The man's heart definitely was on a broken string. Like thorns had been wrapped around it and permanently so. He didn't feel like a warrior, he didn't feel like anything. Though the cat he had come in contact with had still painted a symbol of Viking strength onto his missing eye. What did it mean.... to be a Viking? Had it been almost the same as his father, if so was he destined to becoming a raging ball of hatred. Curse his blood, as it boiled deep in his veins. He was tied to Yfir, tied to it like a caged animal was how he felt. Yet he was trying, trying endlessly to feel as if he belonged. As if he could do something here, but once someone came to the sick realization that he was utterly alone it was hard. No friends, almost indefinitely no family. His sons weren't even his sons anymore in the back of his mind, not that they held him any ill will regardless. It was mainly that his first encounter with Laufey, he had screwed up, very bad. Now the other male wanted nothing to do with him. Vereux was forever weak and useless unless he trained himself to the utter edge. His single emerald eye watching the waterfall, who was he kidding he lost everything he got attached to. It would not surprise him if he ended up a thrall, but he would much rather lose himself in the blood and fighting that Yfir had to offer him. "I speak"

Katja had spent a lomg night patrolling the borders alone, as she was wont to do, for after all not all danger would politely wait for the pack to be awake before it made its move. As the sun rose over the mountain she had broken her fast with a snowshoe hare and, not yet ready to call it and return to the gorge to sleep, she had taken the time to scout the caribou herd that was once more beginning to gather in the north. When she had returned to the waterfall to refresh herself withthe cold, tumbling water it was to find Vereux hovering listlessly. One of the few Ebony wolves who had been loyal enough to the pack to stay despite the change in leadership, who had made his vows and fought to be a warrior. It was clear that not all was right with the male by the way he held himself. Katja observed him coolly for a moment from a distance before moving briskly to join him. She seated herself beside the male silently, for the moment simply being there and waiting to see when, if, he would speak on his own.

Katja appeared would unsettle him slightly, looking at her just reminded him how much he was only moping to himself. He didn't entirely know what to do, how to interact with others. He had tried, and it had gotten him a mouthful for certain. However his single emerald eye would turn towards her, showing off the symbol on his eye. Perhaps she was silently waiting for him to speak, however silence felt so nice, he wasn't being judged nor would he be at risk to say something stupid. "Katja." he sighed for a moment looking at his reflection in the water. "My mind feels as if it doesn't belong here, but I'm no fool to loyalty." mainly it was just his damn family. "I've lost everything, my mate my sons, my family I even disgrace. I have no friends, all I have is Yfir and I've already stepped on Laufey's toes. I'm just not sure what I'm supposed to be doing with myself." a small stiff growl escaped his throat. "It's partly my fathers fault. Isardis Armada. But blaming wolves gets me nowhere." the Armada shook his head. He turned to look back to katja "I'm sorry, I just felt if I spoke with you maybe I could seek out some of your guidance. I want to be a part of Yfir, like I've never been a part of a pack before. To be a warrior among my own." his tail flicked a bit. Yet he remained a bit stoic all the same. "I speak"

It seemed to her that if people needed to talk, they would talk if you sat quietly long enough, and such proved to be the case here. As the silence grew longer, Vereux spoke. She remained silent, reserving judgement and watching him with little expression as he voiced what he needed to, and she let him talk himself out. Even after he'd said his piece and silence drew it's long shadows over them once again, she said nothing at first and simply turned her thoughtful gaze back to the tumbling, swirling water at their feet. "Do you know," she began finally, a curious lilt to her voice, "what the symbol you bear means, Vereux?" To many it may have seemed quite aside from the subject at hand, but to Katja it could not have been more relevant. Whether he did or not, she continued on. "It is the runic symbol Tiwaz. The rune represents Tyr, the god of law, of war, and of glory. To use it is to dedicate the marked object to Tyr and to call upon Tyr in battle. Long ago warriors among my people would paint themselves with the rune before going into battle in the hopes that Tyr would grant them his favor. * It is a good rune. A good choice." She turned her gaze to him again, to pick up the thread of the conversation. "It is no measure of your worth to the pack if it happens you do not get along perfectly with everyone. It is how you choose to work beside one another that matters. It is working toward a common goal and learning to care for all in the pack despite your personal feelings. Laufey is moody, and touchy. Finnvi often are, particularly in that branch of the family. We are more wont to solve our differences in violence than perhaps what you are used to, and to find comfort and fellowship in the gods." She tilted her head. "When I first came to Alacratia, I joined a pack that was entirely unlike anything I had known, so I can understand how you could feel like an outsider even within your own pack. Though Raisa Xanilov was an admirable woman and I still respect her greatly, her packmates were soft, foolish children and I often felt alone among them. Their very way of life was so foreign to what I knew - if I tried to fit in there, I would lose myself." Her gaze slipped to the water once again to contemplate its depths. "Perhaps I was overeager when I accepted your oaths. Perhaps you must learn more of our ways before you make the decision to bind yourself to us so strongly. The oaths of thegn are nothing to be undertaken lightly and with little knowledge, and I am afraid I allowed you to rush headlong into something you were ill prepared for. If it is what you desire, I would release you from the rank of thegn and the oaths you swore. There are those who would gladly undertake to teach you our ways, myself among them, and there are warrior ranks among the karl as well where you can still fight while you learn of our culture. There are others among our ranks who have not found themselves called to take the oaths; there is no shame in it." ""

* human vikings didn't do this as far as I know but they did carve the rune into weapons for a similar reason. Yay history lesson!

Aqil had explained something like that to him about the Rune, however Katja explaining more into it filled his heart with a slight bit of pride. A good listener as he was, the male flicked his tail back and forth. Revoke his vows and start over again? Was he a child, and perhaps he was. His blood found itself boiling for a moment. Hoping as she had been quiet for some time, she would give him some time to think for himself. His entire life had been built upon stepping back, and it felt like he stepped back far too much. Than again he had been known to rush things along as well. However, he felt as if, if he revoked his vows now it would be a decision he would regret. "I'm now wishing you had been my mother Katja." he would say without thinking for a moment. His own mother was a horrible example to him. Betrayed his father, had a litter of pups with a foreign male that Vereux didn't know about. Yet, Isardis still had taken her back, he saw him as a fool for that. "I would be grateful to be guided into the culture, however I do not want to revoke my oath. It's an oath that's been made and I feel if I revoke it now I will forever regret that decision. If you would teach me Katja, I will be the best Theign that I can be under Tyr's eyes." he would look seriously at Katja. Forever grateful to her, he honestly wished that he could tear his last name limb from limb. He wanted to forget his past and bury it with his ghost. "I speak"

"The gods do not give it upon us to choose who we are born to," she rebutted mildly. "It is ours to choose to do with the life we are given, and your family did well for itself, for a time. All empires fall into dust eventually - the Finnvi are no different than the Armadas in that respect. One day even Asgard will fall." She shifted, letting her gaze linger at the horizon. She knew perhaps more than most the truth of what she'd said; she had not chosen to be born cousin to a murderer, niece to his incestuous mother, but she had made her life and her family name into something that rose above the filth perpetuated by Jaeger and his mother. "I would be pleased to be able to guide you," she said. "Just know that if you choose to uphold your oath now I will hold you to the same standards as any other who takes the oaths, no matter your inexperience in our ways. Tyr will guide you in this, if you listen to him and take care to never offend. He is the god of law and of justice as well as a warrior; he can guide you on a good path. But remember that the gods do not do anything for us. We are expected to do for ourselves. If we do not put forth the effort, they will not help us. Our life is hard, but we reap far greater rewards than any other who does not try." Not a rebuke, but a lesson for him, if he chose to listen. She would teach him, if he put in the effort to learn. "What would you seek to learn at this moment, Vereux Armada?" ""

If he could have chosen his parent he indefinitely wouldn't have had them as Armada's. Even then he reached up to weak expectations. Vereux knew, if Katja probably found out that his previous mate was actually his sister it would end up badly. Not that he loved her in that way any longer, and there was a high chance that they could end up attacking Fiori, he could not let his past feelings get into the way of things. "Isardis may have done his kingdom well, but he didn't do his children well. He ran like a coward when things were not going as planned. My mother was a cheater as well though I can't blame her Isardis slept with all of his women." maybe he should shut up about his family. As he listened to Katja, intently as he had with any teacher his green eye would look over her. He would have to put his faith in Tyr then, in himself to finally do something of his life. He remembered when he had told his son, get strong or risk losing everything you love. That was how he got into the position he was in today. Enslaved because of his soft heart. Well no longer, if he died it would be to take down someone with him for Yfir and to make sure it survived. "These gods you speak of, I'm curious as to how many there are and who they are. Call me soft, but I've always enjoyed stories of heritage." Vereux would let out a small smile and look off to the side. For once in his life he felt like he could do something. "I speak"

She simply made a casual motion with her shoulders as he explained his disdain of his family. "That is the past. The past has no control over the now. It is your choice whether to be crushed beneath your father's actions, or to rise the greater for it. You have begun to walk that path, Vereux, do not let your past drag you back to what you once were when you could become something better." His question about the gods was... possibly more complicated than he would think. She considered a moment how to explain. "The Vættir, the spirits of the world, are numerous, but there are a fair few who have chosen to involve themselves in our affairs often enough that we know of them best. They are two groups we call gods, the Æsir and the Vanir, and many, many various peoples that are both like and unlike us. The Jötnar, the Álfar, the Dvergar... they are many, just as we of Midgard are many. As for gods well, you know of Tyr. He concerns himself chiefly with justice and glory, a god of the warriors. Odinn is the all-father, the sorcerer, who takes half of the glorious battle dead to feast with him in his hall Valhalla. Thor the protector, the thunderer, who wields the mighty warhammer Mjölnir and is the guardian of Midgard." She shook her head with a sigh. She was a warrior, not a priest, and had never had to teach in such a manner. She did not know where it was best to begin, but this method, this listing of the gods, was not working. "It would take long and longer than I can take from sleep to list and explain them all now. Perhaps there is something of particular interest to you that I can explain in more depth rather than simply listing our god-kin?" ""

Being someone who took good note of others, he noticed how she was having trouble explaining all this. Indeed she was strong, so strong in fact that he looked up to her even as an adult. A warrior trying to explain to him these things, he sent a small silent smile. "Perhaps one day someone can teach me more of the lore. I'd like to know your language as well those names are definitely foreign. Although.... is there a ritual something of the kind. Where I can throw away me last name and gain another. I want to fully be apart of this new me, no longer an Armada. I don't wish any future pups to know of that name. They will know of Yfir and their strength." even if there wasn't he planned to strip himself of his heritage. Maybe even then he would cut his ties off with Athena. He would be happy that she and Amalia were happy together. Vereux would dip his head to Katja "You've given me something great Katja, you will never know how thankful I am that you've given me life." he would say to her. At the moment he would think he was completely loyal. He wouldn't leave Yfir unless it meant his last breath would leave his body. Then perhaps the gods would welcome him in Valhalla. "I speak"

She tucked her paws beneath her as she gave it thought, but it was only a moment before she shook her head. "I know of no such ceremony among my people. What family you are born in, that is ørlög. It is a part of what already was. Everything is built upon what already was. You cannot turn back time, but simply keep moving forward. If you would learn our ways, you must learn acceptance first, to accept and let go of the past for it is immutable." There was nothing chiding about her voice, simply a clear, calm explanation. "I would be willing to teach you my family's languages as well, if you wish to learn them, though Kapra is fluent in both German and Norwegian as well as I am. It is always good to hear my ancestral tongue spoken - however, you would get much more practice learning norsk as it is most well known by Yfir." She thought a moment, then started with a simple one. "The word you would say as 'deer', in norsk we would say as 'hjort'."