Rhea knew there was turmoil in the pack, she understood that in full when the meeting had worked everyone in the pack up. She was still too young to fully understand the gravity of their situation or why the adults were all talking about what to do about some "Abraxas", but what Rhea did know was that she didn't like the way things felt now. Some decision had been reached by her aunt and now Abaven was very quiet and very different. Adult things seemed like they would not be fun at all, so the child grew more and more certain that she was not looking forward to growing up and having to argue about scary things with other grown ups.

She'd wandered through more of the thicket and found an abandoned bird's nest that she spent the better part of an hour that morning trying to knock down from the sapling it was perched in. The nest had turned out to be much more stubborn than Rhea, so she'd finally thrown in the towel and set off to go explore more of the territory for a while. So far she hadn't really poked around the Rapids - her parents were pretty clear that they shouldn't play around there or they might fall in and that would be bad. Unfortunately, as obedient as she was, Rhea was still curious. She opted to observe the churning waters from a great distance, hoping that not actually really being near it would be good enough to keep from getting in trouble.

The dark-faced child sighed heavily, flopping onto her side and staring up at the yellow-orange leaves of the tree she was relaxing beneath. Life was weird, and a little frustrating.

Stony-faced, Sparrow walked alongside the rapids. She thought of the day Kanja had leaped so freely from rock to rock over the rapids, throwing caution to the wind and just doing what she wanted. Sparrow wondered how long it had been since she had done something she wanted. Why hadn't she gone off with Peregrine or gone on some adventure with Ashmedai? She could have followed Kanja into the mountains or something for some training, but instead she stayed. Instead she became alpha. Instead, she chose to try to fill her father's paw prints and be the bigger adult.

She had lost everything for this pack, and then she had lost the pack.

What was she doing here now?

Sparrow's eyes scanned the surrounding land. The rapids. Why had her father wanted this type of place to be a part of the pack? Certainly not a land Sparrow would have chosen. It was a hazard to pups and elders at best.

Speaking of pups, Sparrow spotted Rhea. Neither of her parents seemed to be around. Sparrow wasn't sure what all to do with them. They were her family and yet she had half the mind to sever all ties with them- even her brother. Letting out a breath, Sparrow began to walk towards the pup, "Does your father know you're out here?"

Stuck in her head while listening to the distant sound of the rapids, Rhea didn't hear Sparrow approach until she spoke. Visibly startled and a little sheepish, the child looked up at her aunt with a weak smile. "Probably not, I haven't seen him for a little while," she admitted, one ear flicking back as she gazed cautiously at Sparrow. Yeah, maybe Rhea shouldn't be hanging out here, but she wasn't dumb enough to try and swim around in the water so for now the girl clung to the knowledge that she hadn't done anything bad. She hoped. It was easy to second guess oneself when staring authority in the face.

A soft sigh left her as she glanced back at the water. If she looked close she could see bits of the spray flinging up from the churning rapids as it roared its way to wherever the water ended up. "I wasn't gunna go over there," she blurted, side eyeing Sparrow, "Mom said not to. I just wanted to see it again. From a safe distance, naturally." The girl soon grew quiet, unease hanging in the air around her. Her stomach felt tight, filled with nervous energy.

Sparrow seemed to have startled the pup. She had to stifle a small giggle as the young pup turned from surprised to bashful. Rhea said she hadn't seen her father in a while and Sparrow hummed.

"Me neither," she admitted.

After a moment, the pup blurted out that she wasn't going to go over there and that she just wanted to look from the distance. Sparrow cast a glance over her shoulder at the rapids.

"I never found them all that pretty, to be honest," Sparrow said. "I think the only appeal is that you can't visit them when you're young."

After that, Sparrow shrugged and let a silence fall between the two. For a moment, Sparrow thought about the pup. Reguardless of their conception, the pups would soon become fully fledged members of the pack.

"Say, Rhea," Sparrow began. "Have you thought about what you want to do when you're all grown up?"

Rhea's ears fell to the sides at Sparrow's response, form drooping a little. As they got bigger Rhea and her siblings were spending more time away from the den, but that meant it was getting easier to not see them for what seemed like ages and she didn't like that one bit. She wanted to see her family lots and snuggle up with her brothers even though they were sorta annoying a lot of the time. Oh well… At least she was being forced to be more independent. It sucked, but Rhea knew it was good for her to be able to be alone sometimes.

Nodding, she smiled lightly, "You're probably right. I kind of like how… powerful the water seems. But they're not really very useful." The girl could see how the place could quickly become uninteresting, though. It didn't exactly boast much aside from the churning waters.

At Sparrow's question she perked up, dark ears flicking side to side, green eyes wide. "Not too much, really. I kind of like the idea of learning to hunt really good. Other than thaat, I dunno. Fighting doesn't sound super fun. I could probably do it, but, I don't really want to. Herbs don't really interest me either." she shrugged, brows furrowing. After a moment, the girl turned to gaze up at Sparrow again.

"How'd you decide what you wanted to do?"

The pup seemed to agree that the rapids could grow old after some time and Sparrow felt a little relieved. It was true and probably better to ruin the temptation from the area earlier rather than later.

Rhea said that she might be interested in hunting. Abaven seemed to be the home of hunters now. Sparrow wasn't terribly upset. Brandr and Corentine had been a leading force for some time and everyone liked a little extra food. Sparrow nodded as the pup spoke of fighting and hunting and how they didn't interest her.

Then she asked how Sparrow figured out what she wanted to do.

Sparrow swallowed. "I didn't," she said, avoiding eye contact. "Well I did, but it wasn't this. I wanted to be a healer and a mother, but things happened and Abaven needed someone to be the alpha after your grandfather."

Sparrow shrugged. She didn't need to bother the pup with too many details: how her father was supposed to be the alpha, how her grandfather ran off in a craze, how her taking power wasn't the pack's first choice of leadership nor her own first choice for life goals. For Rhea, it was what it was. The rest could wait till she was older.

"So I became the alpha," Sparrow said finally. "Think you'd wanna be an alpha one day?"

Her aunt seemed a little bothered by the question and Rhea kind of felt bad for asking, but she was still admittedly curious. Sparrow hadn't wanted the job of alpha originally, hmm... That was kind of sad. Her ears fell to the side and head canted momentarily as she digested this. Eventually Rhea would look back at the older wolf with a smile. "Well, I think it's nice you decided to be there when the pack needed someone," she'd reply, tail tapping the ground. Who knew, maybe it was possible for the alphess to do things she wanted along with being in charge? Rhea would hope that Sparrow got to do things she wanted to do with her life too.

At the question the girl's eyes widened slightly, unsure how to contemplate a concept that seemed larger than life to her. Little Rhea be an alpha? Quite the thought for a young mind. After the initial reaction she'd settle into thinking it over, soon shrugging with an amused but cautiously hopeful smirk, "I think I might find other things I want to do more, being in charge of a whole pack seems like lots of responsibility. Maybe though, if there was no one better?" the thought of her brothers taking over made her giggle a little. Aiden was just so... squishy inside. What if he had to be mean to somebody? Rhea was pretty sure that wasn't something her silly sibling was capable of. Corvus could maybe do it though.

Rhea said she thought it was a good thing Sparrow had stepped up when the pack needed her. She was glad the pup saw it that way. Sparrow knew, looking back, that if she could go back, she would have chosen to leave Abaven when her father did. She could have run away with Peregrine and gotten into all kinds of trouble.

Would that have been better? Sparrow had to wonder.

After her moment of contemplation, Rhea discussed becoming an alpha one day. Her thoughts brought a small smile to Sparrow's face. "As long as you follow your heart, you'll be fine," Sparrow reassured her.