It was perhaps the first night since they had claimed this territory that the stars shone unhindered through the trees. It was also the first night that Draven was willing to admit how much he missed the mountain. At the Cove the stars seemed to shine a million times closer than they looked down here in the earth, back on the mountain there was nothing to block the view. While the woman who led was spending her time looking up at the welcome sight of the heavens above the man's green eyes lay focused somewhere else.

Home.

It was a weird word that he hadn't really known what the definition was after his mother had died. It was a word he thought he could define again after reconciling with Alastor and with Neha, but now here without her it had lost its meaning again. He was torn between the two places, the two wolves really who made him feel like he belonged but he had made a commitment and he would see it through. Draven could only hope the Vuesain princess would decide to join them so once again he could feel settled in one place.

So lost in the thought of her he almost didn't notice that Sahalie was also awake, her wandering paws alerting him where he lounged. If it was Alastor he would have chuffed and announced his presence, but instead he remained silent. His gaze watched her as she moved, curious as to what she was doing, wondering if in her head her thoughts stammered like her words during the claiming.

At first it seemed like she would just walk by and continue on her own and Draven was fine with that. He would watch until her own dark form disappeared through the thin trembling trees and he would go back to admiring the stone beast blocking out the sky. Then she paused. Instinct told him it was polite to look away and so after a moment his gaze dropped down to his own paws in respect. His own personal feelings of unease towards her mattered little when she was the alpha, this was pack law.

The dark man lifted his eyes slightly and gave a small forced smile to her in return, though the back of his head rang perhaps because you also assume this pack is just yours. Her request did not fall on deaf ears though he would rather stayed in solitude where he was. It reminded him of when Vesper had asked to speak with him within the walls of the communal den. If an alpha asked you to do something, even something seemingly casual and social you did it.

Standing he shook his raven pelt back into place and quickly stretched his legs to loosen them from the stiffness of laying still. Joining Sahalie in her pace away from the others he kept a respectful distance between them, but remaining silent. She had asked him to walk with her after all, and he was fine to pretend that they had just come out here to look at the stars if that made her more comfortable. Draven just prayed she wouldn't start asking questions and forcing conversation.

Any hopes that she would be silent was quickly dashed as she began a monologue about how private Alastor was. The irony of that statement seemed to be lost on her, she didn't want to pry at her co-lead so she was coming to do it directly at the source. He did his best to hum a response at what seemed like the right parts, the breaks in her sentences but he offered her no words of his own. Instead he just kept the slow pace with her and let her talk, Sahalie seemed happy enough to carry the conversation anyways.

That is until she stopped talking and the silence began to stretch out between them. Draven realized then that she was expecting some kind of verbal response rather than the noncommittal hms that he had been providing her with. Without raising his gaze from where it lay focused dead ahead he responded, "Cernan isn't with the Cove anymore." The words were flat, he had never been close with his age mate and the only real time they had spent together had been being attacked by swans. His leave from the pack had just meant one less set of paws to patrol the borders and aide in hunts.

He wondered if that's what the members of Fallen Tree Cove thought of him now.

He would have been fine to let her continue to drone on about fate and distance and mountain and valleys and stars after his one sentence interjection. Unfortunately, it seemed that his only sentence had opened an incredibly uncomfortable pile of worms. Sahalie stopped dead in her tracks and because it had been silent between them it was very obvious when the sound of her paw steps ceased. Glancing over his shoulder in curiosity towards the small dark woman he almost flinched when he saw her pursed lips. It seemed he had made a mountain lion of the stammering girl.

Turning to face her Draven dropped his gaze respectfully to her paws and prepared for the punishment he was about to receive for.... something. His silence? Not carrying the conversation? How was he supposed to get a word in edgewise? Still, it was within her rights as alpha to roll out punishment as she saw fit and it was his duty to take it.

What came out of her mouth was not at all what he had been expecting. The temper he usually reined in save for a few unfortunate instances rose, despite his best effort to beat it down. His tail twitched behind him in irritation as Draven took a few deep breaths, prepared to bite his tongue and say nothing. Until her last words. "I followed my brother because he is all I have left of my family and I'm not willing to half ass it from the mountain. I left a lot behind to be here today for him so I respectfully apologize for not being happy enough for your standards I will do my best to improve in this area. But my god, I am not the one that needs help Sahalie. I left to come here for him but you're blind if you can't see that he's left everything behind multiple times for you because he loves you and it kills him that you don't feel the same way. I hadn't seen him in a year and a half and he told me that all that matters to him is your happiness even if you don't feel the same way. I don't need your help to be happy but it would be so easy for you to take away his pain."

Realizing that he had stepped way over the line his green eyes dropped back to his own paws and his ears fell back. This time he deserved the punishment he was likely to recieve.