Haven regretted not speaking with Sleekwing sooner, they had met only briefly in the past and she wondered what kind of advice he must have been able to give her had she only spoken to him. He was strong, respectable, and she was proud to call him family- this little talk did not make them close, but she thought that they were closer because of it. They both had similar feelings, emotions, and thoughts about what was happening in their home pack. It was interesting to know that she had someone who understood her choices better than anyone, interesting and comforting. It was not easy but it helped to know that there was someone else in quite the same situation as her.

Her ears pricked forward to catch his words, and as he spoke she gave him a bittersweet smile. "I remember the fear and pain I felt when mother and father died. I remember being torn from the only home I knew- it was brave of you to stay, Sleekwing, and brave of you to uphold your promise even in such trying circumstances." Haven said, the same smile still upon her maw. She realized, talking to Sleekwing, that she quite respected him, especially for his eternal promise to protect the mountains. It was a noble cause.

His next words made her nod, musing. She didn't think that she could ever call another place home. Her paws belonged here, on the mountain, not anywhere else. The same went for her children, and, she thought, perhaps even Hollowpoint. He was not mountainborn but they shared an unbreakable bond, and the part of her soul that resided within the towering peaks must also reside in him. "Spirane will always be my home." Haven said, resolutely. "The firefly forest, the peak on which we stand, my den, the rocks and the streams... they all hold so many memories for me. They call to my heart and my soul. Nowhere else could do that- you are right."

She glanced at him before her attention turned to a youthful sounding howl coming from further down in the packlands. "And that would be my daughter- I promised her hunting training today. Thank you for talking with me, Sleekwing, you have soothed many of my worries. I promise this isn't the last you'll see of me, perhaps when things have settled down my children can meet their cousins." And with that, she touched her nose to his shoulder and then brushed past him, settling into a swift trot down the mountainside, with a lightness to her step that had not been there previously.