very young, yet unmistakably aged

Modesty hadn't bothered to put a name to the woman that maimed Siduri, in her mind, the scent of Ethne was enough to condemn them all. If the woman had a history of being unstable, then perhaps it was on her pack to rein her in or bear the consequences, no? She seemed to have enough control to not take it out on her own. So perhaps it was just an excuse?

That being said, Modesty was not above being driven by her emotions but if it had been before Dread joined Deluge, that was quite a while ago now. “Deluge is your age, she has her heart set on leadership too.” She offered as a counterbalance to what he was saying, her raised brow and the way she sipped her tea with a smirk made it clear she knew they were comparing apples to oranges, her own girl had always been independent and strong willed enough to bend others to hers.

“She's not just condemned herself, but her whole pack as far as I'm concerned.” She offered levelly, looking at the young man over her teacup. “What sort of war are you suggesting we wage? I'm sure they've sold themselves as good and lawful from the bamboo to the cathedral. Your lot,” She teased, knowing full well he was part of her lot now whether he liked it or not, “No doubt, have lapped that bullshit up. So where does that leave us? If we bring them down, the other packs will come knocking at our door for retribution, then what? I can't sway them all to our cause on my own.” She'd made inroads with the vikings, but the raiders didn't do allies, and that wasn't likely to change if Gilgamesh had any say in the standings. Other packs however, made allies left and right. What was life without a little conflict? Boring. That was what it was.

Casual, conversational, an ebbing tide of what ifs. A solution wasn't going to be a short time in the making, but Modesty was very good at waiting.

“Speech.”