She had been so busy ever since the children had been born. She had been ever constantly attending business at the borders that always seem to call out to her in importance and alarm. The mother had not had the time to look for Ashanti, and it had taken her some time to even realize that she had been re-accepted into the pack, which made her angry, especially at Miccah...as he had been the one to accept her adoptive daughter back into their family. It angered her at first but in the end Nina had not enough energy to be angry at the man that she was attempting to get along with, even if she would have preferred Hollow by her side, Miccah was what she had and eventually she would have to accept that.

Today was one of the rare days that Nina was going closer to her borders to her territory since she had birthed the children...without having to be summoned to them. She was stopped, however, when the familiar scent of Ashanti. Her tail wagged behind her enthusiastically and the mother moved slowly towards where the younger girl's scent was coming from. She had always had a motherly tendency towards the woman and so she didn't hesitate to move towards where her scent was coming from, which just happened to be where she had birthed Bane. The Hervok did not say anything and simply called out to her, keeping her voice soft and gentle, ”Ashanti...if you are in there, can you come out please? It's Nina.” Her tail flicked behind her, awaiting for the familiar cream of Ashanti's head to pop out.

The mother had always been a patient woman, but it had been quite some time since she had seen Ashanti, and her excitement was bubbling too high for even her to handle. She shifted awkwardly from one paw to the other, a single emerald eye shining fiercely towards the entrance of the den. Her excitement was soon placed with dread when she realized that as soon Ashanti's head peeked out from her hiding spot, it popped right back in, leaving her there alone. A frown was placed on the golden woman's lips then, waves of sadness hitting her hard. Had someone said something bad about her to the point where Ashanti did not care for her much anymore? Perhaps it had been Miccah who had put false thoughts into her head out the regal woman. The thought made Nina's lip curl in disgust for the male.

That disappeared as soon as the familiar figure of Ashanti once again popped out of the den, and Nina almost couldn't hide her smirk from the younger girl, but she did, and for that she was thankful. It seemed that now that Ashanti had returned she was quite shy and that was to be expected considering the fact that she did not remember anyone from her home. A graceful smile was planted onto Nina's black lips when she spoke, ”Come on out now. I won't bite, I promise.” The golden brown alpha watched her former patient carefully, hoping that she would take her words as a peace offering and would step into the light where Nina would be able to see her.

Ashanti looked so cautious, that it almost broke Nina's heart. Once they had been so close and Ashanti had hung onto every word that Nina had said. Now things would be much different though, and it was just because of that brief slip of sanity that Ashanti had lost. However, the mother's spirits were lifted when a friendly greeting came from the woman in front of her, a pleased smile gracing the mother's lips. The woman she viewed as her daughter seemed to have relaxed considerably, and Nina took this as a sign that she was making progress. She hadn't seen much of the girl since she had returned, probably mostly because she had been den bound, and she hadn't been informed by anyone that the girl had returned home. It was a different experience to feel awkward in the presence of her adopted daughter and so Nina shifted uneasily from side to side.

Finally, as silence stretched on between the two of them, Nina finally spoke, ”So how have you been since you have returned?” Her single-eyed gaze pinned itself onto the Aranna, wanting to know how she had eventually come back and what had happened with her absence. Obviously, something had been keeping her from returned to Secret Woodlands and Nina had no clue what it was. The fact that she didn't know the activities of what were going on within her own home made her quite bitter, but she remained positive for the sake of Ashanti, and would pick out Miccah later when she was available to.