She heard the howl for their presence, and her head cocked in response to the way Ash's body language had changed the instant the howl went up. Though she was too young to understand pack business, she could decipher that something was not right. Who was looking for her, and what did they want? When he had asked her to stay put she listened without complaint and trusted that he would return to her soon; that had been nearly half an hour ago and the young Thanne had grown restless while in wait. She worried that he'd abandoned her as her mother and father had done not too long ago, and though Ash was a warm man who had graciously taken her under his wing, she couldn't help wondering if one day the sweet words and kind gestures he made would one day be taken from her. She'd lost so much already, she had begun to expect that wolves who so easily entered her life would disappear as her attachment to them grew therefore she abandoned her spot to go searching for him. At least if she went looking for him, he couldn't get lost like her mother and father had so many weeks back.


As she traveled, with her nose to the ground and alert eyes searching, she heard the commotion of wolves talking well before she entered the area and paused just long enough to hear their conversation. From the tone of their voices there was anger, so much anger that Rory wondered if following Ash here had been a wise choice but then there came the calm voice of a female, her tone she did not recognize but the plea in her voice she did. There was a mishap that needed immediate attention. A plethora of other voices pitched in, one she recognized was that of Silver a woman who had taken it upon herself to help feed the Thanne child, and another who's accent was so thick that his words went in one ear and out the other. The next who spoke made her tail wag with excitement, it was Ash and she could tell that he was angry, no doubt at one of the wolves in attendance, only when he stopped did she approach closer catching the tail end of the pleading woman's voice and the sweet calm tone of Narime.


"Welcome home" was all she heard as she bolted from her cover into the clearing, her gold eyes searched for that of Ash as she eased into her usual spot beneath his chest. She fit perfectly, being smaller than what she was supposed to be at her age and glanced up at him with a look of concern and confusion, he was angry and the expression was evident on his face, "sss-ad?" she questioned him, her voice seemed to crack with an audience around her but she stood proudly beneath the strength of her new father and turned her attention to her mother, a wolf she no longer recognized, and spoke in a hushed tone "hhu-rt?" she asked after noticing her scars.

Her eyes transfixed on the large and imposing figure of her mother, the scars that she bore scared her as she came closer as if to seek an embrace and it took everything in the young Thanne's body not to whimper in fright. Though she stood with Ash, her new guardian, she felt frightened by the very woman who had birthed her, and felt much too afraid to trust her now that someone had so easily taken her place. And where was her father? His name she barely knew along with his scent which had long gone stale before Athena' s and now she came to force herself back into her life--the creme girl did not know how to feel. "No..." she started, shaking her head violently to dismiss the figure that stood to take her away from Ash, her new father. "No mama," her eyes grew narrow, a small hiss formed in the back of her throat as she shrunk from Athena, desperate then for an escape.


It wasn't that she hated her mother, on the contrary, but she could no longer trust her, not when she had gone sick those many days and sought her out with no trace to follow, here she felt safe, in the arm of Miss Narime and Ash, and here she would remain. "I wan' go..." she pleaded, her eyes lifted to search those of Ash's as he suggested they play a new game. She was always in the mood for some fun, especially if it meant leaving so that her mother could no longer harm her. Narime moved and Rory hesitated to follow, scared that Athena would advance to intercept her movement and when she felt that the coast was clear she scurried beneath the warmth of Narime's legs so that they could race to safety. Before she ran she glanced one more time to Athena and shook her head, her eyes sad as she whispered a final time, "No mama, no..." and ran as fast as her little legs would go.