What You Need Isn't Always What You Want

Talk of her future and the responsibilities she would hold as she got older were certainly not unfamiliar topics to her. They were things that frequently came up as her mother prepared her to walk in her paw steps. However, something that they hadn't addressed quite as throughly was the fact that in the very near future they would need to start considering their own fated soul mates and families. Of course the concept wasn't foreign to either of them—the importance of family and continuing on what their ancestors began was something woven all through their lessons—but as their mother started talking about upholding all of their laws, being the example for the rest of their family to follow, and how much they cared for one another, Avacyn's smile faded and her ears flicked back with embarrassment and shame. Of course she knew what her mother was saying and Manea made it very clear that she had caught on to how their relationship was progressing. She knew that her and Saracyn hadn't exactly been subtle, but perhaps she had put too much faith in the fact that they had slept together and cuddled often since they were small pups to cover up some of their advances.

Avacyn shifted uncomfortably under her mother's knowing look and she glanced down at her white tipped paws, trying to think of what to say, but before she could their mother spoke to them in hushed tones, as if she was sharing a secret with them, and she looked up to Manea with surprise. She was trying to make it so they could continue to be this way? Avacyn had fully expected their mother to tell them to stop, to tell them that they had to move on from this for their duty to the family, but instead she was met with the Matriarch admitting that she was trying to find ways around the rules for them, wanting their happiness. She glanced to Saracyn, confusion mixed with hope and uncertainty churning in her stomach, her obsidian gaze searching his face for a moment before she turned her attention back to Manea again.

As Manea went on, speaking of Chimera, Albion, Scylla, and their mother, the meeting she had with the majority of that family, Avacyn started to put together the pieces before she outright admitted the plan she had come up with. They had just seen the arrangement that had been made for their uncle Deimos and his new mate that had come from Ashen and now it seemed that move had inspired their mother to find something of that sort for them. Albion for her and Scylla for her brother. There was an odd twist in her stomach, an uneasiness with the idea of Saracyn being married off to another wolf. She didn't have anything against Scylla and in the few interactions she had with the smaller, skilled woman she had found that she quite enjoyed her, but this unexpected possessiveness over her brother tangled around her already twisted gut. Somehow that was the part of this that bothered her most. She didn't mind being arranged to marry Albion. The male had been kind and sweet, if a bit quiet, and had many of the traits that she had been taught to look for in signs of strength. The arrangement was logical and outside of her own emotions she couldn't find a reason not to agree to it.

Avacyn turned her gaze up to Saracyn again, her ears pinned back against her head as she struggled over the issue for a moment, searching his face as she tried to reason with herself over what to do. She knew he wouldn't like it and she didn't like it for him. It made sense to her in her steadfast grip to their ideals and practices and the duty she felt to become the strongest and most exemplary matriarch that she could be, but she knew her brother. She knew he wouldn't see it that way. Regardless, she knew she didn't have a choice. If it wasn't Albion then it would have to be someone else and at least this way she would at least have an idea of who she was going to be married to. She silently pleaded with her brother to understand, holding his gaze with hers for a moment before she looked back to their mother and gave her a nod. "I understand," she said quietly, "I accept."

"Avacyn Medacium"