Vayko’s luck lately… had not been bad. His nose still didn’t quite feel the same but he was still managing to smell normal it seemed. While things had not gone smoothly with Modesto’s departure, good had happened since then. His father had turned up, and in that moment he had faith that his mother might as well. He could only hope for her warm embrace and kind words, for the pride she’d show in him for raising his own kingdom alongside his cousin, for making their new home out of a tragedy.

A scent flooded his nose, confusion and excitement rising in him. It was unusual to see a squirrel out of their nest during the winter months, though he was not mad about it. Instantly, he leapt into action, making sure that he stayed downwind of the creature. He quickly pursued it, trying to keep his paws light as his teeth barred and he pounced on the creature who realized too little too late that he was there. With a swift bite, the unusually plump creature was limp in his jaws. He hummed softly, considering instead of eating such a snack, taking it to a certain healer in the pack who might need food… in case she was wearing herself thin with always having work to do.

It was, of course, purely strategic. With how often he got hurt, he needed to make sure the medic was alive and well to treat him of course…

A voice called out to him and he identified it immediately at his sister, turning his gaze curiously as he tilted his head, setting his prey down as he nodded towards her. “Of course, you know I’m always here to talk.” His sister had been the one to stick by him through and through. Unlike his aunt, he had never questioned his sister’s loyalty to the pack and the kingdom they were trying to create… he knew his aunt’s heart had not truly been in it, he was just saddened by the way she had chosen to leave.

“What’s up? Have you eaten?” He asked, nudging the squirrel towards her. Originally he had been planning to gift it to Clover, but his sister was right here and he wasn’t sure if it was to scold him for his behavior in handling the Modesto situation as Vi had done shortly after it happened, or if perhaps she was seeking advice of her own. It had truly felt like forever since they had been able to talk at all, both busy with there own responsibilities, but he would always make time for her should she need it.

He would never regret the decisions to not continue the search for his homeland… he had made something worthwhile here that he never would have been able to do if under the suffocating reach of the Estuary and the elders who sat on the council. Even now, while missing Modesto, there was a part of him that regretted making her his advisor, letting the council have such sway over him in his new lands… perhaps that had just been his fear to escaping the Valle legacy.

Now? He couldn’t help but see his cousin’s side of things. Family was hardly trustworthy even under the best of circumstances, and it was time to move on. He offered his sister a soft and genuine smile. She was one of the few who could draw such a reaction out of him as he hummed, letting a soft rumble from his chest escape as he considered her words. A frown on his features. “Are you sure? You’re looking thinner, Shar, you need to eat.” They had enough in the caches. They had all been fighting tooth and claw all winter to make sure the entire pack was fed for.

The statement came and there was a hint of sadness in his eyes the moment she said her name. “I… don’t know.” He admitted softly, a pained sigh escaping afterwards. “I know why he did it. I know why he made the decision he did… but it’s hard. I relied on her so much; she was family, in more ways than our other family ever was.” He admitted as he scraped idly at the ground with his paws. “But even now, I wonder why I made her my advisor in the first place. We made this pack to get away from the rules of the Estuary and the council… and I made a council member my advisor.” He needed to talk it out, and his sister had been the first one to wholly offer her ear without the promise of judgement at the end. “I just feel lost. I don’t know if I can trust the decisions I make.”

Vayko had seen his aunt as one last way to cling to home. The way to cling to the ocean he had so desperately missed in his first few months. He saw her as a connection to his mother because of their close bond. She had taught him everything he knew, and he had trusted her counsel while recognizing she had her own biases. He knew she hadn’t approved of the things Viorel had done, he had also just expected her to keep her head. She had always been so good at it… but something had made her finally snap.

The promise came and he nodded. He just worried about her. He always would; she was his sister… and now, she was the one thing he had left to cling to as well. Sure, he had Viorel… but it wasn’t the same. They were cousins, and they were close… but not as close as he had been to Sharlee, Amondi, or Modesto… “I… ran into dad.” He admitted softly to her. It had been new, bringing him back to the Backwater… and he was not sure if she had run into him yet herself. “He said he got separated from Mom… that they were looking for us.” He stated again, quietly as if it were taboo. What if every wolf of the older generation abandoned him? There was a part of him that preferred his parents being missing to the thought of them leaving.

He listened to her statement with a hum, and he shrugged. There was a part of him that did blame Vi… he tried not to, and he understood logically… but it was hard. “I’m not as angry as I feel I should be.” He admitted, confiding in his sister and trusting her to not share it elsewhere. “Neither side was blameless… I was there, at least when it all first started. He turned his back on blood, the one thing she had left to cling to and she… snapped. I knew many of the feelings she expressed. She had expressed them to me before.” He finally let it off his chest. “She disapproved of his union with Vanadis and Clover both last spring… she didn’t think he was leading right but she always kept her opinions to me. She never caused a fuss… not until he spat on everything that she and all of our parents had stood for. I understand why she snapped… and I feel like it’s just made it so much harder.”

He sighed again, sitting down as he shifted the snow around with his paws as busywork. “He came to me after… I walked away when it was all happening. He got mad at me for it; a part of me thinks he’s still mad for not standing up for him but how am I supposed to do that when he puts me between two people I love like that and just expects me to pick a side?” He sighed softly. “She didn’t have me fooled; I knew her disapproval from the start. She wanted to return home; she wanted the Estuary just as we all did at first.” They had quit on her by quitting on their birthland. “I just feel so confused. It feels like nothing makes sense anymore, Shar.”

She was a good listener. Where he had gotten impulsivity and reactivity, Sharlee had appeared to get the opposite… sometimes it felt like he was the worst traits from both of their parents while she were the best. The question was a complicated one to answer and he shrugged. “I don’t know… I was excited at first but something just feels off… I don’t know if it’s just because I don’t trust anyone older than us anymore, or if it’s something else.” It was all he could think of as an excuse.

His eyes softened as she closed the distance and he welcomed the embrace. He welcomed the genuine connections he had formed here, stripped of all the pomp and circumstances that had surrounded their birth pack… it didn’t matter that they were Valles, just who they were as wolves. That brought him some kind of comfort. “I don’t know…” He admitted at her rhetorical question. “I tried to tell him that, but I think he’s just too personally involved with the situation to truly see where I’m coming from.” He admitted again as he sat down.

“Did she just play us? I’m the one who brought her here. Do you think she actually wanted to try and make it work here or was she just waiting for a reason to leave?” He had so many questions and he accepted that he likely would never get answers… “I’m angry too. I’m angry our family can’t stay together no matter what like they promised. I’m mad at Aunt Modesto for betraying this legacy we’ve built. I’m mad mom hasn’t found us. I’m mad Aunt Sita left and abandoned her own child... what does being a Valle even mean anymore with all of that baggage?”