Morganna was working her way around the area, keeping a fairly consistent trail from the heights to the lagoon, skirting well south of the Willows. With Sven being a loose canon she didn't want her hell-raisers setting him off and starting a feud before they'd been in the lore a full five minutes. Besides, it was about time she met Revon and maybe even spent some time with Greer's mountain girlfriend. She had promised him she would be back, but now it was another Archer's scent that entered her nose and her paws slapped the ground in friendly greeting, her tail arching high to wave over her back while her gaze swept from side to side. She couldn't be too far away.
Her sisters tackle collected her firmly on the rump, sending the elder Archer ass over head with a chorus of laughter, the ensuing scuffle winding up with Morganna on her back and Ravenna pinning her down, licks answered in kind with a low rumble in her chest and a half-hearted press of her legs into her sister's underside. "Yeah, yeah, I missed yer too." She shot back with a low chuckle. "Just wait til th' hoard arrive, then yer'll won't be able ter sneak up on me." She teased with a laugh, hinting at the terror to come. She wriggled, sliding back, but not quite managing to break free yet.
"The horde?" She spoke, head tilting and ears perking at her words. Had she returned with packmates too? Was Kara with her, or Odin? "Fill me in on EVERYTHING. I've missed so much!" She could hardly keep up with all her siblings, granted how many there were and how vast their territories reached. Archers and Talks alike were everywhere, even more so now with Morganna's litter. Ravenna shifts out to the side then, sliding off on her sister to lay down next to her, tail thumping the ground hard as she waited.
Relieved of her sisters weight she rolled to the side, bringing her legs to rest beneath her. "I went ter Torbine in th' spring. Renier came with me, an' Odin an' Kara. I ended up havin' five pups when I was expectin' maybe one or two so obviously I couldn' carry 'em back. They should be on their way now, three boys an' two girls. Like I told Greer, yer'll hear 'em before yer see 'em." She paused to laugh. "I went up ter check on the Monadnock an' Piety and Wraith have everythin' under control so I reckon I'll stay in th' south fer now. Stay close enough ter visit without it bein a huge endeavour. I've been hangin' out around the lagoon. Oh, did yer know Grizzly Hollow's gone?"
Then Morganna continued on, saying Wraith and Piety, both former members of Willow Ridge were now leading the pack well enough and because of it, Morganna figured she would stick around this area. Which, of course, got Ravenna's tail pounding the earth again. "No, I didn't." She spoke, the shock on her expression showing, then a small frown. "I should have though... The whole western side of us has been so quiet. With it so open, I'm sure the pups will have so much at their paws to explore. I can't wait to meet them. We need some excitement around here! ... Is Renier coming, too?" She had always hoped they would hit it off, knew mother had hoped for it. We're they official now?
Morganna laughed at Ravenna's desire for excitement, "Don' let Bojay hear yer saying that, th' boy is as devious as Skoll an' twice as meddlesome, he'll mess up a hunt just ter laugh at yer tripping over yer own paws an' then sulk about bein' hungry when yer've nothin' ter show fer it. But he means well enough, jus'... struggles ter be serious, drives poor Nellie in circles..." It felt good to speak with her sister of her children, with any luck she would be meeting them soon enough.
An even easier smile came to her face at the mention of Renier. "Yeah, he's hangin' out around th' lagoon, reckon he'll stop in an' check on yer sooner than later. Think e's a bit worried about Sven runnin' interference though." She paused to chuckle, "'E tracked me down on th' rise, got 'is nose outta joint. 't's too easy her get under 'is skin." But she supposed there was a more serious outcome from all of that in the end wasn't there? "Jus' ...watch 'im Rav. 'E likes ter picks fights 'e can't win. Wanted me ter take th' kids north." She tucked her chin and dropped her voice, pulling a face as she spoke, "Never be yer home while I breathe." She took a moment to regain a more normal posture.
"I dunno if 'e thinks I'd spare 'im cos we're blood or if 'e genuinely expects a fight, but I at least thought 'e'd know by now not ter make threats 'e can't follow through on." She managed a mischievous smirk with a tilt of her head, "Who does 'e think I am anyway?" It was rhetorical, meant for a laugh. For now it was all in good fun, and she was sure that between them they could manage the situation but if her children came under threat, or any under her protection, she would hope it would be evident by now that he wouldn't get any special treatment.
After letting Ravenna know that Renier was indeed in the area and should be visiting too, it only helped confirm that indeed the pair were together, which brightened Ravenna, though mentioning Sven's name worried Ravenna. She loved @Sven there was no doubt, but he had a way with rubbing some wolves the wrong way because he refused to curb his words for the good of the group and to keep the peace.
Her sister went to go on explaining what had happened when she ran into their cousin. Ever since she had decided to leave up north, Sven's feelings once high for her, turned sour. He didn't want her anywhere near Willow Ridge, surely thought she would do it no good as she had before. Morganna warned her, though Ravenna couldn't help but sympathize for her cousin. "It's a messy situation." She said with a shaking of her head. "When you left and about half our members went with you, it hurt Sven bad. All of us, bad. You weren't here so you don't know the pain you caused and how badly it affected us." She couldn't help but think if Morganna and Greer had stayed, perhaps the fate of her parents could have been changed. Maybe Angier wouldn't have been convinced by Niles to leave. Maybe even sooner Morganna, who was a good scout, could have tracked them down. "After you and the rest had left, so much had spiraled downward. I know you couldn't have predicted it, but you could have known it would be a hard hit to take. And with both of Sven's parents leaving him and whoever else, its not hard to assume this affects his actions." Ravenna was doing her damn best to move on from it, though the pain of loosing her parents and how they had died, would never go away. She was just trying to live this life the best she could, while she could, knowing all too well at any moment she could loose someone else.
"I think the problem is separating pack from family, perhaps. He knows he could never trust you to be here for the pack, having abandoned it before, but doesn't realize he don't have to trust you for that. Just accept you as family. He don't have to like you particularly, but it don't mean he has to hate you, or want you dead." As she went on explaining, her gaze moved out over the meadows, looking out at the foliage that in time soon, would die with winter. In many ways now, it was as though she was speaking for herself and not just Sven. "It's easy to think Sven might assume family packs being close by might hurt our own small group. Just because we are family, doesn't mean we can waltz into one anothers territory like its still home, or hunt on each others land, or breed with their women, so to speak." She laughs a bit at this. "There just has to be ground rules because of being different packs, though that doesn't mean we can't be family too." After all, Whisper Caverns had been very close to Willow Ridge and do had Secret Woodlands. There was no reason they couldn't have allies again. If anything, Sven could look at them as only an alliance, if he did not wish to view them as family anymore.
"I know all tha'." she responded to her sister with a half chuckle and a bump of her nose to her sister's jaw, "Bu' others won' be so mindful. Don' let 'im hold more sway than 'e does unless yer know 'e can keep 'imself in check when it matters. Family might let it slide but there're plenty out there tha' won't, an' yer don' currently 'ave th' numbers on yer side ter back up 'is bark. I wan'ter see the willows thrive again, ter be a place where 'is mouth won't be yer downfall. God know we 'ad a few close calls up north before th' kids were attacked an' we managed ter put our own egos aside."
She was only speaking from her own experience and for once in her life there was no ulterior motive beyond hoping that her sister would be able to talk more sense into him than she had managed to talk into his father. "I was hurt too yer know, when Nicolo just threatened me outta th' blue, an' why? Cos I said we'd only have one litter ter deal with? I didn' want ter give Skoll th' same leniency mother had, but apparently 'e thought I was talkin' about him. I wasn' gonna just sit back an' let 'im turn the pack against me an' make me out ter be crazy, but everyone else was jus' fine with it." She had to shrug. After her children were born would have been the perfect moment to strike of course, which was why she had decided to leave when nobody in the male ranks had made any move to rectify things. "If 'e'd had eyes fer anyone but Adele at tha' point I might'a reconsidered m' words but I didn' think 'e was interested, an' look at th' fallout from that? If yer don' watch yer words, everythin' can fall away from under yer feet. I don' want yer ter have ter know tha' feelin'." Her voice was fading around a lump that wouldn't leave the back of her throat, but she managed to smile queasily none the less.
After a deep inhale and a blink or two she managed to find her voice again. "So 'ave you got eyes on anyone fer th' spring?" She changed the topic with a smirk and a tease. That was more than enough heavy shit for now. She needed to get back to a place where she could breathe again, her tail beating against the ground.