Nayru let one of the bottles fall from her hand when she heard the call. It was specifically for her, which was not the usual type of call she answered on the borders for rarely did anyone who called out call for her. Liliana was the only friend from another pack who visited, and she had just been through Dahlia de Mai. The voice that called surely wasn’t the Aniwaya female’s, it was deep and masculine and familiar… Smiling she picked the tall bottle back up and placed it in her sack with the others. After Niro had told her how the vodka had messed with his head she was more curious about the stuff than ever. The girl didn’t know where to get vodka, but felt that wine would do just as well and Dahlia de Mai had a surplus of it. She had gone to St. Pepin’s to gather some of the wine to take back to her own home, so that in private she could experiment with the effects of alcohol. Picking up the sack which held three bottles of the stuff she exited the cellar and emerged into the winter sunshine, turning south towards the borders.

It did not take very long at all for the two legged lady to reach him, and striding forward the smile she wore was warm and genuine. Aro! This is a pleasant surprise. Liliana’s visit had not surprised her, and even though she had met with Aro’s parents both rather recently the boy had slipped from her mind. She had been busy with inter-pack relations, her new rank as head hunter, and her never ending training and reading and learning. Although Jazper had come recently, a little more than two weeks before, she had not expected his son. Aro seemed busy recently, he had not been in Crimson Dreams the last time she visited and from how his parents spoke it did not surprise Nayru. Yet he was here and she was glad to see him.

Striding up she noted then how very different he looked. At their last meeting their bodies had grown to their full height, almost adults, but the transformation had not quite been complete. Aro had been large then, but now he was hulking, his boyish frame filled out with the muscles of a man. And his face, it seemed older too, even if he had just passed his one year mark. Nayru wondered if she looked any different, and although she perhaps had a more womanly face and shape in her optime form, she remained short and slender as she had in her youth, ever a fairy. How are you my friend? It has been a while. She smiled, her crimson eyes falling on the flower he held then back up to his face, still clutching her sack of red and white liquids.

His warm words greeted her and they did not seem strange to Nayru, who received such compliments from so many figures in her life. Even when criticism came her way it was dealt in such a kindly way that Nayru had never encountered unpleasantness from anyone. There had been that one day with Saluce, but she had known the brute was not himself that day. Something had been eating away at him and even in his anger he had softened at the fairy child. So that Aro showered her with such devotion she did not question such affections. Weren't all friends so, well, friendly? Merely she broadened her smile, the one he claimed brought him such delight, and nodded as he recounted his recent doings. He was fine, it seemed, but a failure? Nayru wrinkled her nose in disagreement but before she could speak he was holding out the rose towards her.

"Oh? For me? Why, thank you Aro." Delicately she plucked the flower from his hands, inspecting it at perhaps greater length than was required. It was covered in ice, but that was perhaps what had saved it from wilting into a brown mass. It must have been quite a late bloomer and had succumbed to winter's frost before it had a chance to really die. "It's beautiful, really." The red matched the hue of her eyes and Nayru knew this; it was for the same reason that the necklace she wore pleased her, this offering made her happy too. "I wonder if perhaps I can press it, or if its seed are still alive. Maybe I can grow some in my greenhouse." It was a thought, more to herself than to Aro, and then his words fell on her and she lifted her head again to meet his gaze.

Missed her? Well, she had missed him, though perhaps not in the same sense. Now that he was here, she realized that his company was pleasant and she could have enjoyed it in all that time she was gone, but he had scarcely been on her mind while he was away. Except for those meetings with his parents. Yet his words too were as troubling as they were pleasing. He said again that he had failed and Nayru shook her head, placing one hand upon his shoulder, her gaze sharp as was her voice, almost. "Aro, you have not failed. Delayed perhaps, but all the leaders are still there and there's nothing stopping you from meeting them. Do not speak to me of failure, do you understand? " She smiled then, softening, "Who have you met? Can I tell you who I've met?" Her laugh was light, lilting. "You mother and father both. Separately though. Your father came here. Did he tell you?"

With silent consent they began to walk towards the other end of the pack lands and Nayru laughed lightly at Aro’s question. She could sense his uneasy feelings at the news that his parents had both made an appearance in Nayru’s life. Yet it hadn’t been so bad. Ghita had been a little rough around the edges, but Jazper had just been curious. Still Nayru could see why their interference would not be taken kindly by Aro. The girl tried to imagine someone intervening on her behalf, but no one came to mind. There was not one close enough, anyone parental enough. She was just a ghost among them, and the occasional whisper about her was the most she expected.

"Just your father came here. I ran into your mother when I came to Crimson Dreams. I dropped off a book for you with her." And then Nayru wondered if Ghita had given the book to Aro or if she had withheld it, though she couldn’t imagine the woman doing that. Perhaps it had been misplaced and forgotten, or maybe the two hadn’t even seen each other much. Aro did seem to be growing more independent of his parents, though Nayru could only guess that from his words. "She seemed a little weary of me at first, but we parted on good terms." Nayru smiled and nudged the boy as they walked lightly with her palm, as if to reassure him nothing awful had gone down between her and his mother.

Nayru continued on, her strides long and fast. It took quite a bit of time to travel from one end of the pack land to the other and she was determined to get home quickly. The bottles rattled in her sack as they crossed the pack lands, leaving behind the vineyards and Flander’s Field, emerging out of Wolfville and into the wilder and less developed lands of Dahlia de Mai. As they moved she continued, filling in the silence with her soft and gentle voice, not really knowing how much interest Aro had in her encounters with his parents, but not wishing to keep anything from him. "Your father came here. I guess you could say we hunted together." That was true enough.