we must be swift as the coursing river

It did Artorias' heart good and brought him some peace when he saw Avantika's earnest smile on her face. For too long it had felt like his dear sister was working herself into an early grave with her constant worry and overburdening of herself. This Avantika he saw in front of him was a stark difference to the last time they'd had a one-on-one conversation, and though he knew there was still work to be done, he was proud of her for taking steps in the right direction of her work-life balance. As soon as he'd gotten settled in to chat with his sister, Tika launched into a pitch for a plan she and Mercury had been coming up with. Art listened with intrigue, eager to see what his newest promotees had crafted together. A plan for a practice raid with the Armada to elevate the fighting training of their youngest members was put forth. She also suggested a new plan for training the pups, using smaller mentoring partnerships to focus on each child, organized by her and delegated to the Knights respectively.

When he was given the floor to give his two cents, Artorias nodded his head, clearly impressed. "You and Mercury have been busy, I see! Way to hit the ground running, sis!" The Aegis chuckled and flashed a toothy smile to his sibling. She was waiting for his input though, and he wouldn't keep her in suspense. "I like the idea of leveraging our Knights to help mentor specific pups. I would still encourage group trainings, spars, and lessons, but having one consistent wolf to look up to and partner them with gives them stability in their development." Artorias thought on the suggestion of a practice raid with the Armada. He thought back on the practice raid with Ashen they had all taken a part in when they were pups themselves and how it had been good for them to experience real combat in a moderated setting. "The practice raid with the Armada does sound like something they would enjoy. Fun, yet educational. It would also benefit the Armadan pups as well. I will speak to Sirius about your idea and see if he feels the same," he replied with another nod of his head, then looked to Tika with a question in his eyes. "If you plan on having this raid involve our army of pups, we have several that are not yet of age or skill for battle. At the earliest, to involve all of the pups, we would need to plan for a summer raid. Did you plan on training them up to appropriate levels in advance, or wait until they reach their first birthdays?"

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Eira" | "Argent"