Her eyes lingered on his face when he spoke, enchanted. Lyanna supposed that if Nina had let the man in, he must be okay to have around, and she was somehow already glad that he was. He seemed nice enough and it wasn't as if there wasn't a shortage of acceptable playmates in the thicket. Daniel was gone, and Pacem had left, and Nina was, well, too old to romp around and too purposed to indulge in things Lyanna would deem adventurous. Maybe, just maybe, she could make a friend out of this Nios; she wondered if perhaps Daniel would have grown up to look like him.

"I see," she remarked at first, attempting to mimic the adultness of her father, lest she come off too childish to spark any interest. "Well, I hope you like it here ─ there's lots to do and mostly everyone is friendly. There's a glade not far from the main den that's," Uhhhh, "nice, and if that's boring, then there's a bluff to the south between our forest and the cedar one."

She perked up and shifted her weight, looking in what she believed was a southward direction as if she could see Limestone Bluff from where she stood. Scanning the trees for any sight of her father, who would surely show up and steal Nios' attention away at any moment. She knew she had better offer up what she could up front. "And then there's a spring to the east, where my secret hideout is..." Keeping things nonchalant, she pawed delicately at the ground underfoot and gathered the courage to make her move. "...I s'pose I could take you there sometime, you know, if you stick around."

Lyanna didn't know just how her eyes were beaming.

Her rounded ears perked forward at the sound of approaching footsteps, her eyes catching the sight of tawny fur between the tree trunks. Where she had halfway expected to see her father, a girl emerged ─ or, a woman, rather. Lyanna couldn't help but to be distracted from her conversation (which she thought was going rather well) with Nios. There was something familiar in the way the stranger moved, a familiar hue in the molten gold of her eyes. Even the colors in her fur had the wheels in Lyanna's head turning as if the tawny lady was a puzzle to be solved. Such a pretty face, she thought, her tail swaying tentatively.

The woman introduced herself as Vaeta as she drew close to Nios, and the girl watched as he brushed against this Vaeta's fur. A sliver of jealousy beat through her heart. She swallowed with a courteous smile, unable to introduce herself when the striking similarities between the pair standing before her began to come to life. When Nios added on that he and Vaeta were related after introducing Lyanna, she perked up in delighted surprise. "Hello," she seemed to mimic her aunt (unbeknownst to her) with watchful eyes. Without skipping much of a beat she added, "Are you gonna stick around, too? I bet father would be delighted to meet you." Whether or not this would prove true, she didn't know. Mirren was either here or there most days ─ mostly pleasant and sometimes more standoffish, depending on the weather or whether or not he'd slept. "He, uhm, should be around any time now..." She studied the darker markings on Vaeta's face with an open mind.

The path he took home from the borders was a familiar one, now worn down and easily found by anyone who might stumble across it. It seemed like second-nature, now ─ being a father, the kind to come home after a day's work to be with his child. Being a single dad wasn't easy on top of the monumental task of getting through the day without entertaining the notion that Kite was either gone or dead, but Lyanna made the shoes easier to step into. She grew more every day, and was brighter and more full of life than he's ever envisioned. So much like her mother, and she didn't even know it. Mirren very much looked forward to gazing into his daughter's golden eyes at the end of the day, looked forward to plopping down in the grass with her by the brook and listening to her stories about what she did and learned this day or that, or what her theories about the world and life were as told through the eyes of a child.

It was quite the surprise, then, when a scent he knew all too well and yet hadn't expected to find blew through the trees.

Nios had been the biggest part of his life for most of it, and there was no denying that he'd seen better days than the ones without his brother in them. But if anyone knew the value of family and of being grateful for the ones you loved, of forgiveness and fellowship and loyalty, it was Mirren; all things past and present aside, the prospect of finding his brother on his doorstep made him feel light as a feather.

It wasn't until he spotted Lyanna's form through the foliage that the third scent registered in his mind. As his eyes fell upon Vaeta, standing beside @Nios and across from Lyanna, he felt his heart swell. He approached the trio with a lopsided smile, the joy he felt clearly shining from his surprised gaze. "─Nios, Vaeta," he greeted, sweeping to his daughter's side. What a special occasion ─ to have his siblings both in one place, and to be able to share his kid with the both of them for the first time. The feeling could have easily been overwhelming, but after all he'd been through these last few months, his family was exactly what he needed, and he was prepared to give them the welcome they deserved.

"Vaeta, you look stunning. And you─" he inclined his snout to his brother as if to point him out, "─I couldn't be happier to see that weathered face! Let me get a good look at you─" A sight for sore eyes. Delighted, his attention cast to Lyanna, and he placed a kiss upon her crown before preparing to introduce the lot of them, unaware that they were already acquainted. "Lyanna...This is your uncle Nios and aunt Vaeta..."