He had been miserable since the news had been broken to him, and all Aleksei wanted to do was sleep away the pain. Of course, it achieved little more than making him feel worse, so, for the first few weeks, he did the bare minimum he could. Half-hearted patrols that more often than not were broken away from early because it hurt far too much to function normally. Eventually, it became easier to breathe, and he resolved to visit the Ethos once he felt more up to the task—the thought of approaching Hearthwood River in his current state of grief left an uneasy anxiety in his gut, especially considering his harpy of a sister and her simpering baby-daddy were still there.

Aleksei also had another task to attend to, one that he was putting off out of sheer worry; his sister was here. His youngest sister, Risaela (how had he forgotten her name?), had been taken into Wild Rye Fields as a temporary ward, and he hadn’t bothered to seek her out at all. He had his reasons. He didn’t doubt for a second that the blame for Kisla’s death would be pinned upon him. Perhaps his sibling would blame him, too?

It was a surprise to discover, then, that she was the braver of the two. She met her surprised gaze with his own as she peeked up at him, the sight of it all causing his lips to curl into a smile. With his chin resting upon his paws, he was at the perfect eye-height to catch a sneaky cub off guard. “Hello there,” he  greeted her, voice as soft as melting butter. His tail gave a gentle thump against the ground, to reassure her that everything would be fine.

Her nervous stammer was not lost on him, nor was the dancing of her gaze. She was scared, and he could understand why, but behind her nerves stood a great deal of courage—she could run, but instead she opted to remain where she was. In fact, she seemed unsatisfied with her first attempt at a greeting, and spoke again, tacking on a shortening of what he could only assume to be his name at the end. He continued to smile, and another series of tail wags went off. Despite her silver-grey features, Risaela felt like golden warmth.

“I know your name, Ris.” He shifted, lifting his head from his paws to give her a few sniffs. Carefully, with slow movements, he craned his head forward in an attempt to press his nose against her chest and blow through his nostrils. “It’s nice to finally meet you—how are you feeling today?” He couldn’t forget that it wasn’t just him who had lost a mother, after all. Risaela would most certainly be taking it harder in his opinion. She was so young, after all. It must have shaken her quite a bit, to have her flee all the way across the Lowlands.

How the River wolves had not noticed sooner, he would never understand. In fact, it caused him a great deal of stress and frustration. Thinking about them tended to have a negative affect on his mood. Had they worked more as a pack, instead of relying on one young man to fill the role of ‘the great king’s great, perfect heir’, perhaps his mother would still be alive—perhaps Risaela would have been safer, never given the fright that had her scampering across dangerous wilds to find shelter in a pack several days away.

Self righteous pricks.

Aleksei’s eyes closed, and he soaked in the moment. He had thought he’d never get a chance to be so close to his youngest siblings. Despite this meeting being born of tragedy, he counted himself lucky in this sense. He pressed his snout into her side, trying his hardest to not scoop her up into an embrace. It was hard to fight back that instinct. He had missed out on Inna and Lekalta’s childhood, and now he was going to miss out on Risaela’s, too. Aleksei decided he’d have to try, though. He’d try to be part of their lives, regardless of what the River wolves thought of him, or deemed him to be.

She was his blood.

“Little Ris, why would I be mad at you?” He pulled his head back to frown, meeting her gaze with his. Honestly, he was surprised that she hadn’t been taught to despise Aleksei. He was the family abandoner, after all—left not once, nor twice, but three times. “You’ve done nothing wrong.” Falling quiet, he studied her expression and then softly continued. “Do you feel like you have?” His voice was a whisper. Aleksei knew all too well how painful it was to worry your family hated you. He had lived with it for a year of his life, and had only a this year learnt to put it aside so he could live. “Because I promise you, you haven’t. None of what happened is your fault.” Only then did he offer her a gentle smile, a reassuring nudge of his nose. “Do not blame yourself.”

“No, no, no. Ris, no, don’t ever think that. It’s not your fault.” Without hesitating, because the whole thing was far too heart breaking, Aleksei sat upright and swept his head down to nuzzle Risaela in a brotherly hug. How on Earth had she gotten that into her head? Had someone told her it was her fault? Was that why she’d run crazy across the lowlands? If some foul wolf had said that to her, he’d personally find them and beat all nine circles of Hell out of them.

He swiped his tongue across her crown. A gentle kiss, reassuring, supportive. “I know it hurts, and I know you wish things were different, but none of it is your fault. You can’t blame yourself. You did nothing wrong. Don’t let anyone tell you that you did, or that you were bad.” This whole thing was so … god, it was infuriating for Aleksei. They had left his mother unprotected, let his youngest sister to run away! They let this terrible thing happen, and he doubted any of them felt a shred of guilt. Bastards, the lot of them.

Even if he was three days away, he’d have to make sure Risaela knew he’d always be there for her. If she needed to talk, or get away, he’d be there. Always. No more mistakes. No more disappearing. For Risaela, he would be the big brother he should have always been. “Here, give me a big smile. Your biggest, okay? Can you do that for me?”