Winter was in full swing, and Alamea knew she could put it off no longer. She had held out as long as she could rising every morning and waiting patiently for her mate’s familiar form to rise up on the horizon. Every night she had crawled into her den, gathered up her pups and did her best to hide her disappointment, to mask the sound of her heart breaking a little more each night. Now though? Well her son was sick and she couldn’t do this on her own, even with Keiki and Eirik there to help she knew she would need something better, a pack. The trek hadn’t been easy, she and her older children had taken turns carrying Icarius and cycling between gently nudging Sarai forwards and carrying her when she grew to tired. All the while she had done her best to remain aware of the scents they passed in search of Warja’s scent. She would make a house call soon enough, always the worrying mother. Elliot had taken a brief detour scouting in the direction of her smallest child’s path, though he too had finally joined the small parade, nestling between her shoulder blades as he usually did. Finally though they had made it to the pack she had chosen. As she drew up before the pack’s border she stopped the small procession. Gathering up the pups at her feet she cast a glance at her oldest son and daughter. Snowy lids slide closed for a moment as she gathered her courage, Elliot chirruped in encouragement and finally the woman tipped her head back to call for the alpha of the pack. She opened her eyes, rose orbs scanning for the first sign of the newest and hardest chapter in her story. Speech,

"Noooooooooo! I don't wanna!... But Mooooooom... Nooooo my paws huuuuuuuurt... Carry meeeee!" and other similar whining and fussing filled the air after maybe an hour of walking on their way to this new place. She didn't want to leave their home! She liked it there! Besides, all this walking was hurting her paws and legs and making her white toes all dirty! It was kind of exciting at first and she trotted along beside her mother and siblings, but it got real old real fast. She would only hush when one of them picked her up like how they were carrying her brother. It wasn't fair! How come he got to be carried the whole time and she had to walk?! But they finally got to where they were apparently going and when Sarai looked around at the place that her mother had lead them to she scrunched up her nose. Everything was all wattery and muddy where the lumpy trees didn't cover. Of course everything was kind of more frozen right now cause it was winter and all, but still! It wasn't all pretty and full of ferns like their old home! And how was she supposed to keep her paws clean here?! She looked up at her mother and a deep frown creased her muzzle. "I don't wanna live here! I wanna go home!" she declared and turned around to walk back. Of course her mother or one of her older siblings would stop her, but she wanted to make sure she got her point across. This wasn't okay with her! "Talk" "You" Think

Walk | Talk | Think

Dutifully, Eirik followed after his mother and siblings. It felt surreal to be leaving the Fern Gulley and Algoma Prairie on a search for a new pack, to know that the home they had for over a year had so quickly crumbled away beneath their paws and was now gone. More surreal yet was the absence of his father, the protector and guardian of their family. He was always so devoted, dedicated to every little detail that kept them safe and comfortable. Where had he gone? What had happened to him to let this happen to their family?

He walked almost in a daze, even as he took his turn carrying the tired pups. It still had not quite settled in yet, and not even as they stopped outside a wood of mangrove trees did it really settle in. The pale grey wolf's rosy eyes searched through what he could see of the interior of the lands, vaguely aware of Sarai's whining voice protesting every bit of their travels, including their destination. This is it? Eirik wondered, his black paws coming to a stop beside his petite mother and the small children she had collected at her paws. This is the pack? Our new pack?

The sound of Sarai once again determinedly trying to walk off on her own finally broke through the haziness of the boy's thoughts, and a little distractedly he glanced over one shoulder to see her very purposefully putting distance between herself and her family. He sighed, and without bothering his mother about it he go to his paws and quickly trotted after her. "Sarai, stop." He hurried toward her, and then around her, standing in her way to, hopefully, effectively cut her off from the escape she had planned to make. "We can't go back. It's not safe anymore." The words felt rehearsed, lacking conviction coming from him. Was it really so unsafe back there? Could his father have already returned and once more secured the lands for his family?

Despite his own lack of certainty, he did not allow himself to think of going against his mother's decisions and stepped toward his younger sister, hoping to coax her into a backward step, and more, back toward Alamea and the pack's quiet border. "C'mon, don't do this," he pleaded gently, lowering his head and trying to reach for the girl to offer her a consoling nuzzle. This was hard, he knew that much, but he did not want her to feel like her needs were being entirely ignored in the move.

The sound of a stranger's call, while not entirely surprising, hadn't been quite expected today. Quickly she would make her way to the borders, moving from the depths of the mangrove trees to the edge of claimed territory with a slight hurry to her step. Soon she noticed the scent was not just of one wolf, but three, and her arrival told her that one of them was a child. Curious, she approached slowly, her tail curled above her back. Why were they interested in Fiori, she wondered? Were they simply searching for a home as winter made its leave, or had they heard something about her small pack? The latter she doubted. And yet she couldn't help but hope they might find some sort of reason to stay here. "Welcome to Fiori," she started gently, eying the three of the as she drew closer, noting the smallest child seemed quite sullen. "My name is Epiphron Adravendi. How may I help you?"

(Sorry for the slow reply, my next one will come much faster, promise!)

ooc: sorry for skipping you, Lolaf, Sarai the little shit just had to get a word in there xD As expected her brother would stop her from going and further on her own. Her ears flattened against her skull at his words and she glared up at him. "Why not!?" she demanded, tears welling up in her bright pink eyes. "Why's it not safe? I wanna go home!" It was simply hard for her to understand why all of this was happening. She was just too young to understand really why they had to leave and why her father wasn't here with them, but all of this confusion showed as anger and frustration. Eirik would tell her to "not do this" and she would frown at him, her eyes still glittering with tears brought out by confusion and exhaustion. She begrudgingly followed him back to where their mother was waiting at the pack border and soon a pretty ivory lady came up to greet them. Not as pretty as her or her momma obviously, but very pretty. She introduced herself and her pack and Sarai couldn't just sit still and quiet. It just wasn't in her to do so. She glared up at the lady, who she knew really hadn't done anything to her to deserve such words, and declared, "Your pack is all wet and muddy and messy and I don't like it!" With that she turned around and stomped a couple of feet before plopping down on her haunches again. She hung her head, completely tired and miserable while she waited for it all to be done. "Talk" "You" Think

Keiki

Keiki had trailed behind the group, occasionally taking her turn to carry the pups when needed but otherwise she lagged behind enough so that eventually she was nearly left behind. Forced to follow with scent trails alone the distraught girl trudged after her broken family. Finally she too would arrive at the pack borders, though late enough that by now her disappearance would be noticed if it hadn’t already been. The small group was scattered around the border, her brother and younger sister seemingly involved in some sort of conversation that Keiki was much too late to grasp and a red marked woman addressing her mother. With a slight whine the girl approached her mother, seating herself beside the smaller woman and leaning into her form. Gently nudging the mostly unmoving form of her younger brother back into their mother’s protective form.

It wouldn’t take too long for Sarai to begin acting up again and Alamea looked down at the small girl with a mixture of weariness and empathy. It seemed her youngest children would give her a harder time than her first litter had. The tiny child would loudly declare she wasn’t happy here and marched away. The snowy woman twisted so as to watch her daughter make her retreat, though she wanted to jump to her paws and grab the child she wasn’t eager to jostle poor Icarius and was glad when Eirik stepped in to stop her. Only a moment after an older woman approached and Alamea was briefly relieved to recognize some of the Adravendi features she bore. The woman introduced herself and asked what she could do for them but before the snowy woman could reply Sarai would loudly speak her mind. “Sarai!” She snapped, once more twisting around to fix her youngest daughter with a disapproving look. “Don’t be rude.” Then she once more looked upon Epiphron. Keiki would join them then and she gently nosed her larger daughter’s cheek in an attempt to comfort her child before finally speaking again. “I do hope you’ll forgive my daughter, it’s been hard for her… it’s been hard for all of us.” She fixed the woman with a weary stare. “I am looking for a place to raise my family. I cannot promise it will be permanent but till such time that their father- till such time that my husband returns we will be loyal to you and you’re pack… if you’ll allow us.” Speech,

Walk | Talk | Think

The tears almost did him in. Eirik wished and wanted nothing more to tell his little sister exactly what she wanted to hear, that he would escort her back home and they could continue to live there happily and safely with their family, but he knew it was a lie. Without Rune there to protect it, without him holding them all together, Secretua had fallen apart, and no one would have been able to take his place. "It...It just isn't," he falteringly answered, finding his own explanation to be pathetic and lacking. This was so much harder than he had imagined it to be. If only his father had still been there.

Whether it was something he said or Sarai finally giving in, the pale grey wolf followed after her as she turned and walked back toward their mother, sighing heavily but quietly to himself. He glanced up and away from the grey and white child back toward his mother and was a little surprised to see a white wolf with red markings. Something about their placement - or the color perhaps? - made him think strangely of Kismet, but he shook the thought away. Coincidence, surely. The woman said something, welcoming them to the pack's border, and her kindness was repaid by a quick, stinging remark from none other than his mouthy little sibling.

Eirik closed his rosy pink eyes and sighed internally. Maybe he should have kept the girl away while his mom took care of things. Sarai always did have a way of saying what was on her mind, without any conscious thought to censor it for listening ears with sensitive hearts. Opening his eyes he glanced once at the lady from the pack, hoping she would not take the young pup's words too seriously and hoping still that his mom would be able to do what she needed to despite it. Alamea continued to speak after reprimanding the girl, and as he watched her visibly hunch beneath the weight of everything they were going through he tried again to approach her, lowering his head and reaching out to nuzzle her cheek consolingly.

Before anyone else could speak, the youngest girl spoke up. She looked like she was on the verge of a breakdown - her expression was stubborn and frustrated, her eyes full of tears - and her words only further proved her anger. Once she might have been tempted to provoke the child, perhaps in her youth, but she knew too well the pain of leaving a place that she had called home and it seemed very well like this child was suffering enough without being taunted. Epiphron also knew she could say little to soothe the girl's pain. Instead, she would offer her silence as she moved to sulk to the side, averting her gaze back to the presumed mother. She was quick to apologize for her daughter, though Epiphron would shake her head dismissively. "I take no offense," she offered gently, offering a faint smile, knowing Alamea was likely more stressed than she let on. "These lands are an acquired taste, that I am aware of," she offered with a slow flick of her tail. The woman was quick to explain her purpose. A home, perhaps a temporary one at best, until her husband returned. "You are certainly welcome in Fiori - all of you," her gaze would fall to each of them, even Sarai, as she invited them into their home. "I only ask you to let us know when you are ready to part. I think, though, that you will find refuge here, as I have." The smile she wore was gentle, but genuine, and she assessed them quietly to see what they had to say.