But it'd been nearly a week since the avalanche and the former Poisoned female had yet to descend the Mountain into safer territory. She was too weak to make it back down still and all she could find was scraps from scavengers, and once a cougar's kill that she managed to massacre before the giant cat returned for more. Mountain goat were far more fleet footed than they were back when she ruled the mountain - or at least it seemed so. She refused to believe that her skills had honestly depleted so rapidly, and yet with every other step on the ice-coated mountain the black she-wolf wobbled. So much uncertainty hung around her every movement that it nearly sickened her. Or perhaps it was that her old home, where she'd planted so much of her heart, was so damn close.

Ava had not intended to come this near, but she was already on the declining slope toward the valley that housed a trail of purple poisonous flowers. In truth it was not nostalgia at all that drew her closer and closer to the bottom of the valley. With food, she needed water - and there was one source whose location she could pinpoint without difficulty. What Ava would not give to be free from the mess of feelings that were gnawing at her insides with every step she took closer toward salvation. How she dearly wished she didn't know they still existed. At the time of her leave Naira had just returned, and Rhysis was nothing more than a rumor. It could've very well been that too much drama had been explosive and had wiped the Mountain of any of them and their constant war. But the world was not so kind - now she'd seen her former King and from here she could smell her old mark, saturated in the air. Poison Path was still around.

Every cautious step she took down the rocky path just made their scents stronger and stronger, and with each inhale the doom weighed more heavily on her heart. Oh, fuck it - Ava knew she was in their home now. Any second she'd see one, any second she would. The universe couldn't possibly allow her to drink her fill and leave on her own time... could it? The black-furred female could only hope, though she kept her amber eyes watchful on every turn of the way.

The scent came to her via the gentlest of winter breezes, its recognition chilling her more than the temperature could have. Ava froze as though the air in her lungs had turned to ice and spread through all her veins. Even if she wanted to turn tail and run - which she did consider feasable for a brief moment - she could not, absolutely chained to the mountain like she used to be. The dark female was entirely unprepared for who would follow, but there was no way her sea legs could compare to a wolf whose presence was high in the air and all over the stone paths.

In moments, he was within eyesight. Ash. Ava was by no means dainty, but she was a hunter. Even at her best she was packed with lean muscle, but Ash was a powerhouse. His form, leaping toward her, was terrifying to see even if his tail was sweeping to and fro. There was no bloodlust in his eyes, no outright desire to rend flesh from bone, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. As his form crashed beside her she shut her eyes, unwilling to watch if her former partner was going to throw her to the ground to repent for her sins. But the moment passed and she didn't feel the hot pain of teeth breaking skin, so she opened her eyes and watched as he exclaimed - what?

"You missed me?" Ava murmured aloud. She stood painfully still, her eyes wide and full of uncertainty. In his mossy eyes she could see nothing but honesty, but why? "That's not the Poison Path I was part of," she quipped back while averting her gaze on to the space between them. To her, it was ripe with tension and every breath that escaped her jaws only added to the pressure. How was that not what he was feeling? She was a betrayer, a deserter, a dishonored wolf. They'd pressed loyalty like a knife against their throats, so why wasn't hers being slit? Had something drastic happened?

Ava leaned forward to test the air surrounding him, amber eyes wary on his figure in anticipation of the slightest twitch of muscle to send her ducking for cover. In his coat she could smell Athena, Athena who had once been her other half - but where was Tlarx's scent? Naira? Rhysis? The children? It was all so muddled, and different, and Ava could not place a paw on what the nuances were now. The question formed in her mouth and sat on her tongue, clashing against her teeth to get out - but she couldn't push him for answers, not before she'd given him some.

"I couldn't stay here," she said, quietly at first. It was a fact that had driven her away in the first place, but she'd never spoken of it before. Lone wolves had no concern for her where she'd gone; it was difficult to accept that Ash genuinely did. Still somewhat uneasy, she lifted her head and glanced at him, watching to see what he'd think. "Rhysis found me, gave me a home and a life. Naira and Athena were closer to me than my own sisters had been. I had a power I'll never get back when we lived here, so closely on the mountain. Then they left, us and their children, and it was hard to get our footing back but we were managing." Ava tried to keep herself comprehensible, but to no avail. Her words began to tumble gracelessly, fueled by emotion rather than thought. "And then they came back, but it wasn't them at all. It was like everything I'd ever loved, tarnished. Ruined. Poisoned. With everything that had happened, how could I trust a damn thing anymore? How can you stay somewhere you don't feel welcome?"

Ava looked upon him sharply, fires burning within her eyes. "You can't," she answered her own rhetorical question. "So I didn't." There was more she wanted to say, a lot more, even, but she had to stop herself. Would he tear her apart now, knowing she'd left of her own accord? That it was voluntary for her uproot herself and leave everyone who depended on her? Just in case she tensed her legs, hoping the mountain hadn't changed too much in her absence that she couldn't find a route to save her.

Passionate eyes watched the smaller wolf as she spoke to him, trying to explain, but only confusing Ash slightly more. He hadn’t known what it had been like before Naira had returned with her other child. Another trouble maker within the pack that the guardian had learned to loathe after he had found out of the horrid bite he had left on Athena’s leg. Other things hadn’t gone their way either. Many of their members had left and the ones remaining…Athena and Ash barely knew. Tlarx was gone, leaving Ash to take up alpha position, which he didn’t wish to take, and so, another lead male was going to have to be found soon, for the Hervok was not comfortable with the role of alpha, and he wouldn’t be able to do his current job as well if he were to remain leader. Ava’s explanation as to why she had left made sense to him, but it still left question unanswered.

Yes, the large male wanted to tear her to bits for leaving Poison Path the way she did, for they hadn’t deserved being deserted…in the right sense, the black lady was a traitor and she didn’t deserve to walk across her throne above the lake as she was doing right now. This was his land now, and though every sense in his brain was telling her to driver her out and to sink his fangs deep within her dark pelt and shake her, he couldn’t. His heart was telling him to relish in the time that they had together, for possibly one last time before she left again. He didn’t want her to leave…Treena had already done so, and he didn’t want that to repeat again. His mate was gone and he had thought that his best friend had disappeared too, and now she was back and possibly leaving again…why? Even has he asked the question to himself, he already knew the answer…it would cause her too much pain to stay in the mountains, where the pack they had was slowly falling apart, only being kept together by the stronghold of Athena, with the help of him and probably Steel. The large man wasn’t even sure who the new Second’s partner was anymore. Chantille…had also left.

Staring at Ava, he spoke, his face and eyes blank, “I once told you I would help you no matter what…and I know that this pack has caused you pain. Letting you go, would probably be the best…for you.” There he went again…looking out for other instead of himself. Yes, he definitely missed the girl, they had been partners and he had missed the companionship they had shared. But if being with them caused her pain…there would be no point in asking her to stay with them once again, knowing she would be in pain all the time if she did end up in Poison Path again, even if Ash did try to help her. It would do no good, it would probably cause her even more pain, considering what Naira had done to them. It was now his turn. To explain how things had ended up going between the two sides, and what Naira had done to them…how she had crushed Athena.

Taking a deep breath he began, “After you left, Naira apparently started a revolution against Poison Path. While she was still with us, she went behind our backs and gathered her own followers, two of whom were residing within our pack at the time. She first called for the children…and of course, when she called for the children, the rest of the pack was curious…and some of us…furious. The pack gathered, surprised to see how odd it was for Poison Path to be outnumbered by Naira’s team. There was a Swift River wolf there though, along with Rhysis, and another wolf, Rais. She took Datura, but Belladonna has stayed with us. Now we’re trying to heal the best we can…” Ash hadn’t done much healing himself. He had been too busy trying to take care of his duties and do what he could to try to make everyone else happy. He hadn’t had time to himself at all and it was becoming hard for him to get rest. The lake was his safe haven and it seemed today it was graced by its avenging angel.