It didn't seem to matter how many herbs Sparrow took, she couldn't seem to shake this cold. She had been feeling pretty miserable mentally and had debated going to visit Ashmedai, but then she began to feel physically ill. Maybe she should have gone and seen her aunt about it. Or her brother, she guessed, but lately they had been distant and she found it hard to even want to talk to him any more. She used to look up to him, but now she couldn't shake the feeling that he had been looking down on her the whole time. Sniffling, Sparrow exited her den and sought about finding something that might help her symptoms. In this state, it was herd for her to think clearly, but she wasn't ready to call it quits just yet.

Bass was growing wary. He could pretty much smell the sickness in the damp air, and he worried that it would soon spread to his own pack. He had seen dead wolves on his adventure to the Soulless Forest, which made him hurry back home. What if one of his kids got sick? Or anyone for that matter? He could bare to lose anyone, so as soon as his paws touched Abaven ground he started to patrol the border. He sniffed at the scent markers, and any pack scent that he came across. If anyone was sick they would need to be seen immediately. Stiff with tension, he picked up his pace as he neared the Thicket. His pale ears flickered as he heard someone sniffle, turning from his task to make a beeline for them. As he neared, h even saw the familiar brown and white form. His heart dropped as he slowed down, an urgent look crossing his face. "Sparrow, are you okay? Are you sick? Have you seen a healer yet? Should I call Harmony?" The questions tumbled from his mouth in a hurried fashion, almost out of breath by the end of it. Walk "Talk" Think

Suddenly, her dad was at her side. Sparrow almost jumped... okay, she did jump. She turned to her father as he babbled questions out to her. Sparrow blinked a few times, trying to comprehend what he was saying. Finally, she had an answer, "Ah- no, I haven't been to Aunt Harmony or anyone yet. I was looking for some herbs to heal myself. It's probably just a cold anyway." She shrugged. It had been wet. She didn't want her father to worry about that.

"Father, there is something else besides this cold bothering me. I should have come to you ages ago. I discussed it with Aunt Harmony, but it is still bothering me. It weighs on my heart and my mind so heavily, I feel like I can barely breath." Sparrow looked towards her father, snorting to keep her nose from running, "Do you have time to listen to me for a moment?"

He blinked at her when she jumped, he hadn't realized that he had startled her. Oh crap, he should be more careful about that. She said that it was just a cold, and that she hadn't seen Harmony yet. His eyes narrowed slightly, speculation written all over his face. With this sickness on the rampage he couldn't trust that it was just a cold, wasn't that how it all started? Just a few sneezes and then bam, dead. His breath caught in his throat at the thought of it, and he had to mentally shake himself. She was not going to die, nope. He would make damn sure about that. Letting out a sigh he just had to trust her, after all she did study herbs as well. She would probably be able to tell if she was really sick or not. It was hard to just let go of it though, his fear making him cling to his thoughts. He swallowed them down, left with more thoughts at Sparrow's next words. What in the world was she talking about? And Harmony hadn't mentioned anything to him. Mm, most interesting. Nodding his head, he sat on the damp earth, shuffling to get comfortable. "I'll make time, this seems serious," he said softly. He hadn't heard Sparrow talk like that before. "Cosa sta succedendo?" He switched to Italian, wanting to keep this as quiet as possible and hide this information from any prying ears. Walk "Talk" Think

As she spoke, her father seemed to continue to be concerned. Suddenly, Sparrow was nervous. She dipped her head, "Please don't think this comes from anything malicious. I would never waste your time like that, Father," she began. The girl sniffled, shifting to sit, "It... might take a while. I want to say everything at once, because if I don't, I might never say it..." Taking a deep breath, the chocolate girl tried to steady her beating heart. This was her father, so she could trust him to listen to her, but he was also her alpha and that made her nervous. She chuckled lightly, ""Um, okay, so..."

Sparrow made her way through her points: Lillianna being the new pack member and aggressive, putting down others in front of Bass, the disappearance of the pack members she interacted with, the war, her cozying up to Lark and Starling; the highest members in the family besides Bass while possibly causing harm to others, maybe trying to break the family, and everything else. "It bothers me that now that we have argued in front of everyone Starling has been more and more absent. It feels like he rejects me as his sister... I... blame her for that a little, but that's not why it bothers me. It's so many things. As soon as I decided to take more action in the pack, she began to talk to me as I trained. It... didn't help." The girl licked her lips, "I'm sorry to bring this to you like this, but I've been holding it for so long, trying to watch and think, but it..." Sparrow coughed a few times, "It feels toxic now. It's weighed me down to where I feel like I'm drowning." She couldn't look at her father, not now. Her confession was out, "I don't know if I can live near her with these thoughts in my head, but I don't know if I can ever forget them."

OOC: Full details here

She did not share his want to keep it under wraps apparently, because she spoke freely in the more common tongue here. He gave her a quick glance, but otherwise he did not interrupt her. As she laid down more and more information, he felt his head spinning. She was making a very bold accusation against one of her pack mates, but Sparrow had but a lot of effort into following this. From everything that she had said, it was obvious that she had been sitting on this for awhile, and had compiled evidence. This was no wild thing that she just tossed into the wind, she put a lot of work into it. Bass felt at a loss for words. Of course there was no way that he wanted to suspect one of his members of anything, but Sparrow had given him a lot to think on. He sighed, shifting on to his rump as he studied his daughter. She was passionate about this, there was no denying that. He didn't want to dismiss her accusation, even though he didn't want it to be true. "Well, that is a lot of information in such little time," he said softly, shaking his head back and forth. "I can tell that you have mulled over this for awhile, but for the moment I will not act on this. I need to think about everything you've told me and collect a bit more myself," he smiled softly, but it didn't reach his ears. "It's not that I don't believe you Sparrow, but this is a serious accusation. I have to get more information before I can act on this. You said you talked to Aunt Harmony? Is there anyone else that you have talked to about this?" He didn't want this getting around just yet, not until he had more time to think. Walk "Talk" Think

Her father shot her a glance, but Sparrow tried to shake it away. She didn't know if she could express this in Italian as well as English. She had explained it to Harmony in English, and now it was stuck in her head that way. Her father let her finish, though. She couldn't look at him as he spoke. She felt heat biting at her cheeks. He seemed to knowledge that she thought about this for a while, but he also didn't seem to want to believe her. She sniffled, whether from the cold, or her building emotions, even she couldn't tell.

He asked if she had told anyone other than her aunt and she shook her head. She might have mentioned something to Ashmedai, but he didn't even know who she was talking about if she had. She couldn't think of anyone in the pack that she would have talked to. She wasn't exactly an open wolf anymore. To reaffirm, she shook her head, with more confidence, "No one."

Sparrow had so much more she wanted to say. She wanted to keep talking until he was forced to believe her, but she knew that wasn't realistic. Her heart hammered, and she didn't dare to speak. She was scared if she started now, she wouldn't be able to stop herself from becoming desperate. She kept her argument logical, the rest was up to her father. After a minute, she choked out, "But, even if you're going to look into it, I don't know what to do. I can't stand seeing her, much less living with her..."

Bass sighed as she spoke again, saying that she didn't want to see Lillie. His tail flickered behind him slightly, and he tried to keep his wits about him. She had tossed a lot at him, and he wasn't sure how he was going to handle everything. "If someone came to me with information like this against you, wouldn't you want me to look into it before kicking you out of your home, if not something worse? I can tell that you feel strongly about this Sparrow, but try to put yourself in my position. This is not some simple dispute over a den or food. This is a serious aligation, and if I act on it without more evidence, everyone would think that I am taking your side. Everyone will think that I hang on every word of my children, and no one will trust you or your siblings. Or me. Our pack and home could all fall apart," he said, trying to make her understand. It's not that he didn't believe her, he had never seen Sparrow act this way before. But the world was not that simple. She could not tell him something and have her believe her without a doubt. If he was just her father, of course. But he wasn't just her sire, he was her alpha as well. "If I didn't lead this pack, I would act without thinking. But I have others I need to think about too, not just our family. There are already strong aligations against favorites being pulled for any Destruction, and I need to work harder to prove them wrong. I love you with all my heart Sparrow, and you have to know that I am proud of you. You came to me with this and I know how hard that must have been. But you need to understand the position I am in right now," Bass explained further, letting out another sigh. He could see how tormented Sparrow was about this, and he knew that he would feel the same way if he thought one of his pack mate was a traitor. Especially since they might have to do something with her sister being ill, and possibly poisoned. Bass felt like he was being pulled in two different directions, and his brows furrowed. He didn't know how else to put it, and he didn't want his daughter to lose faith in him. "Don't speak of this to anyone else. If you see something else, come to me or Aunt Harmony right away. I will be seriously looking into this, Sparrow. You have a lot of good thought on this, but unfortunately none of it is concrete evidence. There is another side and explanation for every allegation. I need something more concrete to act on this," He lifted one of his back legs and itched at his ear, trying to scratch away the headache this was causing. "Do you want me to speak to Lillie about this, ask her about why some of those things happened? Or would you rather have me wait?" Hopefully this would show Sparrow that he was trusting her. Hopefully she knew why he had to do things this way. Walk "Talk" Think

Sparrow tried to understand, and she did, to an extent. She knew he couldn't act and that he couldn't just believe her, but she didn't know what to do about herself. She nodded as her father explained, murmuring, "I understand." and, "Yes, sir." between his remarks. She really did understand that her accusation was serious, but she still didn't know what to do about her own feelings.

Bass asked her if she'd like him to speak about it and Sparrow shook her head quickly, "If she's guilty, I don't want her to know anyone thinks anything. She knows I don't trust her, but if she is doing these things, I don't want to give her time to build a defense. I mean- If she is... then she's already really good at manipulating people, so I think if someone were to ask her, she'd not only make an excuse, but she'd work harder to cover her tracks, right?" Sparrow shook her head again, "To me, she's already sly like that, so until we're ready to face her or dismiss this, I'd rather keep it to us, but..."

Sparrow's minty eyes flicked to her father's face, then away. Her voice lowered, "Quando la vedo, voglio combattere lei." The small girl licked her lips, "Every time she touches one of my siblings- which are the only wolves she seems to touch anyway- my skin prickles." Sparrow added bitterly.

"I think, maybe I should take a vacation. Can I do that? Can I take a vacation from all... this?" Sparrow motioned around. This was her home, sure, but more and more it felt like a prison. Maybe some time away would make her feel better. She didn't really want to just disappear. She knew the kind of worry that caused. She wished that she could just... not be here. Just for a while.

He nodded his head, he would respect her wishes and keep it to himself. He might bring this up with Harmony though, since she already knew. He needed someone to talk to, to speak through his thoughts. Sparrow brought up wanting to fight her, and his ears flickered slightly. He couldn't help but smile a bit, snorting at his daughter. "Why don't you? We better ourselves through spars, there is no harm in that," he suggested. Now, she couldn't do the damage that she probably wanted to do but it was a good way to get out some of her frustration. Sparrow brought up taking a break, and Bass' tail thumped on the ground. "You can, but you need to know that you can't always run from your problems. I will allow you leave if you need. I can understand wanting to take a break from everything." Bass said. He stood up, stretching his legs. He had a lot to think about, and his headache was growing worse. He leaned forward and aimed to nuzzle the chocolate and white girl's cheek. "Your not a child anymore, you're growing into a fine young woman. You need to make choices for yourself now, I guess I need to get go a little bit," He hung his head, his ears pinning to his skull slightly. "Losing your mother, and with my siblings and Starling's disappearance, I have been holding on to you kids a lot harder. I guess I've been scared of losing you too," He looked up and smiled softly, his golden eyes sad. "But go out and see the world, Abaven isn't going anywhere. Just promise me you will come home." Walk "Talk" Think

When her father suggested sparring, Sparrow shot him a grim pout that signaled that wasn't the type of fighting she meant. He seemed to already know that, though, and her expression dropped back to pensive. She listened to what she said and nodded lightly, "I can't run from all of them, but this one... I might need to until I can think clearly again." Her father spoke of losing family, but gave her permission to leave as long as she promised to come back. The small girl leaned into her father's touch, "Of course I'll come back. I still have to fight her, right?" Sparrow let a smile touch her maw, "Thank you, father."

// exit sparrow?

Bass smiled softly at her joke, but it was a sad thing. A sigh left his lips, and he looked Sparrow up and down. "You've grown up into a fine young woman right before my eyes. How did that happen? I could have sworn you were catching bugs for me yesterday," he said with a tiny pout. He remembered her coming to a family gathering to learn Italian and brought him a live grasshopper. Those were the days. But now she was a woman in every form of the word, and he couldn't belive it. Damn, he was getting old."I will always be proud of you, no matter what happens. I love you, my little bird." Bass hummed, placing a kiss on the top of her head and stood up. Shaking out his limbs, he gave her one last smile before heading to his den. One way or another, he needed to speak to Lillie. He frowned as he walked away, his ears half pinned in thought.

-exit Bass unless stopped-