His strategy to stay still and hope she wouldn't find him proved to be foolish as she froze when she saw him as well. It was only when her eyes widened that Draven realized that he had been making continuous eye contact and he immediately dropped his gaze to his own paws.  Cursing himself internally he cringed slightly, waiting for her to pounce on him or otherwise harm him. It's not like he had been beaten or grew up that way but he had long since started expecting only the worst to happen. It was when she sighed that the green eyes flickered up briefly, chancing a look at her expression. The look of relief on her muzzle calmed him some but he still stood stiffly, not sure what he was supposed to be doing in this situation.

Suddenly she was speaking and walking towards him and instinctively the pup took a step backwards. He frowned at her words though, he had scared her? All he had done was stand here, it was she who was coming closer now and clearly had the edge up on this meeting. Suddenly the mossy eyes widened and flew upwards to stare incredulous at the stranger, "You knew my mom?" It was only then that he truly took in her appearance. She looked to be about Kova's age, but scrawny and her fur was not especially well groomed as if she had been by herself for some time and her eyes looked cloudy somehow. How on earth did this strange wolf know his mother? Was it possible that there were wolves besides the Crest that knew her well?

The words that the girl presented him seemed strange, she claimed to be from Heartwood River, their allies but Draven knew that they weren't allies anymore. On top of that she didn't smell of any other wolves at all, let alone a whole pack of them. His frown deepened and his head tilted slightly, a trait he had unconsciously picked up from his mother, "But Heartwood River isn't our allies anymore..." Did Karina know that? Had she left her home just like every single one of his siblings had?

However his suspicious and curiosity was thrown out the window with abandon as the yearling began to speak of his mother.  The black tail began to sway behind him and emerald eyes lit with excitement, the frown being replaced with a small smile. Nobody talked of his mother much back in the pack, at least not with him, not anything he didn't know about her. Taking a step closer Draven felt more comfortable around this strange yearling than he had with anyone but Calanthe and Raela for a long time. If his mother had trusted this Karina and had wanted them to be friends that had to mean that she should be his friend right?

The frown began playing on his mouth again at the mention of Kova and Noble, his brother had left with Kino and never returned and before he could stop himself he mumbled, "I never met Noble, I don't really have a family no more." Realizing he had told this girl he had just met one of his deepest secrets the pup looked to his paws in shame, he was letting his mother down. All she had loved was friends and family and now he had neither, he had only himself and the memories of the months before she died. Without lifting his head the boy began to blink back tears threatening to fall, "Draven Lagina," the words were barely audible and his voice cracked halfway through but it was all he could muster.

The girl seemed confused by his words, with her ears flattening against her skull Draven was left wondering what he had said wrong. Had he already offended his new friend? Would she leave like all the others? Oh. Dropping his gaze back to his paws once more he realized what he had done. Scuffing his dark paw into the snow he murmured, "They all left after she died. They all left me behind." They had turned on him in his grief, attacking him as if it had been all his fault and then they had disappeared. First Kino and Kova had left and never returned and then Ari into the snows one night. This time he could not blink fast enough and the tears spilled over his lids and cascaded down his dark muzzle before splashing on his paws.

She was speaking again but her words were half drowned in his embarrassment at being such a failure and breaking down in front of her. Suddenly her body was wrapped around him and his muscles tensed, when was the last time someone had embraced him this way? All at once his reservations dissolved and he pressed his face as deeply as possible into her grey fur and sobbed. "But why did she have to go? Why did mother leave us?" He had not realized that she had been talking about a figurative mother instead of his own mother. Other than saying that his father was all around him in the wind and sky nobody had talked to him about faith before.