Motherhood had become Rowan. Though by far her son was more active than her daughter both children were unique and beautiful all their own and she was enamored with the changes between her children. She had been relaxing near the densite when a familiar and utterly longed for scent reached her. Rowan let out an excited bark, no doubt alerting her children who were nearby playing before she beelined back to track Casmir down. 

Her tail was moving rapidly behind her and the pale woman buried her face in the one-eared boy's scruff as she found him. She ignored the fish entirely, not caring if it's scent or the water got on her. She didn't bother to wait to greet him, nuzzling against him tenderly. "Casmir," She was near breathless before she pulled back to regard him. 

 

Rowan nuzzled into him, for a moment just letting herself bask in him. She'd been so isolated with just the children, the pack so small and scarce and truly only Spring to call a friend. She didn't know Heston well enough, though he did seem to mean no harm, and she hadn't seen Amber and had only heard the rumors of her pregnancy and abandoning of their pack. Rowan licked her lips when Casmir pulled away, sheepish and almost nervous around the younger male. 

"They're....they're perfect, Casmir." She said, nudging him before she lead him to where Cortland and Mona were playing. "This is Cortland Tobias and Mona Antha." She said, introducing her son and then daughter with a bright smile. She was so proud of them, undeniably overjoyed. "What....what happened?" Casmir had been gone so long and while she wanted nothing more than to just watch her family meet she wanted to know about the girls and Casmir's journey. 

She was almost gutted by the words that Casmir said. That his children didn't want to come back to them - that they had rejected the life they had been given, the world that had been made and carved for them! Rowan bristled some, but she put aside her own feelings to try and support Casmir's. Rowan's mouth opened, then shut, and around them the wind shifted harshly, whipping against his dark fur and her pale fur in contrast so clearly. "Her jealous fit cast me from the pack that should have been ours and then she abandoned them on the cusp of winter?" Rowan asked, tail lashing angrily behind her. 

How dare Aria leave them behind - but she would not drag her children through winter's grasp to go back to Donnelaith; it would not be safe. She nuzzled against him, trying to soothe her own emotions and his as well. "I am so sorry." She said as she glanced over at the children. They had never seen her angry, and for a moment, looks of confusion met them. "Play, loves, it's alright." She said softly. A few moments and the children had forgotten the momentary ordeal and they went back to playing. 

"My place is with you. As much as I appreciate Spring and what she has done for us, you are who I am loyal to. I will support you, Casmir." She said honestly. "It sounds so horrible to say it that way - is this what you want? Beta?" Because Rowan knew she had always seen greatness in the boy - of that she had no doubts in him at all. 

Rowan wanted to cipher the answers they both sought, she wanted to tend to him and try and make things better for him as she had found he had always done for her. Before he could reject her she reached forth and drew him down against her breast, wild beating heart loud as it could be as she tucked her head over his and held him. She comforted him as a lover, as a friend, as family - as one of the few she trusted and the only real thing that rooted her to the spot other than her children. 

"You are stronger than you think, and the pack needs strength and needs you - but you will learn, you will grow. There is such greatness in you, Casmir, do not doubt yourself." Rowan didn't speak on what she wanted, she truly didn't know. Right then she had her family though, the three of them, and that had to be enough. 

Rowan did not begrudge Casmir from the way he sought more - she had welcomed him for comfort, wanted between their touches to be a gentle presence that he knew he could rely on. Even when he admitted he needed to apologize to his brother Rowan pressed a kiss against the base of his present ear, not a reward precisely, but to show she would not take offense to such a thing - she did not want to live with the us verses them mentality that their circumstances had opened up to. "You are family,"  Rowan began quietly. "You will love one another always - and probably fight again as you age. It's just the way things are."  She said with a small smile. 

Rowan would not keep Casmir from his family, she would never dissuade him from reconciliation. She would not forgive Constantine his controlling attempts to choose her life for her, or the way he had ignored her words repeatedly. It had been clear he did not care for her nor for her children, and should he appear on her doorstep she wasn't sure if she would allow him near her children. If Casmir was present

.. Perhaps. 

Casmir pulled away and for a moment Rowan worried he could feel her thoughts - but it was not the dark boys twin Rowan despised but the haughty alpha who had rejected her children because she had wanted them for her own. Still, in an effort to protect the remaining Mayfair children Rowan had told no one Aria's true betrayal. She had kept that secret all her own. That Aria so quickly abandoned the pack only further proved she never would have deserved the gift that Mayfair children were.  To Aria it was the status symbol, it was all her pride and not her heart. Her gaze shifted for a moment to her babies playing so innocently and then to Casmir again. 

"Do you know where they went?" 

It was sad that they were locked until the children were older. Rowan, being overprotective, knew she'd probably only want the children out of the safety of the Creek's packlands once they were able to really hold their own - maybe four or five months old. That seemed forever away, but, the weeks had already flown by and they had taken brief trips to the Forest. 

The question none the less brought a smile to her face at the prospect of them doing anything together - it would reinforce the familial bonds that she longed for her children to have. "Yes, lets." Rowan finally stepped away from him, going towards the children to nuzzle against them for a moment before sharing the good news. "It used to take so much to bring Mona out from the den." She said with a chuckle, recounting for Casmir the things he'd missed. 

Rowan relaxed as they started to walk. The children were excited by the prospects of a new person to know and investigate, she could already see the wheels turning in Cortland's mind how he would earn himself extra meals from Casmir. It was probably the happiest that she had been in months, all of them together, all of them relaxing in one another's company. It made her feel better about things, even if they weren't ideal at all.