The mood of the pack shifted, though Aidan tried her best to ignore it. There would be plenty of time for the sorrow, the pain and the heartache. It was the one thing that they always seemed to have the time for these days. Such a pity, yet it could not really be helped. In time they would all grieve in their own way and make it so that they could put it past them. Until that time, it would be a series of ups and downs as they took a journey on the emotional roller-coaster of life.<br/><br/>David joined them from his usual perch and Aidan merely snickered, “Maybe if we built you a little cot or something that would make it easier? Perhaps a step ladder so you can climb up there easier?”<br/><br/>One of her usual jabs about his height, done in fun and one that she never tired of. With those gone and doing things, she set out to feed those who were left behind. A deer steak was flipped and handed to Tyler, the baby of the pack so sometimes Aidan babied him. And sometimes, she was a down right bitch to him. Pack life was pack life and he had to learn some lessons harder than others. Especially now, with the “delicate” time that was approaching. Everyone would need to be better behaved this time around.<br/><br/>Next to receive a steak was Juliet. Aidan brought it to her, along with a warm hug and some whispered words of love and friendship. No matter what had happened, they still had one another and she wanted to make sure that Juliet remembered that. Even when it felt like the world was crushing in, she wanted her to know that there were those who were waiting to help push the world back.<br/><br/>Next to be fed was Samuel, “Better not burn that coffee. Tyler got us some damn coffee mate to go with it until we can do a supply run to town.” Another comment made in jest as she turned from him to serve up a steak to David, with the thought to hold it out of reach there in her mind, but lucky for him she opted against it. At least for now, he would be spared anymore jabs about his height.<br/><br/>Eidhn took the next piece, as he wanted to eat and be cleaned up before E returned. This whole being a vegetarian werewolf thing was still odd as hell, but he loved her so he would support her. Even if at times he thought it crazy.<br/><br/>Those about the fire could do little else but chat and eat while they waited for the others to return.<br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;"><a class="postlink" href="http://i.imgur.com/An8wgLB.png">[ img ]</a></div><br/><br/>Snow that had begun to melt and was more like slush crunched and sloshed under her booted feet. The straps of her bag cut into her shoulder, denoting the weight of it though she did not seem bothered by it. It was as light as anything else that she carried, light as most things she happened to pick up these days. Perhaps, the only thing that she could remember that ever gave her trouble would be the tracker on the farm. Its weight was such that it required her to use just a bit more effort and strength than usual.<br/><br/>It was funny, how one could casually consider lifting a tracker as if it were but another thing in the world, such as a book or a bag of groceries. Then again, it was not normal to be a werewolf at least not by the majority of the world. Things that were now normal to her would have been the furthest thing from her mind back before she changed. This is why she barely thought twice as she scented the air and allowed her senses to cast out and see what was around her. At first it was nothing out of the ordinary, just the scent and sounds of the nature around her. The song of birds that eagerly welcomed to coming of spring; a bear as it yawned and struggled to shake off the last grip that hibernation held over it. Overall, it was a pleasant hike. Then the wind shifted and a familiar scent tickled her nose.<br/><br/>“Aderol,” she spoke his name aloud while a smirk played on her lips.<br/><br/>“Nice to know after all this time, you have not forgotten little o’l me,” his voice drawled out from some trees a bit off.<br/><br/>“Who could forget the way your ass looks in jeans?” she teased and started toward him without hesitation.<br/><br/>Ready to play the role of the good guy, Aderol hugged Eryan. The embrace was warm and may have lingered a bit longer than either of them had planned. Perhaps it was that she had just lost her father and need to hug another without fear of breaking their bones, and then to be hugged the same in turn. This is what happened now. A tight hug, filled with unspoken emotions and a need that neither of them realized was there. When it finally ended, they lingered for a moment close and in one another’s arms.<br/><br/>“Sorry,” she finally spoke first and looked away while her shoulders rose in a shrug. “I had been waiting to hug someone as tight as I needed to…”<br/><br/>“Hey, if you can’t hug your cowboy, then who can you hug? Right?” Aderol responded with everything sincere and honesty.<br/><br/>She pushed him back then, but the smile was enough for him to make sure it was too far. “So, where are the others? Where is Sherman? I can’t feel anyone for some reason, so I feel like I am stumbling about blind,” the humor in her voice was there to mask her panic. To be away for so long was one thing, but to return and still not be able to feel any of them it scared her. Then there was the way he smelled, it was<span style="font-style: italic">off</span>. Sure he smelled like him, but he did not smell like the others. In fact he smelled strange and she could just not figure out what it was.<br/><br/>For Aderol, this had been the question he dreaded the one that was the hardest to answer. Especially now that she was there before him, after they had hugged and he had felt some of her pain through whatever remnants of a bond that they still shared. “A lot has changed…there was….an incident…” he began.<br/><br/>Though where could he go with this, how could he complete this? What was he to do? To spin such a tale where in the end he would look in the right and not in the wrong he knew himself to be. Wrong in her eyes and those of his former pack; he might have had his reasons but these were certainly not reasons that any of them would understand. Especially, Eryan the bond she had with Sherman was the same she had with her father and now he was going to tell her that it was he who stabbed the old wolf in the back. Stuck his claws in deep until he was able to grasp his heart and rip it from his body.<br/><br/>Fortunately or unfortunately for him, this would not be the time for him to explain himself to her. To explain why he turned on his pack, on his family and why he wanted her to join him now. Unite with him and the claws to take over the forest to be their own now. Instead, that would have to wait another time. There were others approaching and he could tell from the scents they were not from his pack.<br/><br/>“Thomas and Sera are coming!” Eryan exclaimed in excitement, eager to see more familiar faces.<br/><br/>“I have to go, Eryan, but I will see you again.” With that he was gone before she could stop him.<br/><br/>“Now…I am thoroughly confused…” she muttered to herself while she sat down on her duffle bag to wait for the others to arrive.