ooc; so Nico is on extended absence, but in efforts to keep from having nothing to do with him and losing my Shaw muse totally I'm bringing him here to Imperium. He met Cascade in the battlefield and she invited them to stay here so... yeah. Assume Miliani is here and remaining awfully quiet, Shaw makes the decisions for them anyway.

"Not much further, Mili." he chided without being completely sure he was telling the truth. He hadn't thought to ask the woman Cascade how far her pack was from the battlefield, but she'd inferred that it would be an easy trip. What was the pack's name again? Had she said? He wracked his brain, his brow furrowing in the process. No, she hadn't said. Nostrils flared as he hoped to smell something, maybe even the trail she'd left behind. He knew she hadn't wanted to leave them there, but he'd been confused and unsure and had asked her to. When she and the man had left them, his mind had cleared enough to realize he wanted to go with her. She'd been protective of them when the man showed up, and she had children. Surely that meant that she wasn't a pup-eating monster, right? He nodded his head, affirming his own theory, and then proceeded to continue pacing forward. Until, of course, he found a good enough reason to stop. The invisible line of the border presented itself to him, the scent unmistakable. He may have been only one season old but he was certainly not without etiquette. "Hello?" he voiced before realizing that was a stupid thing to do. What were the odds someone was close enough to hear his feeble voice? Charcoal dipped muzzle lifted high as he offered forth the loudest howl his emaciated body could muster, only just now realizing how much effort it took to announce oneself. "We have to wait here until someone comes, don't take a step past me." His voice was harsher than he usually liked to use on her, but it was imperative that she didn't step one single toe over the line - he knew there would be consequences for that, though he didn't know what those consequences might be.

Valentine answered the thin, frail voice at the border immediately. As the two small forms came into sight he found himself drawing in a sharp, surprised breath. They didn't look well at all, but instead of rushing forward as he wanted to, the brute slowed his movements in an effort to not come across as a threat. He was also a bit wary of the sudden appearance of sickly children at his border and his eyes roved the terra behind them in the hopes of sighting potential attackers. While he would like to think that someone wouldn't use children to lure a victim in, he knew better than to believe that no such creature existed. By the way the boy had placed himself in front of his companion Valentine guessed he was in charge, and so it was to him that the King spoke. "My name is Valentine and I am the alpha here. Are you lost, child? Do you need help?" His gaze rose from the boy to dart once more across the land behind him. If this was a trap there would be hell to pay for whoever was responsible for the condition of the children. "Talk" "You" Think

He fully expected to wait here for some time. It made sense, didn't it? A pack was a big thing, and what were the odds that a wolf significant enough to address them would be found near enough to hear his frail voice break the silence? Still, much to his surprise a man would appear almost at once. The quickness of his arrival was enough to tweak the brow of the boy. Was he some kind of apparition? He had heard that if you got hungry enough and tired enough and weak enough that you could imagine things. But the man spoke, and surely apparitions couldn't speak.. 'My name is Valentine and I am the alpha here. Are you lost, child? Do you need help?' Lost, yes. In need of help, desperately. The pallid boy nodded his head swiftly, with more energy than he possessed. "We're not from here. Our parents are dead. This woman.. Cascade.. she said something about resting here until we, uh, figure out what to do?" He wondered if the man would want them to stay, he hadn't had much luck with men in his past, but he had asked if they needed help - so perhaps there was a chance. "If you at least have some water or a small snack for my sister.." He could go without for a little while longer - or at least that's what he'd told himself every day since his mother had died. She would have wanted him to take care of Miliani, and so he had done just that. His tail twitched nervously as he cast his gaze over the big black (or was that blue?) man before him - the Alpha. His father had been one of those, and he had tried to kill them, it was his fervent hope that this man wouldn't want to do the same.

The weak call from the border caught her attention, but it took her a moment to place the voice that howled with a face. Oh hey, it was that kid from the battlefield. To be completely honest with herself she had forgotten all about the pair in the time between her offer and this day. She'd figured either they'd died or someone else wouldn't take no for an answer and snatched them up, but frankly once she'd left them it had been relegated to the realm of "not my business" and that was that. She had enough of her own to worry about without constantly worrying about strangers. But apparently they'd managed to survive by themselves long enough to come to the - wise, in this case - decision to take her up on her offer. Whoops, she hadn't exactly told Valen about the offer, had she? She should probably go see to this... not that she thought Valen would turn away a couple of kids any more than she herself would, if anything he was much more of a softie than she was. She came up on the - even more emaciated than she remembered - pair and Valen already there, just in time to catch Shaw's words about her offer. Oh, good timing. "Valentine," she greeted softly, with the faintest questioning tone in her voice. Was he going to be angry about her going behind his back again or was this different? She really did need to learn these sorts of things if she was going to be a good friend... "I found them in the battlefield, alone, and offered them a place to stay and recover. They've no one to take care of them."

The boy explained his situation and quickly named the reason they were at the border. Valentine..." Ah, speak of the devil. Drawn in by the call, Cascade appeared at his side. So this was her idea, eh? Well, that was alright with him. Of course he wasn't going to turn them away. Her confidence assured him that all was well. If she believed their story then he could skip the scrutiny and dive straight in. He trusted her judgement. He nodded, thinking, then said, "There's a kill not far from here and a stream nearby. There's also a den where you guys can rest for the night," A den that was super close to Cascade's....at some point he should probably ask how she felt about babysitting considering the amount of kids he dropped on her. She had invited them here though, so at least that was in his favor. "And in the morning when you're feeling better we can talk more." Slate tail swishing, Valentine turned to lead the way but cast a glance over his shoulder before he took off. "If that sounds good to you," he doubted they'd say no, but he felt led to make it an offer instead of assuming, "You can follow me." -exit unless stopped- "Talk" "You" Think

Cascade appeared just as he was trailing off, and he felt himself relax slightly. Good, she could explain to this man that he wasn't lying and that he really did need a place to rest. She did explain to him briefly, and Shaw nodded in affirmation. They had not a soul looking after them except for each other - and that wasn't particularly helpful when neither of them were capable of doing much. The man named Valentine told him of a kill nearby, and a stream and a den. Perfect. A sigh of relief slipped from his lips, a loud one that he couldn't possibly hope to contain. Valentine also suggested they talk more in the morning, and grateful eyes of amethyst would fall upon his features. "Thank you Sir, thank you." His gaze flickered to Cascade. "Thank you too," he murmured, knowing that it would serve him best to be extremely polite to these two - they had perhaps saved his and his sister's life. Shaw lifted his weary paws to follow after the man, nodding in agreement to his proposal. He'd be a fool to say no, wouldn't he? An eye glanced sideways at Cascade as he padded slowly after Valentine, "Are you coming too?" It was merely a query, though there was an inkling of longing in his voice. She'd been kind enough to invite him here, and there was comfort in her presence. He twisted his gaze back further and offered Miliani a quick smile. Finally, there was hope. - exits after Valentine ""