Kalain looked around at the wolves assembled - Cora and Gaias to his right, his daughter glaring at him angrily the other looking on with slight confusion. To their left, Sati clung near to Quin, worried, but keen looking. For his part, the black and white splodged male seemed calm, and Kalain could see his interest in the subject at hand. A little ways off, Ely sat by himself with a small smile on his maw - interested, of course, but he didn't know the others that well.

Kalain had told them of the 'edict' Mu'sha had passed down and explained what differences it might make. He had not, yet, figured out how it was to be done, yet, but hopefully this meeting could work that out. First, though, he let the group vent their feelings at him. Unsurprisingly, the first to share was Cora.

"Dad this isn't fair" she said, with an angry conviction. Gone was that hint of childish petulance, replaced by the solid stubbornness of adulthood. She tried not to let worry creep in there, too, even though she was terrified that Gaias might feel forced to leave rather than be forced into joining fully. She just wasn't sure he was ready for that - knowing he still felt ties to the family he had lost, and that he, really, had hardly been here any time at all.

"And to bring poor Quin into it, too, just because of her sense of 'propriety'" she scowled, but looked to Quin as though hoping for his support - surely if they both said no, her mother would be forced to rethink. Of course, though, she didn't get more than a neutral look in return. Hmph.

Gaias, for his part, was actually rather blown away - to be offered a position in a pack he'd just joined, one which did not easily open its inner core to strangers at that, was somewhat gratifying. He knew, in a way, it was because he was going to be the father of Cora's children... was her mate, indeed, that they were inviting him - but so many packs might simply have run him off.

He smiled up at Cora and nuzzled her muzzle gently. "It's ok, Cora, I'm... honoured to be asked" he glanced at Kalain, to see if these had been the right words and, seeing the shaman's usual magnanimous smile, continued "I don't know what would be involved, but I will do it, or try my best". His eyes returned to Cora, making it obvious as to why.

He was still a little pole-axed about 'being a father', and this one detail hardly seemed as big as that. He wasn't sure he knew how to look after little ones, that he would be a good father and that he could be a good mate - but he'd try his hardest. His mother had always told him he must do at least that much.

Quin's pale blue eyes stared back at Kalain when the shaman's moved to his - as though inviting him to speak. He had been here some time, had often worried about how he might come to make a contribution to the pack which had given him so much. He had somehow decided that he must prove some aspect of himself before being able to join this pack, give his all to it, but he had been stalling.

Between the idea that he might sometime find home and the idea that he was not 'complete' as a person he had dug himself into a rut and left himself in a state of limbo - not really one of them but in so many ways a part of the pack. He was realising, slowly, how stupid this predicament was. This last straw - of being told there would be a ceremony of sorts to bring them both into the Aves 'now' had just thrown the last straw of hay on the back of an overloaded camel of mental baggage.

The fact was, no Aves themselves would be expected to be a complete wolf before becoming a proper member upon adulthood. They were expected, simply,. to be on that path - to be growing and bettering themselves. No wolf reached adulthood fully formed - in fact he knew no wolves who considered themselves 'done' even in old age.

He knew why it was being offered now - the alpha was not keen on her daughter to be mated to an outsider - but he also wondered at the timing of it coinciding with his thoughts coalescing on the subject. Perhaps it was all meant to be, in the big picture.

He took up the invitation with a small smile. "I would be glad to join the pack which has taken me in, succoured me and given me a new life".

Sati let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding. She had been 99% sure that Quin would stay, but a small part of her worried that he would not and it had eaten at her until he'd said definitively that he wanted to be one of them. Of course he did... I mean, he was already, right? Pretty much in all but name.

Perhaps now, she thought, it was time to actually tell him her feelings. Sometime soon, anyway - perhaps after whatever ceremony Kalain devised. He would be officially one of them then, and, she supposed, suitable for the sister of the alpha. She didn't care about that, when it came to Quin, but from the current meeting she surmised her big sister did.

She smiled warmly at the wolf sitting beside her and was given one in return. Surely he cared for her, with all of the time they spent together?

Ely watched the proceedings quietly, interested, but aside from, the matter at hand. He was the first southerner to have 'joined' the aves pack but there had been no ceremony for him. Kalain had said he wanted him here, for his opinion, and he felt he should give it - though he was a little shy to begin, given how little he knew the wolves assembled here. He was mainly a hunter and the wolves around him now mainly acolytes or, in Cora's case, more wedded to her father's side than her mother's, despite being a decent tracker.

Softly, though, the spot-coated male began. "When I came here, there was no pack, and I feel I became part of the Aves pack through helping create it. I found my spirit companion with not trials or tribulations - a gift, I think for helping find the shrine" he briefly glanced at Kalain, knowing the enigmatic shaman would neither confirm the truth of it. When Ely had asserted it before the small, thick coated male had simply told him that the spirits could be a law unto their selves and he would not second guess their motives in this case.

"Not all young Aves have taken part in building a pack, not those this pack comes from... but they become a part of the pack, all the same, though certain ceremonies as I understand it?"

Ely was talking about the ceremony for adulthood within the Aves. He had carefully left out mention of the fact it was a ritual designed for growth rather than a general 'joining' one, but Kalain could see, right away, that it was a good way of looking at new wolves joining. It had briefly flitted across his mind when Mu'sha had mentioned a new ceremony, but he hadn't been sure if it would be appropriate for fully grown wolves.

Now he thought on it, though - the young were coached in what to expect, what becoming an adult meant and that they should find their spiritual companion if it had not already visited them in a dream. Quin knew all of this already, as a de-facto acolyte, but Gaias did not and what the young male would have to learn would be similar to what Kalain would teach a youngster going through the same thing. Perhaps a little more explanation would be needed, but the caramel pelted father-to-be already had a great deal of interest in Toghelac - so he could build from that.

Some became full 'adults' earlier than others, anyway - though to be fair, one was considered 'slow' if they took too long... Still, this case was different and he could change a few details to make of it something more suited to adults, new wolves joining from the south - as surely they could do with the extra hunters.

"Yes, Ely, that's a good idea" he turned to take in Quin and Gaias, explaining the ritual a little and giving them time to absorb it. He could see a look of relief wash over Gaias as, whatever onerous exertions he expected were washed away and replaced with what seemed like a relatively easy task. However, the spiritual journey which marked adulthood amongst the Aves and their parent packs, could be as arduous as any physical task, depending on the wolf...

Gaias was a little relieved, as Kalain had guessed, that he didn't have to go through some complex physical tests of his ability to be a provider for his family. He already worried that his meagre garden would have to be ramped up considerably to help feed Cora's children. His children... theirs. A gentle smile coalesced on his face, the slightly stupified one common to first time parents to be - as if floating on a world which had completely changed under their feet but which, nonetheless, they were perfectly ecstatic about.

He had gone through a lot in the past few months - losing his family, traipsing across the land, finding this pack and getting used to those he had seen before as unusual. His parents, at least his mother, had not been keen on unusually pelted wolves and, thus, despite not sharing her dislike, Gaias had never actually met anyone with unusual colours except for glimpses in the forest. Here, though, he had been gradually acclimatised - Cora herself was in every way very naturally coloured as was her father. Sati's brown and black hues played down her marbled markings, and grey and white predominated in Cora's siblings and mothers - even if they had unusual slashing marks across their bodies and, some, a tiny hint of purple. Ely had been the biggest shock, with his splash of circular markings, but his quiet nature had left Gaias feeling easy enough in his presence.


Quin nodded, as if he had expected something similar, and he was surprised to find his heart racing a little. Something inside of him relished the idea - of the rite of passage or of the joining he wasn't sure - but now that the weels were set in motion he was beginning to feel a little giddy. Why in the hell had he not gone through with this before - suggested it? Of course, it might have been a little rude, but he was sure Kalain would not have denied him a chance at it. It had taken this predicament to catapult them out of their cosy acceptance of an odd situation into action.

Quin found himself truly looking forward to his future, instead of a mild dread at the unknowable that he had felt for so long. His spirit soared...

Cora had found a form of relief, herself. She knew, now, that he would surely stay and her happiness that he hadn't been scared off by her mother's decree let her relax and become a 'part' of the moment rather than standing on the outside decrying it. "I can help you prepare" she murmured to her beau. She had been there, done that, and had always held an interest in the spiritual side of the pack - so knew what went on behind the ceremony associated with growth. His grateful look melted the last of her anger away and she leaned slightly against him, careful not to do so too much, given she was actually the larger of the two.

She felt a warmth enveloping them both as she considered a happy future with little ones at their feet, he tending his garden and she helping their little minds grow. It was as life was meant to be. A little bit inside her actually liked the idea of him becoming an Aves properly, though she buried it down with her anger - not willing to let her mother be 'right' after her fearful angry outburst.

"Oh, this is going to be wonderful, I'm so glad you're both going to be joining us, even if it's mostly a formality, now!" Sati grinned, letting the seriousness of the meeting slip a notch now that things had been 'decided'. She truly was happy to see them both become Aves, especially Quin, of course, but her neice's mate was a lovely young wolf and she knew, just knew he'd do fine, even if he was looking a tiny bit worried.

Knowing the object of her unrequited love would be part of this, she offered her services as a tutor also, to both of them. Quin probably knew everything already of course, he was such a sponge when it came to this sort of thing, but all of the details of the adulthood ceremony were really only told to those about to undergo it - little things which would maybe not have been thought 'important enough' to mention when giving a summary of what it was and entailed to a 'stranger'.

Ely sat quietly against the wall, watching. Perhaps he should spend some more time down here, he thought. Afterall, he had no mate and no young to den with and, though Jove's company was good, the old male didn't exactly like to talk philosophy.

Whilst Elysion was a little gruff, it covered up a shyness. He'd been long taught, as a child, to suppress his naturally poetic nature and so, these days, had trouble saying what he really thought and felt. Kalain had brought him out of his shell a little, and his brief relationship with Mu'sha meant he could be more open with his alpha than he might otherwise have been, but it wasn't the same as being part of a group of similar-minded wolves.

He'd often dreamed of that - a meeting place with shared ideas and where wolves could lay their minds bare and see those of others - but he hadn't realised there might be such a place right within his reach. His own fault, really, for standing back and letting it all pass him by. Yes, he resolved, he'd come down more often to the shaman's den.

For now, though, he felt he had done his part here. With a brief nod to the others, followed by a knowing glance from Kalain, he made his way out - heading towards where he figured Jove might be at this time of day.

After Ely had gone, Kalain looked at those left. He let them know some of the details, and charged Sati and Cora with filling in Quin and Gaias with the rest, knowing it'd probably be done best by someone who cared for them.

He worried for Sati, though, seeing her doting eyes still on Quin. He wondered if he should step in but, it seemed to him, Quin had not yet had to deal with that issue about himself yet either. He didn't think the young male knew he suspected his proclivities - it wasn't something that bothered Kalain, though it could be the subject of derision amongst some younger males. He decided to let it be - it was their issue, not his, and he would not step in unless it became out of hand. He'd not let Sati bully Quin into mating with her, or let Sati go into an unloving partnership just because Quin wasn't open with himself.

The ceremony which brought about adulthood sometimes worked to make a wolf take stock and move their perspective a little - so perhaps Quin would find himself able to deal with that particular issue.

As for Gaias? Well, he had already shown a great interest in Toghelac, the ways of the earth and the interconnectedness of all spirits. As a basis for his growth in spirituality it was not a bad one. He was sure the young male cared for, even loved, his daughter or he'd have not left them alone so often but it still surprised him that he was to be a grandfather so soon... Mu'sha's line seemed unusually fecund.

Cora was relived that the issue was settled and going forward. The last few hours had felt like her life was hanging in some balance - with whichever way it leaned affecting the outcome of the whole. She didn't really like the feeling that she wasn't in control of her own destiny!

With a loving smile at her new mate, the pair of them left to continue with their lesson at the small shelter they'd dug out beside Gaias' garden.

Quin sat back, letting out a light sigh of relief. He'd almost enjoyed the convocation but he was glad, now, that things were quieting down. He considered the second den - the shaman's den - as his home, here, because he was a 'visitor' but he began to wonder if, perhaps, he should spend more time at the main den with the others or even, perhaps, dig his own one out. It was something to think about, certainly.

He left of thoughts of that for now, though, and let Sati go through the little details he needed to know about the upcoming rite-of-passage. It had all materialised so fast...