Serach was grateful that he had correctly been able to place @Ruenna's father on the Tainn family tree. The youngest of the Hidden Tree pack had been long gone by the time Serach had come around, so he would necessarily have been expected to know the exact relationship, but he was happy that he had known anyways. He always felt like someone had headbutted him in the gut when references to his own parents came up and they didn't understand who they were, and at the way her eyes lit up at the mention of family, the pale man figured that this long-lost cousin probably felt similar.

She was kind enough to offer sympathy upon hearing about Corinna and Ruiko's deaths, and Serach was humble enough to utter a quiet, "Thank you." There was little else that could really be said. He could appreciate that she would have hoped to meet them - more likely Ruiko than Corinna - but that was a dream long gone for all of them.

She has a quick mind, the man thought as he watched her, almost able to see the questions forming in her head at the rate of a million miles a minute. His mention of his sibling, also lost long ago, had not gone unnoticed, nor it seemed had the obvious space in the timeline of events after Kinis had left Swift River. Surprise, he thought ruefully, wondering if she would think any less of him once the truth came out. While Ruenna was cousins with his older siblings, there was no blood relation between the two of them.

"I do have a brother. Four of them, actually, although only one of them is my littermate. Why don't you follow me and I'll tell you all about them?" He answered her, waiting for her agreement before setting off at an easy pace further up the creek where the waterfalls named for his three sisters were. It might be a little bit cheesy, but she wanted to know about family and she was also new to this territory, and it felt appropriate to Serach to explain to her a little bit about both.

"Rihael, Kisla, and Fenru are my oldest siblings. They were Indru and Corinna's first litter, born in Swift River. I don't remember if Kinis was still in Relic Lore at that point, to be honest," he looked at her with a grin as he shrugged his shoulders. "If he was, he might have met them when they were young. I don't know. I guess Indru had wandering paws though, and soon after they were born, he left the River. I guess it was tough, as the pack didn't have a lot of members at the time, so really my mom and Triell were the ones who were looking after them. Indru came back eventually, and after that the pack flourished. They even had a second litter, the following year: Aiyana, Rissa, and Torrel were their names." He paused, looking at her again to give her time to ask any questions if she needed to - he was throwing a lot of names at her, and if she wanted to understand just why Serach and Oak Tree Bend itself came to be, she needed to understand.

"Well...things got bad, after that. In two ways. Indru left again, soon after the pups had been weaned. This time, though, he didn't go alone - he took Torrel with him. Rihael also disappeared around the same time, but I don't think anybody knows if he went with Indru or just left on his own. The pack searched for them, of course, but after a few days of no trace, they had no choice but to give up. That was the last time that anybody has seen Indru, or my brothers, as far as I know. And unfortunately...it got worse. The same summer this pack of wolves showed up in the Lore - you'll have to ask Triell if you want more information about them, but they were sick and mean and brutal. And well....they got Rissa." He stopped again, this time more for his own benefit rather than Ruenna's. He had never known any of his siblings from his mother's second litter, but there was still a pang in his heart when he thought about the agony he knew his mother, Triell, and his older siblings had gone through when they had found Rissa missing.

"They found her body in the woods north of here," he said quietly, clearing his throat before continuing on. "After her killers had been killed themselves, by all the packs in the Lore, my mother decided it was time to leave. The River had been too unkind to her that year, and it was too much for her to remain there anymore - knowing what she had lost. So with the rest of the pack in tow, she decided to lead them over the mountains and eventually discovered the Bend. She wanted to be close to Rissa."

It was a long story, and one that was hard to tell. But he had talked long enough, and now they had arrived at their destination. The three waterfalls, although relatively small, splashed quietly in the darkness ahead of them. Breathing in, Serach chuckled quietly. "All of that and I guess I never answered your questions, did I?" He'd been so caught up in telling the part of the story that would pertain to the Tainns that he had forgotten to explain how he had come to be. "When the pack relocated to the Bend, my mother took another mate. Her loyal second, a man named Ice Aesir. I never really knew my father - he left soon after I was born, just like Indru had. So like my other siblings, my brother Sceral and I basically grew up raised by our mother and Triell. We call him "Uncle", but he's really been more of a father to me than anything else." He would explain the waterfalls in a moment, but for now, he wanted to give her a chance to process, to ask questions, and to speak.

She was an attentive speaker, and despite the breadth of the story that Serach told her, she remained quiet throughout it all. There was a lot to digest, for both of us he had realized at some point during his tale. As strong as the Bend was, and as much as he loved its members, there were few who cared to know the true story for how it came to be. They were a young pack, relatively, but their history was much greater than what many supposed. Serach had done his best to explain to any who would listen about his family's legacy in large part because it helped Serach himself feel more grounded in the pack's larger history. There was such an emphasis on the Tainn family, particularly Triell's branch, that sometimes Serach felt a quiet need to remind those who did know that there was a larger family - many who would consider Serach to be a part of it despite his surname.

Her previous eagerness had prepared him for a multitude of questions, but when he finally quieted and she was given the space to speak, she had relatively few for him. Nodding his head, he affirmed Triell's loyalty. There was only twice in Serach's actual and historical memory did he know that Triell had left the Bend, and both times he had returned to his family. Perhaps they're still reeling from the most recent time, but she does not need to hear that from me, he thought as he pondered over her next question.

"Copper Rock Creek disbanded before I was born. I don't really know why. Ruiko and Aeylen came here to the Bend - their children had all decided to leave the pack, as yearlings are wont to do. I was just a child at the time, and Ruiko became another father figure in my life. He was there with me when my mother died, but he did not survive her for much longer. A lynx in the mountains during the summer, protecting a friend," the news had been hard to hear, but there was solace in the fact that Ruiko had died being loyal to the end. "I'm afraid I've never heard of Volkan, or if I did, I don't remember," it had been a long time ago, after all. Almost 3 now, Serach had met his uncle and lost him all within a year. And despite being close, Ruiko had not been one to engage in lengthy conversation. "I'm sorry it's not better news for you."

She took his answers in stride, despite the fact they were not particularly good answers. Serach did not know just how far Ruenna had come to ask these questions, but he hoped she did not fault him too much for having to be the bearer of the bad news at the end of that journey. He was grateful at her reassurances, but he still looked down shamefully at his paws, ears perked to listen to her speak. No, he thought, he really didn't have any idea just how revolutionary this all must be to hear. Which was a strange concept for somebody who had been born into this history and had known the places and the wolves and their stories in intimate detail by virtue of that fact.

"I'm glad you're so interested. Most of the wolves who join us only take a cursory interest in it. But it all matters, you know. The Bend wouldn't be what it is today without all of this history behind it. Of course, most of the wolves who join us aren't connected to the Tainn family at all either," he told her with a smile and a wag of his tail. How had things had changed in the short time since he had found her snooping near the creek earlier that evening.

Serach chuckled again as she posed her question, turning his gaze away from her and to the falls. Not for the first time that evening, he felt a pang in his heart as he reminisced on his history and that of the land all around them. "We are indeed," he confirmed. "These are the 'Three Sisters' - my mother named them for her three daughters. Kisla's the biggest, and then Aiyana, and finally Rissa is the small one there," he said, pointing with one of his forepaws. "Just something special I thought I would share with somebody so interested in exploring. It'd be a shame if you left them off your mental map."

Turning back to her, he studied her in silence for a moment before deciding to ask a question of his own. "So what's your story, Ruenna? And your family's?" He had told her what had happened in Kinis' absence, but he was curious as to what had become of Triell's littermate after he had taken his leave from Cut Rock River.