She'd sent Saga on her way back to Auster and made her way to the Raider's lands. With one of her betas absent and a few of her wolves sick she was reluctant to leave her pack, but it sounded as though this situation was becoming increasingly volatile, and would need to be seen to sooner rather than later. Still, she wasn't comfortable leaving Avalon vulnerable by taking anyone else with her so she brought only her companions with her, Ayer riding over her shoulders, and Tam and Ren both running easily at her flank. It had been a surprise to learn that the Raiders had moved, and troubling that they'd claimed part of Valhalla's lands, but she had adapted, and now she stood on their borders with an unusually serious and concerned mien for a wolf who was usually so cheerful and friendly. Lifting her muzzle she called out firmly for whoever had been left in charge in Gil's absence to join her at the border. They'd get this cleared up even if she had to drag Gil and Haydee into Avalon's barn and sit them down together at the fire until they got along again, or at least stopped all the bloodshed. The thought of tying them nose to nose or stuffing them into a shirt together to make them get along definitely had some appeal.

Modesty had been chasing Kenway and his fucking cattle dogs out of the Ravine with their incessant barking when the call came. She wasn't so certain she was appreciative of the tone, but made her way to the caller none the less. Scald and his party had failed to meet her at the Bifost after the meeting, but she had expected to be in the meeting a bit longer than she ultimately ended up staying, and they had a longer journey than she did. Expecting the waffle to continue for a bit longer yet, she was keeping an ear cocked for Siduri's call. It would travel this far, after all.

Swiping two bottles off a tree stump and taking a swig from one to fortify her courage, just in case, she made her way to her guest. The distant yapping of the cattle dogs could be still heard (they'd need a lot more livestock to wear that pair out), but at least with some distance it was stabbing her in the brain just a little less. “You called?” Modesty's head canted and she offered a bottle to her guest. Sure it might have been a little early in the day, but it was 5 o'clock somewhere... whatever that meant.

“Speech.”

The dark woman who approached, with the rich colors that swirled over her pelt, the quills, the antlers, was not anyone Corbie had met before, but she carried herself with the confidence of someone who's in charge and knew it. Gil's wife, or one of his children left in charge while they were away? She hoped for the former, someone who would have real influence. She inclined her head at the other woman, accepting the bottle from her, somewhat chagrined at the thought that she should have thought to bring a bottle of their mead to offer her in return, but she'd been too focused on solving the problem to consider the smaller niceties of diplomacy. "Thank you for coming," she said, taking a sip of the liquid in the bottle out of politeness. The taste of rum kicked her in the mouth with an unexpected explosion, though it wasn't as harsh as she'd been half expecting. It was still rum so a bit of a punch in the throat after being used to mellower meads, but clearly distilled by someone with experience. "I am Corbie Silverwind, alpha of Avalon. I was approached by Ethne to mediate a dispute between your two packs as a fully neutral party. I was given their side of the story - I was hoping that you could give me the Raider's side."

Modesty allowed herself a moment to blink. She was a parent and this wasn't her first rodeo. Her pups would often come barrelling at her spewing accusations against their siblings. She shouldn't be surprised that a juvenile playing at leader wouldn't employ similar tactics. She even allowed a grin to pull at the corner of her lips, or it could have been considered a grin if it had managed to make it all the way to her grief stricken eyes. “Well, Corbie, I do wish we were meeting under better circumstances. I am Modesty, my mate Gilgamesh always spoke quite highly of you.” Whether or not Corbie would notice the use of past tense was of no concern to her. It would all come out soon enough. She tipped her head towards the beach inviting the leader to join her in a more hospitable setting. “It's a bit of a long one, so how about you tell me what you think you know, and I'll fill in the blanks?" Hopefully by the time they were done, Corbie would understand just why they were so far beyond mediation at this point.

“Speech.”

"I like Gil too - he has always struck me as a reasonable sort. That's part of why I'm so concerned about how this has developed." Corbie fixed Modesty with a contemplative gaze when Modesty asked her to tell her what she already knew, lips pressed into a line for a moment before a sigh escaped her. "I can't do that - I need to hear it from you. I wouldn't want to color the story with any prior assumptions from what I've already been told," she said, shaking her head slightly. She tapped her claw lightly on a stone, thinking, then added in a slow, thoughtful manner, "You should know that the accusations that have been made are quite serious, Modesty. This sort of feud between two such well connected packs threatens to destabilize all of the packs, not just effect your Raiders and Ethne. I am hoping to prevent it coming to that - a full war between the packs is a danger to us all." She tilted her head questioningly towards Modesty, inviting her to give her story if she was going to.

Corbie was careful with her words but Modesty was tired. Tired and pregnant and grieving. The shrug of her shoulders was nonchalant, to think Gilgamesh had considered leading a siege against Avalon for a better foothold on the mainland, for a fucking orchard. Would she still have been here if she knew? If this woman wanted her side of the story, there was no reason for her not to give it. "Haydee came to our borders seeking training. When none of their fighters found their way to our shores, Gilgamesh decided to bring the training to them, if nothing else he did like to keep his word. Damn that lawful streak." Her voice had a hint of flatness to it, like she was tired of going over and over the events that led to this moment. "Before we even left the island, the message was clear, only match their energy. If it hadn't been expected, we wouldn't have sent the children, for practice and training. It was obvious once we arrived that the rest of the pack had no idea. While Haydee was flirting with my mate, her mother was trying to tear my daughter's throat out for throwing a stone." Modesty stopped to inhale a shaky breath, "As if permanent scarring isn't enough, she also seemingly gets to spend the rest of her days with debilitating headaches and a blown pupil. Yes, we took some chickens, they should have been grateful they had any left, but some seemed tamer and so they were left behind. We never take any more than anyone can spare, or we didn't." And the bitterness in her tone made it clear it was a decision she regretted now.

"We had barely made it home when there was a call at the borders. Tiny slip of a thing followed us home. Emotions were particularly high, I won't deny, but what sort of mother would I be if I'd left it to fend for itself? I figured if they couldn't keep tabs on their children, they'd be better off with us, no?" There was a hint of a sly smirk, but her heart clearly wasn't in it from the almost vacant gleam in her eyes. "If nothing else he learned an important lesson that day, but again, Haydee came charging in. Poor Sakana was still struggling to even make Siduri comfortable, it's no wonder he lashed out, but Gilgamesh couldn't stand by and let one of the least violent wolves in our pack, a healer, lash out like that alone. All they had to do was stay away, but no they couldn't."

Modesty paused to take a deep swig from her bottle. They'd barely even scratched the surface. "Once we'd had a chance to catch our breath Sakana checked the chickens over. Now I think on it, is it really any surprise with the deluge in Auster over summer that perhaps a scrap of moulded food might have been missed? A surface scratch on a scaled foot? Add to that the stress of a move, birds are so finicky at the best of times. They tried, and they tried to save those stupid birds but in the end it was all for naught. So, we did the kindest thing we could. Poor Jael was distraught. She took all the blame on herself. She worked for months on designing a perfect pen, making sure it was predator proof, nearly got eaten by a damn snake. There was an airlock so the birds wouldn't get free. Those bloody birds are the reason I have cows and goats now." Her eyes rolled, and she tried to laugh but it was all just a little too hard.

"There's a distinct difference between bravery and stupidity, and I'm afraid your dear friend from Ethne falls into the latter category. They came for their chickens back, and for blood. We couldn't give them their birds. Siduri ended up with more injuries, and things still hadn't improved much beyond her wound closing from the first, so I took her to the Hallows. Gil wanted to put this all to bed, so he left us at the borders and continued onto Ethne, to offer them an out, ask for Haydee to apologise on behalf of her pack to the fucking child that has had to bare the brunt of their chaotic natures. While I was requesting medical assistance on their behalf, they were murdering Gilgamesh, seven on one. My son saw his father die with his own eyes. She wouldn't call her son a liar, wouldn't trust the word of the others who were there to do more than attempt to cover their asses. Despite the rage that coursed in her veins, despite the desire to rip, and tear and burn the world down... She was in no state to do so, not when it wasn't just her own life that would be put on the line. It felt like so long ago.

"Surely, if he were still alive it would have been him meeting you at the borders today instead of me, no?" They were the ones that had met before. It had been weeks, and any small ember of hope had long since been extinguished. "I hope you understand why we are well past the point of mediation at this time. If there is a snake striking at your children, you cut off its head. She has no control over her followers and promoted the unhinged lunatic that almost killed my child to lead alongside her. If she intended to send a message, it was received loud and clear. I will say, we aren't the ones running to neighbours and friends to fight our battles for us. We do not have allies. We don't expect anyone to come in and offer to clean up our messes, nor will we clean up anyone else's." She allowed herself a moment to breathe, an enquiring look sliding into place to mask the grief. Of all the reasons to pop in and say hello, she wondered what impression the other woman had been given of the goings on between their two packs.

"This is between us and them. What do you lose from their absence that you cannot get from more level minds elsewhere? My mate credited you with a decent head on your shoulders. I'd appreciate you not tainting my memory of him by proving him wrong now." She didn't particularly care to hear the lies that might sputter out in counter to her truth. Her tone made it clear there would be no negotiation, and if that was all the woman sought, she was wasting her time here.

“Speech.”

Corbie tilted her head, listening as Modesty outlined all that had happened. Much matched as Saga had admitted to her initially, but Modesty's outraged self-righteousness colored it all, making Corbie glad she'd insisted on hearing it all separately. It made her sad to hear how Bellamy had fallen into a trap of her own rage and lack of self control, but hearing it from Saga first had made it impossible to disbelieve Modesty's rage towards the former Avalon member - something truly had broken in Bellamy. How had she missed it while they lived in the same pack? It was a consistent pattern of behavior, she saw now, though until now it had been too easy to justify and explain it away. Bellamy was a problem that needed to be addressed, for her own safety as well as those around her. And Haydee herself had told Corbie back when she'd taken over from her mother that Bellamy had snapped and needed to be treated in the Hallows. She was surprised Haydee had put Bellamy back in a position of power after that, but... "It can be difficult for children to believe the worst in their parents," she said carefully, though sadly. "No one wants to believe that their parent doesn't deserve another chance to be the hero we all want our parents to be when we are young. We both know that Haydee is not a malicious wolf, just naive." Naive enough to trust that all the alphas she'd befriended would act in the same way she would have, a failing that Corbie knew she shared that had burned her before as well.

She shook her head. This had all gotten quite ridiculous very quickly, though she wasn't surprised given that the conversation with Saga had been equally puzzling. "Gil isn't dead," she said baldly, though her tone was gentle. "I am sure that your son thought he saw his death, but our minds often trick us in the moment, making us misinterpret what we see. Gil is a captive, not well, but alive. When I spoke to Ethne's representative Haydee was already seeking medical assistance for him. There were many witnesses to that." And frankly he was lucky it was Haydee or he'd have been enslaved on top of the injuries, having trespassed into another pack's territory and attacked their alpha. She could not imagine many packs would have been so merciful if she'd have done the same. And it was such an easily confirmable thing that she was puzzled that Modesty had not already learned that for herself - anyone who showed up at Ethne could confirm it for themselves. It all seemed so irrational. She wished that Ethne had sought arbitration sooner... so much of this would have preventable from the start.

"While I'm pleased to hear that Gil thought well enough of me, he knows well that Avalon is a neutral pack," she continued, her voice still gentle. "Surely you can see that this course of action is not a reasonable one for your pack to take, given the facts of the whole situation. Bellamy was wrong to maim a child - and that child should not have been put in that situation to begin with. Laying Bellamy's and your own guilt at what happened on Haydee rather than where it belongs solves nothing. Blaming a cat for scratching you when you've chased it into a corner isn't rational either, and frankly," she squared her shoulders, shaking her head, and added sadly "I had believed better of Gil myself." She sighed. "This can be ended without further bloodshed, Modesty. But the give cannot be all from one side."

Modesty in turn, gave the other alpha a chance to say her piece, allowing the silence between them to edge on uncomfortable before she snorted and sneered. “Haydee played stupid games and now she doesn't want the prizes she has earned. Your neutrality is called into question by the fact you are here at all, trying to clean up after children that didn't crawl from your own womb.” Modesty didn't bother trying to keep her acerbic tone to herself. “Talking didn't get you out of a raid with Heiðinn and it won't get you out of the consequences of interfering in this, so if you wish to maintain any semblance of neutrality I suggest you leave now.” There would be no quarter, no good deed would go unpunished. For a messenger to reach Avalon, they would have had to pass the Raider's, so why wouldn't they have reached out to her themselves unless it was simply to cover their asses? Her children were looking for their father, and until Gilgamesh was presented before her, she wouldn't believe a messenger from the other side of the continent.

“Speech.”

Corbie listened impassively to Modesty 's venomous words, her head just tilted slightly to the side as she met the other alpha's eyes. It was more than a little strange that the woman knew so much detail about Corbie 's encounter with the viking alpha during that raid, but she supposed they must have been quite close friends to be gossiping together about Avalon, of all packs. As Modesty finished her threats, Corbie simply sat quietly for a moment, not moving her gaze away from Modesty. "I have been nothing but honest and open with you," she finally said, slowly and thoughtfully. "I came here in good faith as a neutral party to mediate for TWO packs that I'd had good relations and respect for, not just Ethne. And here I've been met with threats." She shook her head, a sigh puffing from her teeth. "My neutrality would more properly be called into question if I let threats and anger choose a side for me, not for standing my ground and remaining open to both sides. I'm sorry that you aren't willing to work with me, Modesty, but that isn't on me, or Avalon. That's your own choice, and I pity you and yours for the likely consequences of that mindset down the road " Only then did she stand, and incline her head towards Modesty. "I have no intention of standing aside, for either you or Ethne. A fair resolution to this feud is still possible. When you are ready to find it, you know where to find me. Please give my regards to Gilgamesh when you see him, and let him know that he is more than welcome to take sanctuary at Avalon if he needs somewhere safe to recover." With that she turned her back on the raider queen and allowed her paws to find the trail to return her home. As long as Modesty refused her cooperation, there was little more she could do there now but escalate the situation further, which would do no one any good. Patience and careful work would bring more results than a potential fight that would solve nothing

-exit-