Grow Together

Manea smiled and dipped her head gratefully to Venom's congratulations. "Thank you," she replied simply. She knew that there was far more to leading a pack than just laying claim to a piece of land and giving their group a name. There was governing, leadership, diplomacy, and protection to consider and she was a novice when it came to all of those things. It was something that Venom had been doing for quite some time and something she had done from an early age from what Manea had gathered. It was one of the many reasons why Manea had come to respect and admire the Ashen Empress. Right now all she could really hope for was to have as long and as fruitful of a rein as Venom and that the two of them could continue to work together into the future.

Manea's smile faded with concern when Venom followed up her agreement that a visit would be beneficial with the news that there was one less family member. At first she feared that something might have happened to one of her children or perhaps to her husband. The thought that her partner would voluntarily leave never crossed her mind since that was strictly forbidden and punishable by death in her family and culture. When the words about the orange-splattered man left Venom's lips it took Manea a moment to realize she was serious. She blinked and gaped in disbelief for a moment before finally her disbelief started to dissolve into anger.

With a frown creasing her expression, Manea reached a paw forward to gently rest it over Venom's, giving the fellow alpha a resolute stare. "I vow to you that he has made an enemy of himself to me and my family," she told her friend quietly with a mix of venomous anger and sympathy. "And anyone who associates themselves with that traitor can be condemned with him as far as I'm concerned." She pulled her paw back with a slow sigh, giving a small shake of her head. She knew that the stakes would not be as dire for Venom as they would have been for her if Alastor ever tried to pull the same stunt, but it was still a grave loss and Manea's chest ached for Venom and her children. If she ever laid eyes on that sorry excuse of a brute again she'd make it clear how she felt about his abandonment.

"I know it is probably difficult to think about right now, but I do hope you take comfort in the fact that you have the freedom to move on to someone who will truly value you if you so choose," she added after a moment of thought. She loved Alastor more than life itself and would never trade him for the world or change a thing about him, but his recklessness did sometimes concern her. He was her one chance at her dream, at her family. If he were to ever fall to some untimely fate she would be ruined. "In my family's culture we only ever have children with one wolf," she explained. "That is the reason I was forced to banish my mother from our family... Because my father died when my mother only had three children and she made the decision to take another mate instead of living her life grateful for what she had." It was a heavy burden to bear and now that she had experienced the joy of love and companionship she could perhaps sympathize with her mother a bit more than she had been able to at the time, but she would still never tear her family apart to fulfill that desire.

"Manea Mendacium"