Caelia watched as the others trickled in, focusing for a moment on Artur. He'd been distant lately - but then again, hadn't he been distant most of their lives? At least since their mother's death. She half tried to catch his eye, but before she knew it Aurielle was beginning to address them, and Caelia turned her full attention back to Aurielle. She explained that they were here to train for raiding, a prospect that both interested and excited her. Their first practice raid would be in the spring. Caelia found her tail beginning to twitch behind her in anticipation. Sure, it'd be friendly, but it'd be practice nonetheless - and she was always glad for more opportunities to learn and improve her skills.

Some of the others, those who had experienced raids before, began to speak. First Regulus, then Paladin and Domari and finally Justice. She listened carefully, ears tilted forward and eyes wide, attentive and focused. Real raids sounded pretty intense, though it wasn't far off from what she expected to hear about. That didn't mean she'd be mentally prepared for it, if she ever ended up in the midst of something quite so bloody, but hopefully having an ideal of what to expect would help her be somewhat ready.

Aurielle Adravendi

Aurielle listened with the rest as those who had been in the raid launched by Talis spoke their pieces, nodding to herself with occasional glances toward the gathered wolves, noting each expression. Artur was the only wolf to voice a question, in his usual cold way. She ran her mind over the names she knew of. They had all gone, one way or another. “None of them remain for varying reasons, mostly unrelated. My father will be a better wolf to answer for the specifics. I wasn’t yet born at the time of the raid itself and was very small at the time the last left. Thankfully, the noncombatants were untouched.” Her eyes shifted to each face as she turned to her father, nodding for him to give a better explanation. Justice would likely want to have her own input regarding Valor, her brother. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Labhair an Sean-Teanga." ---- "Hear" ---- Think

That Sea is just a Gambler at Heart

Dómari settled back and listed as the meeting continued on, nodding as Justice stated that there was no way to prepare for a real raid. He had to agree with that. At one of the yearlings questions he looked to Aurielle. He hadn't stayed to long after the raid as that was around the time he'd decided to try to find Alarik. He couldn't say for sure where all those who had been injured were now though he did notice the young woman who had been blinded was no longer with the pack. He hoped she was well wherever she was. He was grateful Justice had blinded that asshole alpha of Talis who started the whole mess. Hopefully, that turd was good and buried now.

He sat and listened intently as each more experienced wolf spoke, taking it in. There were few questions asked, except Artur’s, voiced in his own cool, blunt way. Aurielle didn’t answer fully, though he knew a little of the answer himself from just spending time around her and the family. He pondered, considering what he’d learned for far, before he glanced over his fellow fighters and his sister. Then he asked, “Will we be doing melee practice here in the obstacle setup?” He hoped so. It looked like a challenge, one where there was a small chance to risk a sprained angle, a scraped leg, of full on tripping if one wasn’t keeping some measure of attention on their surroundings in a fight. He hoped to do a lot of practicing over the year before spring hit. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

Regulus Anatolii Adravendi

He listened to each of his packmates as they spoke from their experiences. He, himself had been taken out during his second brawl, after his melee against Dragon with Justice at his side. He held no grudge against the woman who’d bested him—she’d won fair and square. In all honesty, he wanted to track her down and congratulate her for her win, however belatedly. Artur spoke up, and Regulus locked eyes with him. Aurielle deferred the full answer to himself, and he nodded briefly to his daughter before he spoke. “My Uncle was among those maimed. He was blinded in one eye. He stayed for a long while, but his good eye eventually lost vision as well. At one point, he and his mate and daughter disappeared. I suspect they left in search of their missing sons. And I think they might have found at least one of them.” His eyes roved the group before returning to Artur. “Marina left due to her own mental state. She could not trust herself to remain stable around her own children and asked to leave.” The next words he’d made certain the rest of the pack knew, even if he had not announced it at large at a pack meeting. The banishment was shame enough for Acapella, even if she wouldn’t have been there to hear the announcement. “Acapella was fully blinded trying to fight beside Marina against the man that blinded them. However, in the end, I banished her. The reason is that she, firstly, did not send up a warning howl when she smelled a member of Talis near the Estuary border. Instead, she chose to speak to him freely, telling him that Marina, his father’s former mate, had left the pack. That she had children here. “The laws are part of this pack for a reason. Being a leader is to wear masks. And that day I had to don the mask of law-keeper and banish my own cousin. I was much more lenient than I would have been with a sighted wolf. I ensured she would have a chance to settle and not starve by sending my companions out to hunt for her and protect her until she was settled in a place of her choice and knew the area. The man she spoke to? The same wolf who took her sight from her.” He glanced to Paladin, nodding toward him. “Paladin, and perhaps Justice, would be best to answer about their brother.”

Paladin 'Knight' Ancora

He sat quietly, listening as each spoke, listening to Regulus’s response to Artur’s queries. As Regulus turned the conversation over to himself and his sister, Paladin straightened and studied the young man. “Dragon challenged for Valor during the raid, attacked him outright. Valor lost and Justice attacked Dragon. She blinded the man. Unfortunately, Valor was never found. They took him, but we never saw him again. Regulus wanted the pack to be stable again before he went after Valor, but in the time that passed, an Abraxas wolf challenged for Talis, and won. But Valor never returned. I don’t know what happened to him, if he chose to leave, or if he died. I can only hope that he one day shows up on the border.” Where was his brother? Had Val, after going through being attacked by a mad-woman, witnessing her murdering their father and he nearly dying himself in his flight for safety, only to be taken prisoner by their own cousin while he defended Celestial in the raid… simply decided never to return? Perhaps it had all been too much. As backwards as it might have sounded, Paladin hoped that was the case. It was better than thinking, or finding out, that his brother had died on the way to Talis’ territory. He shifted slightly, edging closer to his sister as he glanced at her. The only sibling he had left, despite her fiery, prickly nature.

The turn the topic had taken was like having itching powder poured over her. Her hackles stayed half-raised, tension evident in every line of her form, and her pelt twitched restlessly as the fates of those who'd defended the pack from the raid were listed out. She knew how that list ended, and while she hadn't particularly cared for some of them, one name in particular did matter. Still mattered. Paladin began to speak about their brother, talking about what Dragon had done, and about how she'd failed to save Valor. Yes, she'd blinded Dragon, but Valor had already been taken, and she'd never even realized. After everything he'd been through, she'd let him down. Paladin glanced at her, and Justice looked back with eyes gone flat and emotionless. She swept that gaze over the others. "Frankly," she said with cold, hard, and brutal honesty, "I would not be surprised if Valor decided to take a long walk off a cliff after what he went through. I wouldn't be surprised if any of them did. Think about that long and hard before any of you go and start shit that Valhalla has to finish for you. That could be someone on either side of a raid. You could be causing that trauma to someone. Someone could be doing that to your packmates. These kind of scars stick with you longer than the bite wounds or the bruises. Raids are not a game."