Hushed Willows I'm ready to leave it, I'll go when I feel it

Reverie nodded as Akavir congratulated her, but couldn't bring herself to speak. It was well-intended, she knew, but nonetheless another reminder that this was not the happy time it should have been. Her eyes shone with the brief threat of tears. She took in a breath and turned her attention back to Mae. The girl was speaking now, straight to the point as always.

Some part of her had expected the announcement. Reverie couldn't deny that her heart dropped slightly to hear the words. She'd feared losing the pack to the grief of Boone's disappearance and the abrupt changes to their way of life, and now she was watching them leave one by one. But she was proud of Mae, too; she wasn't asking permission. She was choosing her own happiness.

You can visit any time you want, She said softly, though she wasn't sure how to address Mae's insistence that she needed help. Maybe she did, but Reverie felt that Mae was far too young to be worrying about her and her children. Sometimes she forgot that she herself hadn't been much older when Blossom was born.

Akavir's addition was unexpected; hadn't she told him that they would be fine? Swiftcurrent Creek owed them nothing — but she wouldn't deny the assistance of another pack. She nodded as her eyes found him. Thank you. For a moment she hesitated, nearly saying more.

But this conversation was about Mae. Her attention turned back to the girl she nearly thought of as her own by now, though she knew she had no right. You'll always have a place here, Mae. Nothing will ever change that. We'll be traveling soon, when the girls are old enough. Maybe we'll visit, Reverie offered a smile as she said it, hoping to encourage her. She wasn't sure Akavir would welcome them, but that was a conversation for the future. Right now she only wanted Mae to know that she had her support, and always would.