Ashes of an Empire

The meeting was called to order shortly after she settled in one of the chairs at the table and she gave Artorias her full attention as he began to speak. As he gave introductions for all of the leaders at the table her eyes drifted across each one, committing names to faces for the ones she had yet to be introduced to. She was actually surprised at how many packs were represented here. In fact... if she was remembering correctly and doing the math right there was just two that were not here–three, she quickly corrected herself. Some of her scouts had mentioned a new pack scent appearing near their borders recently, but she had been so caught up in taking care of new borns that she hadn't had the chance to investigate or do more than instruct her Warriors to set up extra patrols along that border. Returning her attention to Artorias, he spoke about Norad–reiterating the news that she had heard from Haydée during her recent visit to request assistance from their wolves to expand the pack to make room for refugees. A grim frown crossed her features even though this wasn't new information to her. It was still a terrible series of events and she did hope that Beauregard and his family were okay.

What Haydée hadn't mentioned–or perhaps hadn't known–was the name and nature of these wolves that had stolen Norad out from under Beauregard. It was only as Artorias was speaking of these seemingly horrid individuals that she suddenly began to put the pieces of information together. She had assumed when Haydée told her about the usurping that had happened in Norad that whoever had taken the pack would have retained the lands that Norad previously held. When Artorias mentioned how this Syndicate had stolen what they could from Norad and their intent to spread across Ardent in this way she realized the pack that had formed at her borders had to be this group. Her brow furrowed at the thought, but he held her tongue, waiting for Artorias to say what he wished to say even though she was already planning out the message she was going to send one of her ravens with to alert Saracyn to the new threat so close to their home.

Art mentioned that these wolves had declared themselves enemies of the Ashen Empire, but that only raised more questions for her. Not only was she unaware of the many apparent run ins other packs had with this group, but where did the Ashen Empire currently stand with Ashen no more? She didn't exactly like the thought of being considered an enemy of this dangerous group of wolves when she had so many children back home to protect and she had no known contact with these wolves. It felt like she was being pulled into a war that wasn't hers, but with them at her doorstep she supposed she wouldn't have a choice regardless. Besides, The Hallows, Ethne, and Valta had all been close friends and valuable assents to this point. The wouldn't want to turn her back on them now regardless of the dissolution of Ashen.

As if her thoughts were following the same train of thought as Artorias, he brought up Ashen's disbandment and pointed out that many of the wolves here were never associated with the Empire. She glanced around at the other leaders again then, curious to their reactions to all of this. She had to reason to believe that Artorias would call them all here to tell them lies and slander about these wolves so she had to believe that the danger he was describing was real. Her family was no picture perfect case of moral good, but the shades of gray that they lived in seemed to at least be better than the darkness he was describing. Her ear flicked a bit when he seemed to read her mind–calling out the fact that they might not be a direct threat in this moment, but they could be in the future. With a frown she turned her gaze down to the map in front of them with heavy contemplation. She had known that whatever they would be meeting about it would be news of importance, but she hadn't expected something like this.

Luckily he opened up the floor to comments, information, and questions about this issue, but she waited for a moment, letting the others speak ahead of her. She was still so unsure of how to feel so she wanted to hear others weigh in first. Basilisk mentioned his previous encounters with Syndicate wolves and though he didn't say it outright he seemed to imply that his interactions had been far different than what Artorias was describing. What she picked up on quickly though was the fact that he hadn't spoken to their leader. Modesty, who she had yet to meet, but had heard about a bit from Deluge, gave quite the monologue in defense of herself and their pack's tendency to raids. Yet again she felt quite out of her depth and out of the loop in this regard. She blinked with confusion and her brows knit together at the mention of her mate's murderers being at this table, her dark gaze flicking one way and then the other as she tried to figure out who she was speaking about. She knew her mother's distaste of the Raiders back when they were known as the Pirates and led by Sparrow, but with her limited interaction in recent history being a couple of meetings with Deluge who had been nothing but pleasant and even amusing she had a hard time understanding the animosity that was being implied here. It made her want to meet with Modesty herself when all of this was done, but there were bigger issues at hand at the moment. The last comment Modesty made about having something waiting for Haydée after this made her eyes go to her friend with a disbelief. Haydée? No... Surely not.

Modesty boldly left the room and Haydée spoke, insisting that the accusation the Raider leader said was wrong–that he wasn't dead. Avacyn glanced between the door where Modesty disappeared through and back to Haydée again with a frown. She had no doubt that Haydée was telling the truth that Modesty's mate was alive and that they were taking care of him, but she couldn't help but have her doubts about the rest of the events that her friend spoke of. She wanted to believe her–she had been a friend and a confidant again and again so it hurt to have doubts now–but it just didn't seem to add up in her mind. Why did Modesty not know about the state of her mate? She was both surprised and not to hear that Haydée was stepping down to give Ethne to her sister because of all of the recent events. It was sad to hear, but it was reasonable. She wished she could hear the story from both sides to have a real idea of what had happened. Before that could happen though, the representative for Heidinn spoke, Philadelphia offering to be an outpost should they ever need to go to the Syndicate. It confirmed for her that the pack she had been told of was indeed these wolves that Art spoke of and she let out a long, quiet sigh through her nose at that fact. She had yet to really form any kind of opinion or relationship with Heidinn despite the fact that her father was familiar with Vidarr, but with these new developments she felt like it should probably be high priority to do just that. She didn't want to have a threat on one side and an unknown entity on the other.

That only left herself, Hanzō, and Kotori that hadn't spoken, but she had a feeling that the two men were not much for words. There was a beat of silence before she sighed and quietly said, "An eye for an eye will make the world go blind," with a glance toward Haydée before straightening a bit and turning her gaze back up toward Artorias. "As Philadelphia mentioned, it appears the Syndicate has settled in next door to our packs. I have unfortunately–or perhaps fortunately, if what you say is true–not made contact with the Syndicate yet. Family matters have kept me from doing more than putting an extra patrol on our shared border thus far. But... I do hesitate to cast blame on the entirety of this group if what Basilisk is implying is correct. It sounds like their leader is truly dark and lost to any sort of reason, but that doesn't mean every individual among them is. I'm not saying that action doesn't need to be taken, but I also don't know if I can condone casting every single wolf under his banner in the light you were just describing them as. I want more information about what we're dealing with."

"Avacyn Medacium"