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The last year or so had been one of turmoil for the female. The months had brought some peace with them (Anathema had run smoothly, for the most part) but it was her own mental health that had begun to degrade, bit by bit. She'd gone through a few major losses: Her sister Selene had died in a cave-in, a fact that she considered to be mostly her fault due to her choice of pack territory...and then Ravesque had left, his spiteful daughter Esmeralda choosing to part ways with the pack soon afterward. Naniko had raised Esmeralda, Jackson, and Agony as her own when Ravesque had brought them to Anathema from New Brunswick, and it had hurt that her adoptive daughter could walk away from her family so easily. The young female hadn't liked the idea of Alaki as a leader, nor the fact that her own "mother" had been the one to promote him. Naniko often wondered if there wasn't more to it though, if Esmeralda had blamed her for Ravesque's disappearance. Naniko had met the dark male in New Brunswick when she had left the mainlands, having joined the pack that he'd been a big part of. Things had ended up carrying a pup of his - her middle son, Scorpius D'Angelo. He had been one of the first pups to experience Anathema when she and Azalea, one of her best friends at the time, had left the New Brunswick pack to come and found it. Now her little boy was over a year old, and his father was nowhere to be found...having disappeared like smoke from their mountainous pack.
Ravesque had been one of the few canines that she'd been able to be herself around. It wasn't that she was fake around others (nay, she was quite genuine) but there were some sides of herself that she could not show to the pack. She had to show them the face of a brave and strong leader, hell bent on their protection and safety. There was no time for emotions or struggle when one had to put that face on every day and face the world. Her own problems often fell to the wayside when compared to the day to day of leading the pack. She felt lucky to have Alaki there to help her, so that she did not have to do so much and had a little time for herself. It was nice to be someplace that was not Anathema with a wolf that she didn't have to worry about being "Angela Naniko" around. She could be whatever she wanted.
The response to Shandom's words came out slyly. "Good. Because I plan on visiting you quite often now that I know where you are" The words sounded a bit creepy as they emerged from her muzzle, but it was too late to recapture them now. She let the comment sit as it was, shrugging with a slight grin. She was no stalker, but as long as he allowed it she would continue to come by to see him. His interest in her previous activity had her nodding before he'd even finished the sentence, turning to walk toward the tree that he had mentioned. "I used to live in trees like this one. Trees with hollowed out trunks or roots, anyway. In Phoenix Valley, a pack I lived in in the past, I had a den beneath the roots of a willow tree. It was pretty well protected by those long branches. And back in Clouded Tears, before the fires, I had one very similar to that. That was before the fires that brought us up over Halcyone, though." She said. Naniko pulled the long wrapped stick from the pouch on her belt, putting it to her muzzle and going for her flint and steel. A few precise movements had it going once more, and she puffed on it a few times. "This is a wonderful plant that a friend of mine grows. It has amazing properties..makes one feel much more relaxed and happy. I don't use it daily, but sometimes it really helps after a long day"