She had been slightly side tracked and delayed in relaying the potential plans she had made with Chimera and his family after her return to the pack due to Kavik's surprise appearance in her life, but after a few days of getting things settled there she knew she needed to return her focus to that sooner rather than later. They were very quickly coming up on the twin's second birthdays and she wanted the arrangements decided upon before she was taken into another pregnancy and the whirlwind that was the fall season fell upon them. She waited for Avacyn and Saracyn outside the den early in the morning, forgoing her morning patrol to be there by the fire pit outside of their family cave when they came out of the dens.

It was quiet for a while, looking out over the valley of the island, until she heard voices and the sound of paws on stone behind her. Her ears perked and she glanced behind her, seeing the matching, glowing markings of the two inseparable siblings emerging from the shadows, Avacyn and Saracyn walking out into the morning sunlight. She smiled and shifted to turn toward them, saying, "Ava, Sara, there you are. Come here, my loves," as she waved them over with her paw. "I have something I need to discuss with you both."

Manea | Temno | Ciemny

Avacyn blinked open her eyes, groggy as she lifted her head from where it had been resting in the crook of Saracyn's neck while she lifted a paw to rub the sleep from her eyes. She could tell it was still pretty early from how quiet it was in the caves, but that was perfect. She had her heart set on going to the Firefly Lake today to work on the guard post that she had begun working on a couple of seasons prior, but hadn't been able to finish due to the storms that had ravaged Boreas for much of the spring season. Now that the season had turned and the weather was much more favorable, she figured now was a great chance to finish it. She swiped her tongue across Saracyn's ear several times, gently rousing him from sleep as well. He had agreed to come with her and help even though she was certain he would have rather slept in so she set to work waking him up, smiling softly at his disgruntled grumbles.

Once they were both up and she had groomed her coat a bit to smooth it into its usual glossy sheen, she walked out of the caves side by side with her brother, leaning into his side a bit with a smile. Just as they were stepping out into the sunlight, their mother's voice caught her attention and her white tipped ears perked with surprise, dark eyes finding the violet form of Manea waiting on them. Usually the Matriarch was gone by this time to do her usual patrols, but apparently today was not the case. She had been waiting on them specifically and that had Avacyn curious over what this could be about. She walked over to where their mother was waiting, her tail wagging gently as she tipped her muzzle up to kiss Manea's cheek. "What is it?" she asked with interest as she settled back onto her haunches beside Saracyn, waiting dutifully to hear what their mom had to tell them.

"Avacyn Medacium"

Warm, peaceful slumber was disturbed by a tickling sensation running over his ear. Saracyn had been deep in sleep, snoring quietly with Avacyn tucked up in his arms and happy as a clam in his bed. Being awoken well before his own Circadian rhythms did not please the dire wolf. Groggy grumbles gave way to disgruntled groans as he was pulled from sleep by his twin licking his ear, the little tickling sensation both teasing and tormenting him. "Nooooo... Too early..." he'd grumbled in protest, but Ava was insistent. Yes, he had promised to help her work on the guard stations around Firefly Lake, but did they really need to do it this early? It wasn't like the lake was going anywhere.

With great reluctance, the red prince rose with a defeated sigh, but not before getting back at his twin with a bit of a tickle fight in bed, a wicked grin on his face all the while before they eventually separated to get themselves ready for the day. His morning routine was far simpler: just giving his coat a shake and letting it fall wherever and then he was good to go. Side by side the Mendacium twins made their way out into the early morning, the dawn still cool from the night, giving the world a brief reprieve from the summer heat. He let Ava lean into his side, smiling back at her. Life was perfect when he was with her; there was nothing he would have done to change that. The normalcy of their day was interrupted, however, when they stepped outside and saw Manea waiting for them, calling both yearlings over as they emerged from the cave.

Saracyn gave Manea a quizzical look, then exchanged a glance with Avacyn before moving closer on their mother's behest. Sara was much more reserved in his outward affections, still giving Manea's opposite cheek a gentle nuzzle in greeting before wordlessly sitting back at Ava's side and waiting to see what their mother needed from them. He couldn't recall anything he'd done lately that would warrant him being disciplined, so he didn't think this was for a scolding.

"Saracyn Mendacium"

Manea smiled and her tail wagged gently against the stone of the cliff as her children came to greet her, leaning into each of their affections happily. She just hoped neither of them would be too angry with her once she revealed what she had been working on for them. She didn't expect too much push back from her daughter, but she most certainly expected some kind of disagreement from her son. He was far more head strong and reluctant to agree to things that were not his idea at times and she had a feeling this would be one of those times. As Avacyn questioned what it was that she wanted them for, Manea shifted a bit, facing them both properly with the small fire crackling beside her, her expression growing a bit more serious. It was hopefully a happy arrangement for all of them, but it wasn't something she wanted taken lightly either.

"The two of you are getting older and coming of age. We have to start considering your futures and what that is going to mean for both of you," she began, trying to find a way to ease into the topic rather than just shocking them both with her ideas. "Having a family and continuing the Mendacium bloodline and way of life is extremely important for our family. As the oldest children of the Matriarch a lot of eyes are going to be on you both to lead by example and uphold our laws. This is even more important for you, Avacyn, as the next Matriarch, but you'll be right there beside her, Saracyn, so it's important for you to keep in mind too." She let that sink in for just a moment, glancing between them both before she went on. "That being said... I understand how much you care for one another. I want you both to be happy and I don't want to stop you from loving who you want to love, but you have to understand that we have to be the keepers of our laws. All of our laws."

She gave them a pointed look. She had given them both all of the same lessons, taught them both all of the laws. They would understand what she was implying. Her voice grew more hushed for a moment and she leaned toward them, telling them, "I am actively trying to make arrangements for you both to allow you to continue loving one another the way you do if that's what you really want, but we need to make sure that you both have strong matches at least for your future pups. The rest of the family needs to see you following our laws so that they can believe you will be strong stewards of our culture into the future." She sighed softly as she leaned back again. She didn't like confronting her children about their more scandalous affairs, but at some point it needed to be done and she needed them to concede on some things so that she wouldn't have to take more drastic measures.

"That being said... I went and spoke with Chimera, the King of Fenmyre. I also spoke with Albion, Scylla's brother, and their mother. I have asked to arrange marriages for both of you with Albion and Scylla. They are in favor of the arrangement as long as you both agree as well. It would provide us with a lasting alliance with Fenmyre and it would bring in the Kline bloodline into ours. They're a large and powerful family in Boreas and Auster and would make a very good pairing for you both." With the truth of the matter on the table she looked at them both, trying to assess their reactions and see just how difficult it was going to be to get their agreement on the matter.

Manea | Temno | Ciemny

Talk of her future and the responsibilities she would hold as she got older were certainly not unfamiliar topics to her. They were things that frequently came up as her mother prepared her to walk in her paw steps. However, something that they hadn't addressed quite as throughly was the fact that in the very near future they would need to start considering their own fated soul mates and families. Of course the concept wasn't foreign to either of them—the importance of family and continuing on what their ancestors began was something woven all through their lessons—but as their mother started talking about upholding all of their laws, being the example for the rest of their family to follow, and how much they cared for one another, Avacyn's smile faded and her ears flicked back with embarrassment and shame. Of course she knew what her mother was saying and Manea made it very clear that she had caught on to how their relationship was progressing. She knew that her and Saracyn hadn't exactly been subtle, but perhaps she had put too much faith in the fact that they had slept together and cuddled often since they were small pups to cover up some of their advances.

Avacyn shifted uncomfortably under her mother's knowing look and she glanced down at her white tipped paws, trying to think of what to say, but before she could their mother spoke to them in hushed tones, as if she was sharing a secret with them, and she looked up to Manea with surprise. She was trying to make it so they could continue to be this way? Avacyn had fully expected their mother to tell them to stop, to tell them that they had to move on from this for their duty to the family, but instead she was met with the Matriarch admitting that she was trying to find ways around the rules for them, wanting their happiness. She glanced to Saracyn, confusion mixed with hope and uncertainty churning in her stomach, her obsidian gaze searching his face for a moment before she turned her attention back to Manea again.

As Manea went on, speaking of Chimera, Albion, Scylla, and their mother, the meeting she had with the majority of that family, Avacyn started to put together the pieces before she outright admitted the plan she had come up with. They had just seen the arrangement that had been made for their uncle Deimos and his new mate that had come from Ashen and now it seemed that move had inspired their mother to find something of that sort for them. Albion for her and Scylla for her brother. There was an odd twist in her stomach, an uneasiness with the idea of Saracyn being married off to another wolf. She didn't have anything against Scylla and in the few interactions she had with the smaller, skilled woman she had found that she quite enjoyed her, but this unexpected possessiveness over her brother tangled around her already twisted gut. Somehow that was the part of this that bothered her most. She didn't mind being arranged to marry Albion. The male had been kind and sweet, if a bit quiet, and had many of the traits that she had been taught to look for in signs of strength. The arrangement was logical and outside of her own emotions she couldn't find a reason not to agree to it.

Avacyn turned her gaze up to Saracyn again, her ears pinned back against her head as she struggled over the issue for a moment, searching his face as she tried to reason with herself over what to do. She knew he wouldn't like it and she didn't like it for him. It made sense to her in her steadfast grip to their ideals and practices and the duty she felt to become the strongest and most exemplary matriarch that she could be, but she knew her brother. She knew he wouldn't see it that way. Regardless, she knew she didn't have a choice. If it wasn't Albion then it would have to be someone else and at least this way she would at least have an idea of who she was going to be married to. She silently pleaded with her brother to understand, holding his gaze with hers for a moment before she looked back to their mother and gave her a nod. "I understand," she said quietly, "I accept."

"Avacyn Medacium"

Saracyn didn't know what their mother wanted from them, but something in his gut told him that this wasn't going to be a fun conversation. That hunch became more real when Manea's expression turned more stern and she began to tell them what she wanted to talk about. The conversation began casually enough, discussing their upcoming birthdays and how they would both be full adults. She reemphasized the importance of both of them continuing the Mendacium bloodline, a notion Saracyn found more and more asinine given his station and rank. What was the point of him producing more Mendaciums that would end up nowhere in their family or Elysium? Only Avacyn's children mattered, the heirs of the next Matriarch, and even then only the females mattered. He had no desire to follow his family's traditions of setting out to find his soul mate. He had already found his in Avacyn, and there would be no point coupling with anyone else.

For the most part, Saracyn was only passively paying attention to Manea rambling on about their family's laws and traditions—that is, until Manea's words turned harder as she mentioned keeping to all the laws of the Mendacium family. Sara shot Manea a questioning look, but that expression soon turned to indifference at her pointed glance. Ah, she knew... Well, he supposed it didn't matter. He wasn't exactly trying to be surreptitious about his growing relationship with Avacyn. It was bound to come to light sooner or later, and he supposed it would be better to get it all out of the way now. Unlike Ava, who flinched beneath Manea's leer, Sara did not, remaining tall and unchanged as he held his mother's gaze unabashedly. He knew what she and his uncles had done in their youths and it was far worse than what he and Avacyn had discovered together, so he paid no heed to her hypocritical remarks. He didn't care if she knew. But Manea apparently did more than care about their relationship. Their mother went on to explain her secretive dealings, what she had arranged with the Kleins down in Fenmyre, and what she expected of them. Saracyn's eyes widened with shock and then hardened with cold bitterness. Their mother had arranged marriages made for them.

Anything else Manea said after that fact fell on deaf ears. The anger and disrespect he felt prevented him from maintaining his cool head, and he fixed Manea with a biting glare. How dare she do this to them?! It wasn't bad enough that she was trying to dissuade them from being together, but now she had actively taken away the one thing that Deimos had told him granted him power and influence as a male Mendacium. He would not be set on his own path to find a mate like his uncles had. He was being sold off like a product at his mother's behest, and for what? To secure a partnership with wolves lesser than them that he didn't give a fuck about in a land on the other side of the world? He didn't even like Scylla! Was that really how she saw her own children? As tokens to be traded to curry favor with others? Was she trying to fuck the Klein alphas like she was the Hallows wolves too? The hypocrisy of his mother's words and actions swelled the dark fire inside his heart at the perceived injustice. Red lips pulled back from his teeth on reflex in a silent growl, furious blue eyes burning with a cobalt fire.

Beside him, he felt Avacyn shift anxiously, and on reflex he moved a paw to rest gently over hers, offering a small bit of comfort while the instinctual reflex to protect her used his own anger to fuel itself. He didn't like the idea of Avacyn married off to another wolf, and it had been a reality he'd been hoping to somehow circumvent as he developed his own romantic love with his twin. The choice of mates their mother had made were laughable at best and insulting at worst. Albion had been a quiet, distant vacuum with no personality, and Scylla was a near-feral half-wolf that looked more like a large weasel than a canine. Those were the wolves Manea wanted in their bloodline?! Saracyn was a second away from voicing his incredulous displeasure to their dam when Ava's gentle voice broke the tension and she agreed to the orchestrated union. Saracyn turned his shocked gaze down to hold his sister's, his body tense and uneasy. He saw the pleading in her inky eyes, but he still couldn't believe it. A cold pain stabbed through his heart when she gave in to their mother's demands. She would stay her course. In that moment, Saracyn saw the future he'd allowed himself hope for dissolve. The crimson prince slowly withdrew his paw from his sister's, unable to look away from her while his mind and heart reeled from the blow they had been dealt.

Then it was his turn. Saracyn didn't know how to give words to the emotions he was feeling in that moment. He was so filled with an indescribable maelstrom of barely controlled negativity that he felt like he might explode. Icy cobalt eyes lingered on Avacyn's soft features for a while even after she had looked away from him, gazing at her like a yearning lover would. Then he looked down at his own paws, shellshocked brain still scrambling to put together a coherent thought amidst the buzzing in his ears that drowned out his own thoughts. Then he looked back up at Manea and he glared with a scornful fury. "I do not," he spat back defiantly, not even caring to hide the snarl in his tones. "Sell Avacyn off to whatever worthless cur you think gives you the most benefit. But you don't get to control me like you control everyone else. I'm done being given the scraps of your decisions. I'm done being treated like a second rate prize to be given out for favor." Saracyn stood up, on the verge of quivering with anger and hurt. He didn't want to stick around, lest he lose his grip for a second and say or do something everyone would regret. He turned to leave, casting one more glower Manea's way. "I should have died in that fall and saved you the trouble, Matriarch." Then he went to leave.

- exit Saracyn unless stopped -

"Saracyn Mendacium"

Avacyn could feel the anger and the fury rolling off of her brother in waves, even as his paw settled over hers in his seemingly instinctual attempt at comforting her as she sat uneasily under the gaze of their mother. She had already known that he wouldn't like this arrangement and had expected some kind of backlash, but when he pulled away from her and lashed out at their mother, scorning her for making these decisions and denying the offer that had been arranged for him, Avacyn looked back to him wide eyed with shock and hurt of her own. She always expected Saracyn to be at her side through thick and thin, through the best and worst of their lives, but this time he couldn't seem to keep to that when confronted with the idea of these marriage proposals that they had been presented. She didn't like this situation that they had found themselves in, but she understood. It never once crossed her mind that their mother was doing this for her own benefit, but that seemed to be the only thing that Saracyn could see this as and as he stormed off with one final wish that he had died in his fall down the mountain Avacyn could only watch him go with a deep, painful knot in her chest.

"Saracyn!" Manea called after him, the Matriarch standing and watching him with disbelief and shock of her own written on her features. Avacyn could tell she wanted to chase after him, but she knew that Saracyn wouldn't listen to her. Any attempt at talking to her brother was going to fall on her shoulders now even though she was still processing her own arrangement that she had agreed to. Her mind was still reeling, but she had no choice but to try and get through to him where their mother never could. She glanced at Manea, stopping her as she stepped forward to try and go after him, and gave a small shake of her head. "I'll go," she said softly, feeling far older than she really was as she got up and chased Saracyn down the mountain path, catching up to him at the edge of the tree line in the shade of the pines that dotted the island.

"Saracyn! Sara, wait!" she called, darting around him and skidding to a stop in his path and forcing his cobalt gaze to meet the deep obsidian of hers. Her ears were pinned back as she panted lightly, looking up at him with pleading desperation. "Can't you see that she's doing this for us?" she questioned with hushed tones. It was still early and there didn't seem to be anyone around, but she still wanted to keep this between them. "If she really wanted to stop us or condemn us then she would have sent you away! But she's not! She's helping us stay together and finding us a way to work around the laws! She's putting her neck on the line for us!" Overwhelmed, frustrated tears started to gather in the corners of her dark eyes as she leaned back on her haunches, reaching her white tipped feline paws up to try and rest them on either side of his face, holding his head gently between her paws as she pleaded with him. "I love you, Saracyn. That's why I agreed to this. Because I am willing to do anything to be with you... But this is bigger than just us. I have this pack and family on my shoulders and every eye on me and I have to be the Matriarch they need whether I like it or not." Her voice broke a bit and she swallowed hard, her paws sliding down form his cheeks to his chest. "Please, Saracyn... I don't want to do this without you."

"Avacyn Medacium"

Manea's call for him had fallen on deaf ears. Saracyn was far too consumed with bitter anger that the young wolf just continued to trudge away, storming off down the mountain path in the direction of the woods. He needed to be away from his family right now—all of them. He needed to go out and vent his rage and kill something, and if he didn't, he was likely to take it out on his oppressive mother instead. Would that really have been such a bad thing though? Maybe she needed to get knocked around again some to realize she didn't hold dominion over everyone and everything. The red-furred wolf growled and huffed, eyes narrowed, paws stomping heavily as furious snorts left him. Fuck her. Fuck their laws. Fuck the Mendaciums. He didn't even want to be a part of this bullshit any more. There was no point, nothing for him except constant disappointment and upset.

His twin sister's voice calling his name from behind him made white-tipped ears flick back, but the dire prince did not stop. He kept pressing on through the loamy soil in the pine forests, hellbent on getting off this fucking island. Avacyn wasn't accepting that, it seemed, as the next thing he knew, his smaller sibling was darting in front of him to block his path with her body, dark eyes fixed on his pointed glare. Sara reared his head back, fangs bared at her while he tried to push past her and keep moving on, but again she made a nuisance of herself by darting in front of him. There was no avoiding this. Saracyn growled a low threat to Ava, warning her to keep out of his way, but she decided to start trying to convince him instead. Cold cobalt eyes flashed with indignant fire the more she spoke, trying to convince him that Manea was doing this for their benefit. "For us?!" he snapped back, incredulity heavy in his snarling voice. "Ava, she's keeping us apart! She's selling you off for a political arrangement to a worthless waste of life so she can advance her own motives and she's getting me out of the way of your succession by passing me off to the scraps of some family on the other end of the world! Tell me how that's 'doing this for us'?!"

Avacyn reached for his face, but Saracyn was having none of it. He recoiled back from her touch, still heartbroken and upset from seeing her submit so willingly to Manea's commands. He didn't step away from her, but he did reject her, spurning her affections out of anguish and anger. "And you... you just agreed to it. You didn't put up any sort of fight when she did this. Why? Because it's expected of you? So what, was I to be your whore on the side, second to whoever you took as a husband? Just something nice for you to use on the side when you felt like it?" Saracyn snarled his last two sentenced, clawing at the ground in frustrated anger. "I thought that together we could do what we wanted. I thought that we-" Sara let his heated words die on his tongue, once again biting them back to prevent from saying too much. He looked away from Avacyn, snorting and glaring at anything around him but her. After a moment of seething, he calmed down enough to look back down at her again, no longer on the verge of exploding, but still nowhere near calm.

"All my life I've been forced to settle for second best. I've never resented you for being heir, but all I want is to feel like I have some control in my life and not be told to accept what I'm given. Mother was allowed to fuck our uncles silly and still go out and fuck her way through the world to find her mate, found her own pack, do whatever the hell she wants, and I'm expected to do as I'm told without any consideration or voice. Everyone besides me is given something they want, and the one thing I've ever wanted is denied to me. What I wanted never mattered, and it seems it never will." Saracyn lifted one large paw and pushed Avacyn's paws off of his chest, turning his gaze from hers as he moved to step past her again, pointedly keeping his gaze averted. "I'm clearly just a problem for your succession that the Matriarch's trying to rectify by pawning me off to the most convenient bidder. I should have never been born in the first place. And I won't stand around to be dealt a second rate hand again and expected to be grateful for it."

"Saracyn Mendacium"

For the first time in their lives she looked at Saracyn and didn't know or understand what she saw. When he snapped back at her, when he denied the reason she was trying to get him to see, when hit her paws away and denied her affection... This was a Saracyn she didn't know and it made her feel like she couldn't breathe. Her rock, her one tether to sanity in the ever mounting pressure and responsibilities that were building constantly around her, pushed her away and denied the one possibility that could allow them to truly be together the best that they could manage within the constraints of the laws that she would be expected to uphold. She couldn't see this situation how he did. She understand what part of this brought such a visceral, angry reaction out of him, but he clearly couldn't understand why she saw this as their ticket to loving one another as they wanted so for once it seemed like it was impossible for them to see eye to eye. For their entire lives it felt like they spoke a language that only they could understand and now all of the sudden they had both changed languages to something entirely different.

Everything he said sank the painful spear deeper into her chest. It felt like everything she had done to try and include him and make him the center point of her world had been for nothing. Everything he said about being second best, how he shouldn't have been born, how what he wanted didn't matter... It was all a slap in the face to everything she had ever done to show him how much he mattered to her and as he went to step past her all she could do was stare where he had once been standing as the tears that had been glistening in her eyes fell into her fur, struggling to pull a full breath into her lungs with how tight her chest felt. Her world was crumbling around her and she didn't have the strength to stop him as he moved past her and began to walk away. "You have never been second best... Not to me. You never will be," she managed after she swallowed past a hard lump in her throat. Regardless of whether he stopped or even heard her, Avacyn got to her paws and started to carry herself back up the mountain path, ignoring their mother as Manea tried to ask her what happened, and instead hiding away in her room while she waited for the sting and pain of it all to subside.

"Avacyn Medacium"

Just as Avacyn felt she didn't recognize her brother, so too did Saracyn feel like he didn't know the wolf standing before him now. He had thought out of anyone in the world that his sister would have had his back. He had been prepared to wage war against their mother's demands and their family's insipid laws with her, but Ava had caved in without any sort of a fight. Had he really meant that little to her? Did she really value her succession that much more than their relationship? That betrayal had cut him deep, and the one wolf he thought was on his side had shown where she stood. He couldn't understand Avacyn's obsession with her role and the family laws. Like he had told her once before, Saracyn would have burned the world down for her and forsaken their family in the name of their love. Now it was clear to him that Avacyn did not share that same level of devotion for him, and that struck him through the heart like a dagger plunged into his chest. Hell, a dagger probably would've been a gentler mercy at this point.

The look of pain and shock on Avacyn's face once would have made Saracyn withdraw his anger in favor of comforting her, but not this time. The tears in her obsidian eyes were warranted as far as he was concerned. She had made her decision and it hadn't been him. The only difference was he wouldn't cry about it. No, he'd just go, kill some things, and then maybe he'd come back when he'd settled down. Maybe. Or maybe he'd just run off. Who knew? At least then he'd have some semblance of choice and control back in his life again. Maybe Ava would regret her decision if he disappeared and didn't come back, or maybe Manea would realize how costly her overreach had been when her only son vanished without a trace. Ava did nothing to stop him this time as he stepped around her, and her lack of action made Sara's scowl deepen. Fine then... Saracyn released a heavy breath and began to walk away, not sure where he was going, but anywhere was better than here.

"You have never been second best... Not to me. You never will be."

Avacyn's words made Saracyn stop mid step, ears pricking to catch her shaking voice. Shock crossed his face and he turned to glance over his shoulder at her, but his violet twin was already up and walking away. She'd given up on him. That was expected. He would have given up on himself too. Sara lingered where he stood, watching Ava disappear back up the mountain path until she was gone from sight and he was sure she wasn't coming back. The prince's shoulders slumped, his soul deflating and heart broken. Turning away from his home, he gave a sharp whistle for his raptors and marched his way off the island to the Boreal mainland. With no direction and no plan, Saracyn set off on his own to find any sort of comfort he could find. Maybe he'd return home eventually... or maybe this was the last time he'd ever set foot on Alias Island.

- exit Saracyn -

"Saracyn Mendacium"