Word had gotten back to her that Desponia had bested Avacyn in a fight a while ago, but at the time she didn't act on it. She had mostly been watching her half-sister from afar, trying to decide what to do now that she had the woman here. She hadn't kept any strong restrictions on the girl though part of her felt like she should or at least had the right to. She was sure someone with shrewder or harsher views on things like Merrick would probably tell her to if she asked. Instead she just let the woman be, contenting herself with the knowledge that she was at least keeping Desponia close enough to know that the Mendacium blood she carried wasn't being squandered or tainted somewhere else.

However, after she gave birth to her second litter, it forced her to take a strong look at everything in her life, facing all of it with a different point of view. She had to reevaluate what she really cared about and how dedicated she really was to her beliefs. It wasn't something that she wanted to do, but now that she had faced the hardest part of their family's conventions head on it didn't leave her much room to ignore it for much longer. She tucked Fiametta in for a nap, ensured that Irilyth was around to babysit the sleeping pup, and then went out into the island looking for her half-sister. She thought that it was high time that they had a real conversation, woman to woman.

She she had kind of expected it was slightly difficult to find the elusive woman that had made a habit of making herself scarce, but eventually Manea spotted her as she was making her way toward the land bridge. "Desponia!" she called, her walk picking up into a light trot to catch up with her before coming around to face her, standing between her and the land bridge to prevent her from leaving. "I would like to speak with you," she told her, nodding to the side to direct her toward the shore, inviting her to walk with her.

"Manea Mendacium"

Desponia had good reason to assume she wouldn't be allowed to just keep skirting by, trying to move silently through the pack and avoid her family's attention as much as possible... Especially since she'd picked a fight with her niece and even won. Yeah, that was probably coming back to bite her. Though the star-marked woman would at least try to keep as far away from her sister and estranged family as much as possible, maybe if she was lucky she could put it off as much as possible if she simply made herself hard to find... Yeah, that wasn't going to work for long. Desponia was making her way to the mainland when her sister's voice reached her. She froze for a moment, her brain suddenly running at a million miles a minute but her body remained frozen between the urge to run and the panic fear freezing her legs. Manea it seemed wasn't ready to lash into her just yet though, gesturing for Desponia to follow, telling her that she wanted to speak? Desponia narrowed her eyes and eyed up her half-sister. This felt like a trap... But what choice did she really have? Run? Almost certainly she'd be quickly subdued, and that would absolutely make whatever came next worse. So breathing a deep sigh she would walk after her half-sister, though she didn't exactly look happy about it. "Speech"

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As Manea had expected, her request for Desponia to walk and speak with her was met with a heavy dose of reluctance and a look that clearly displayed her suspicion, but eventually the other star-marked woman relented and started walking with her with a sigh. As much as Manea wanted to be irritated with her younger half-sister's attitude, she understood that she couldn't fault the woman for it. She had allowed her prejudices and emotions to get the better of her when they first found one another and Manea had been too prideful to back down on her stance—at least until now. Now it would entirely be in Desponia's paws how she wanted to handle things moving forward and Manea was interested to see what her estranged sister would do.

They made a path down the shore of the island, walking just shy of the lapping waves. "I heard you best Avacyn in a fight," she began, glancing at Desponia. "While I normally would not condone violence among my members or family, especially not from someone of your current position, I know my daughter's abilities and the fact that you were able to beat her does speak to your own abilities as well... I'm impressed." She hoped Desponia understood the gravity of the compliment and the new leaf she was attempting to turn by saying something of that sort to the daughter of her disowned mother. It would have been easy to simply leave Desponia as a slave and mostly ignore her existence for the rest of her days, but the birth of her second litter and the reality that it had forced her to face made her reconsider what she was willing to give her energy to. The misplaced grudge against her sister was not one of them.

She looked ahead of her at the path in front of them as she spoke, but she would occasionally glance toward Desponia to look for her reaction. "I have done a lot of self reflection and reconsidering of things through this last pregnancy and I have realized that I placed judgement on you too soon and unfairly. I underestimated the impact that our mother's betrayal had on me and acted rashly... When I saw you I saw her and that was unfair to you. If I am going to follow the Mendacium laws I can not pick and choose which ones I wish to follow and disregarding the rule that a child does not adopt the sins of their parent for my own selfish revenge isn't right... I apologize." Whether or not Desponia accepted her apology or not was up to her, but at least Manea had said her piece.

"Manea Mendacium"

Ah fuck. Desponia thought as she heard her sister starting to talk, though she still trailed behind Manea. She'd known it would only be a matter of time until her half-sister confronted her about that, though at least as far as Desponia was concerned it was still self-defense, she'd not thrown a punch until her niece had first. But frankly, she wasn't expecting the words that followed... She decided it was best not to respond yet, get too defensive and it'd only give her sister a reason to find fault with it no doubt, and she wasn't sure that there still wasn't an ulterior motive. It struck her as odd still though, as far as Desponia had been concerned not a single one of her estranged family seemed likely to ever stoop so low as to compliment her, and yet her sister, the woman she least expected to do so based solely on the rage with which she'd pursued Desponia when she could have simply let her move on and live her life away from them all... It seemed... Well, she didn't want to say nice, it was almost certainly too good to be true but well... It gave her pause. It certainly didn't prepare her for what would be said next. An apology? For all the work she'd been doing to keep her cards close to her chest that all fell away for a moment, she stopped walking and she stood there simply blinking for a moment. A million and one thoughts were racing through her head and she had to actively bite down the instinct to respond with open hostility. It had felt so obvious to her that her sister was being hypocritical, she was being punished for her mother's sins against the family's beliefs but her sister had also refused to follow them, she did not know the circumstances of her nice and nephew's birth but she was pretty sure both of them weren't supposed to be running around. So yeah it took a lot of control to bite down the desire to snarkily agree that Manea was being a hypocrite. Finally, she seemed to get herself together enough that she moved forward, though she continued to remain silent for a while as she thought about her next words very carefully. "So what's next?" She asked. She wasn't going to say her sister was forgiven, because while she could accept the apology for now she wasn't forgiving Manea, not yet. It was admittedly petty but she didn't really care much if her sister felt she needed it or whatever, she wanted to know what Manea's plan was for her in this case. Would she have her freedom? Or was it all just fluff to make Manea feel better about herself. "Speech"

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When Desponia stopped, clearly shocked by her apology, Manea did as well and stood across from her with a questioning and curious look in her aqua gaze. She certainly didn't expect Desponia to forgive her easily after how she had attacked her so readily and enslaved her as she did. She wasn't even particularly sure how she wanted their relationship to evolve at this point, but she had also come to recognize that she had to be the one to make the first step in trying. The events that had led to Desponia's existence were entirely their mother's fault, but for what followed she could only blame herself. She wanted to be the role model of the Mendacium laws for her children and her family and enslaving her half sister for their mother's crimes as no way to do that.

When Desponia simply replied 'what's next', Manea considered it for a moment, trying to find the answer for herself. She hadn't been sure how this would go and had expected a bit more hostility on Desponia's part so this was probably as good of a reaction as she could have hoped for. "I would like to see you as a member of the pack. A real member, not a slave," she admitted after a moment of thought. "I won't ask more of you than that for now. Whether you'd want to be in the ranks with the fighters or something else is completely up to you... But I like to keep my family close. I'm sure it will take time for each of us to see one another as family, but we do share the same blood regardless. I'll offer you a home and protection here and hopefully in time we can settle our differences and perhaps I can begin to teach you more about our family."

She had no way of knowing what their mother would have taught her about the Mendacium ways or how closely their mother had continued to follow them after she was banished. What Desponia knew and didn't know was still a mystery to her. Regardless, she was willing to teach if Desponia was willing to learn. She left the floor open for her estranged half sister to respond, wondering to herself what her reaction would be.

"Manea Mendacium"

There was a part of her that bristled a little at several of the insinuations her half-sister made, the implications of what Desponia might or might not know about their family, in particular, drew her ire but she kept it from showing. Their mother had taught her a great deal many things, had taught her much about their customs and culture and she didn't like the idea that her sister might think she knew more than she did but it wasn't the time nor the place to fight that notion. She was being given an olive branch and suspicious as she was Desponia knew better than to look a gift horse in the mouth, still she didn't respond right away, letting herself think. She did not mind making Manea wait if she had to. Desponia's first instinct was to take her freedom and run, to say goodbye to her damnable half-sister and her whole damnable family... But rationally she knew she had nowhere to go. She'd spent her whole life running, looking over her shoulder, and then the worst had happened anyways... It left her with very little to go running back to if her sister's promise was real... Besides, she did agree it was better for her to keep her family close, though she doubted she thought that for the same sentimental reasons Manea did... Easier to keep track of this way. Finally, she nodded simply, accepting her sister's words for now at least. "A fighter is fine by me." It was a simple answer and a true one. She certainly didn't consider herself a brute in the way of many fighters but she also wasn't ashamed of her skill. As for the rest, a home, protection, family. Well they'd see in time if that ever actually panned out, Desponia certainly didn't expect it to but a place to return to... That sounded nice, and she hadn't had that in a long while. "Speech"

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