl, she could feel the pain stinging at her skin. Ignoring the sensation would prove impossible, but she was able to focus on Shaye's words without showing on the outside how she really felt. "yup, stubbed it real good." she didn't have to fake the wince that followed, it was almost too real as Shaye leaned back and sat on her bottom. Rhythm hadn't really felt this kind of pain before, the sadness dwelling in her heart like a well kept secret wanted to take over. Darkness wanted to steal away her heart and soul, one loss at a time. Shaye would keep her afloat for now, her innocence and light fighting to keep Rhythm's misery at bay. She had better control of herself, but had been caught off guard. She couldn't let it out again, the fear of not knowing what it might do to her.. Shaye's voice would pull a smile from Rhyth, it was genuine if not a little sad. She felt a glimmer of pride in her breast at the tiny girl's words, feeling wanted and needed as she stated her desires. Rhythm would long for a time so simple. Leaning into the affectionate touch she would take in the second part of her question, closing her eyes for a moment to enjoy her presence. "What do you want to play?" The older she wolf would ask, slowly battling the depressing thoughts back down. ""

The little girl nodded sagely after being proved right, she knew how sore it could be to stub a toe, and could understand why it caused Rhy so much trouble “Tha'ts okay Auntie, the pain will pass real soon, that's what my daddy said when I did it and he was right” she promised, smiling proudly at the thought of passing on wisdom from her dad. Rhym did look a little better already, and in fact would go on to ask what she wanted to play. She had to stop and think a minute at what would be an appropriate game for the two of them to play together. “We could catch butterflies, or play in the stream, or maybe we could sneak up on Mummy and Daddy!” she suggested gleefully. "Speech"

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Shaye was quick to point out that the pain wouldn't last, and Rhythm would have begged for that to be true. She wasn't in any physical pain, but she felt so sad her whole body prickled with terrible discomfort. Her lips would pull back father but not without effort as she did her best to hide her true feelings from the little girl She'd agreed to play, but how much fun would she be able to provide when she barely wanted to stand on her own feet? Pangs of Hurt would radiate from her chest as her dark ears perked forward to listen to her niece's ideas. play in the stream? the cool water might help to numb her weak limbs, "It looks like you've already been in the water, would you want to go back? Maybe we can catch some salamanders together." Her head would tilt curiously, though her eyes still held excess moisture. ""

The excitable youngster bounded about beside the older woman as Shaye gave off her suggestions. Rhym would point out that Shaye was already wet – indeed the girl's coat clung to her body and her paws squelched against the earth from her previous dips in the cool water, a fact she had easily forgotten and well her attention moved to her state for a moment, it was really only to ensure her feather was dry and safe, and then to forget once more. “Yes! Lets do that! Whats a salsamander, is it big and scary, do we get to defeat it?” she would ask excitedly, already starting to move back towards the water, through she was patient enough to ensure that was where Rhym wanted to go, and, besides, she wanted to know what this salsa thing was! "Speech"

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Shaye would easily take up her aunt's suggestion, going back to the creek seemed a grand idea. Rhythm wished she could get so excited. Still she would smile softly at her niece's questions. "I'm disappointed your mother hasn't taken you yet. When we were pups that's all we'd ever do at the creek." She was able to smile fondly at the memory. "Sala-manders are the rarest of the creek creatures, sometimes there are frogs and crayfish. They're small slimy creatures that almost look like tiny snakes with itty bitty feet. " Rhythm was already following after Shaye, giving a glance back at where her brothers lie. One last sigh would be uttered before turning back to Shaye and following after her towards the water. "It's really easy to look for them, we just have to flip up rocks. Though, finding the right rock is an art." Not every stone held some aquatic creature, but after a long time flipping rocks you usually got the hang of where different animals would hide. ""

Shaye would listen eagerly to the tidbit about her mother, and was even more eager to do things that even Rhythm and Motif had done, somehow carrying on from their example made it all that brighter and more sparkly in her mind. “Sssalamander” she repeated skeptically, thinking her word sounded better, but, if that was how Rhythm insisted it was pronounced. She would also learn it wasn't big and scary, it was a little legged snake, which, she thought sounded hilarious. She would listen eagerly for the advice the older woman would give, and already Shaye was determined to find the bestest and most perfect rocks to turn over and find all the Salamanders. She skipped along in the direction of the creek, and wouldn't stop until she got there, when she did she leapt straight on the first rock, flipping it and pairing at its underside. "Speech"

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Rhythm found herself excited to show Shaye the creek even if her underlying motives were not quite all with her niece in mind. The young girl would repeat the proper pronunciation but she didn't seem particularly pleased about that fact Rhythm would flash her a smile. Eagerly she would listen to the instructions, and before even saying ready set go she was off in the direction of the creek. Her aunt would follow, not quite as quickly and with out the skip in her step that Shaye seemed to have. Shaye was already in the creek with her rock of perfection when Rhythm would let herself down the bank with practiced grace. Even with her depressing thoughts she moved with the majesty of a dancing swan. Bright blue and purple gaze would fall on the earth underneath Shaye's stone. Her eyes would roam, but the only creatures to be seen were a small spider and a few baby crayfish. "No Salamanders under this one." She'd say, hoping the girl wouldn't be too disappointed in her first try. The crayfish weren't even big enough to eat, which was also rather disappointing. ""

The flipping of the girls rock would be met with the scuttle of little creatures and she giggled and made a playful swipe at the crayfish before they vanished under the next closest rock. Shaye overlooked that one, moving on to find a better one, she ended up skipping some way down the stream in her search, until she found one half her size buried in the sand! She put her shoulder against it and shoved, groaning and flailing her feet against the wet earth as she struggled to topple the monster of a rock. She huffed and pulled away at the moment, examining her problematic chosen stone for a while. It was at a funny angle, so maybe if she tried from the other side.. she jumped around the rock and shoved again, pushing against is with her shoulder and back, digging her feet into the earth and with a yelp of surprise the rock tumbled over and because most of her weight was pushed against the top of it she ended up going down with the rock and slipping off the other end into the shallow part of the river with a cry of surprise, through she was giggling madly as she pulled herself onto the shore again. "Speech"

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Shaye was adorable and Rhythm didn't think there was one wolf out there that could refute that fact, even through the distracting thoughts of her brothers that would not leave her she felt an extreme love for the girl that she knew would never change. After swiping playfully at the frightened creek creatures the girl was off again to find her next rock, Rhythm would follow after a bot more slowly, turning over a few small rocks herself. Though she was only greeted with one exuberant young frog that dashed away into the deeper waters. She was quite sure her little niece was too busy to have seen it, but the girl would look up expectantly at her nieces only to see her topple over with her large rock. Had she not been giggling her fool head off Rhythm might have been concerned, but Shaye seemed absolutely fine. Rhythm would smile softly and shake her head amusedly. Even if there had been something under the girl's big rock the creatures were surely gone now. "What are you doing, silly girl. I thought we were looking under rocks.. not swimming." Rhythm's voice held her obvious love for the child as well as her obvious amusement as she waded over to nuzzle the precious child. ""