Fia was growing into her full height now though it may not have seemed so while she was still mostly legs and oddly proportioned. And she supposed with getting bigger and older she could give herself a little more freedom. Freedom. She's always had that or it felt that way to her. She was making more frequent trips over the land bridge to The Rock Garden. She felt like she was being sneaky or doing a bad thing, just a little bit at least. Even if she wasn't. It was a fun feeling, a little bit of thrill she supposed. Nothing crazy though... she wouldn't go find stranger over the borders of course. For now.

She was acting a little more pup like today, at least in the ways she had shown her whole life. She was pretty observant when it came to pretty much anything so today she was carefully bouncing across the rocks in The Rock Garden. Seeing how far she could make it from one to another. Her strides were longer, but she liked to challenge herself a little bit. Like thinking that sometime soon she'd be able to make it just that little bit further in the jump she couldn't quite make yet. A silly game, and silly to play by herself. But there weren't other kids her age so she had learned to keep to herself most of the time anyway.

She was completely in her own world before she noticed a lioness sprinting through The Rock Garden. She wasn't sure if someone was chasing it or it just made a run for the inside. She went on full alert which was a stance very unlike her but she wasn't quite sure how to react when she saw it. Should she run? Should she try to make it back to the island? Just try to hide behind one of the rocks? She didn't really want to act scared and she didn't feel that way but she knew she needed to use her brain here. She wasn't confident she could take it on her own. She finally took quiet steps forward, trying to sneak her way around the path it had just made through the garden and she made it a fair way through on the way to Alias before the cat caught onto her scent and she turned to realize it was coming for her. Again, she had to consider what to do but there wasn't much time to do so. Instead of running like a coward she'd started to face off with it. It would jump to make the first move, it wasn't hesitating in the slightest.

"Fiametta"

It was really by pure luck that she happened to be toward the end of the bridge that connected the island to the mainland when she noticed the movement of the lioness moving across the rock-dotted field. She hadn't planned on coming out this way today, but she ended up filling in on a patrol shift different than her own which meant she was just in time to intercept this big cat as it invaded on their territory. She picked up her pace, loping across the sand bar as she hurried to catch up to it, but then she realized who had become its target. "Fia!" she gasped when she saw her fire-marked sister in the distance with the lion heading right in her direction. Avacyn bolted forward with long strides, kicking up sand as she went and crossing onto the shore on the opposite side in the span of a heartbeat.

She managed to reach the lioness just as it was lunging for her little sister and Avacyn leaped forward, tackling the lioness with her large, similarly feline paws clasping around its neck. She landed almost on its back to its shoulder was pressed into her chest and her claws sunk into its chest. As she knocked the lioness to the ground and went tumbling with the large, yowling, predator, she sank her teeth into the back of its neck to keep her hold tight on it as they started wrestling and fighting for dominance. If it hadn't been for her frantic attempt at protecting her sister she likely would have had an easier time grappling with it, but as it was the lioness was able to roll and knock Avacyn off, the weight of the lion pressing its back into her chest knocking the wind out of her and forcing her to let go. The lioness scrambled back to its feet and wasted no time lunching back at Avacyn again while the Elysium heir tried to get back to her paws as well.

"Avacyn Medacium"

Once Avacyn came bolting onto the scene, Fia instantly turned around to help her sister in the battle. Fia had never experienced anything like this before, but she wasn't helpless. That simply wasn't in her blood. With her sister here she was a lot more confident in her abilities and she was willing to fight just for the same reasons Avacyn was.

The two crashed to the ground, the cat screaming in it's thrashing as Avacyn tangled with it, and soon enough it would get the upper hand to get free of the grip that was on it. Once it had it's footing underneath of it, it was launching back at Avacyn and that's when Fia took her own place forward. She still wasn't dumb, she wouldn't go barreling in without a thought. She knew Avacyn would still be able to handle the beast better than she could if in experience alone. So Fia jumped forward behind the cat, biting down on it's tail with her sharpening teeth. She could at least distract it, and help hold it down if it came to that.

"Fiametta"

Avacyn was braced for the lioness to grapple onto her as she was getting her footing back since the nimble cat was just slightly faster than herself with how the air had gotten knocked out of her, but that impact never came and she quickly realized it was because of Fia attacking the big cat's tail. Avacyn grinned a bit as the cat yowled from the unexpected sharp pain of the young woman's bite the lioness immediately starting to twist around to try and get to their second attacker. She took that opening and bounded forward, reaching forward to sink her teeth into the side of the lioness' neck near the curve of its jaw, biting in a way that let her catch her opponent's throat. She felt her teeth sink through flesh and tasted the blood as it ran over her tongue and the big cat immediately gave strangled roars of pain.

She couldn't keep this hold for very long, having to let go in order to avoid the heavy swipes of the lioness' paws as it swung toward her with claws extended to try and get free of her. When she jumped back out of the way to avoid those swiping paws she saw the deep bite she left behind and she could tell that made the lioness second guess it's choice of being here at all. It stumbled back a couple of steps as it turned so that it could see both of them at the same time and Avaycn started inching toward Fia to stand next to her sister, both of them facing down this big cat. The lioness hesitated for a bit, seeming to consider whether or not it was worth jumping back into the fight, and ultimately it decided it would rather live than tangle with them again. Their opponent turned and fled, leaving a dripping trail of blood behind it as it went out the way it came and back over the pack's border.

Avacyn scoffed softly and eased out of her fighting stance, still watching the lioness go until it was out of sight just to make sure it didn't double back or hide somewhere on their territory. Then she turned to Fia with a little smile, asking, "Are you alright? It didn't get you did it?"

"Avacyn Medacium"

As Avacyn went for a bite at the throat of the cat, Fia leapt up over it's thigh for another attack herself. She'd bite up closer to it's spine while her cat claws stuck into it's ribs and hind end giving it little chance to fight back. It seemed to get that hint that it was outnumbered not only just by two wolves but two Mendacium ladies. That's what Fia thought of course. It managed to get just enough free to sprint back the way it came leaving a trial where it went back home. Fia of course wouldn't be so eager to follow after it, she did have to think if it would eventually die from the wounds they gave it though.

Showing a bit more personality than she had in her younger days, Fia had stepped forward as if after the cat, standing tall with her chest puffed out a little. Not in a spot light for her sister but she liked to think of them as like partners in crime just for the moment. Avacyn would soon turn to make sure Fia was okay and she too would go back into that more relaxed manner as her sister had. Her paw rubbing over her opposite foreleg she responded, "Yeah, I'm fine. Didn't really stand a chance did it?" She joked a little, hopping up after her sister as they may have made their way back towards the island. It was better than just standing here she supposed.

She'd go mostly silent for a moment, she never made too much of an effort to jump into the lives of her siblings. If only silently, Avacyn was her biggest role model but she also never really wanted to be in the way. She always assumed when she was bigger and older she'd be able to help more, and she was nearly in that stereotype she had idolized for herself. It would soon be time for her to be thinking differently. "Do you..." She hesitated for a moment though she wasn't really sure why. She wasn't sure if she thought maybe Avacyn wouldn't really know what had been going on or maybe didn't want to talk about it. Fia was starting to use her brain a little more as time went on. "Do you know what's been going on with Mom and Dad?" It was more of the reason she had been out here at the Rock Garden opposed to spending the day at Alias lake. She hadn't known the details of what was going on between her parents, maybe she was just too young to notice. But she had never been present when they had their fights or anything like that. She just knew something wasn't quite right.

"Fiametta"

Avacyn was relieved to see her sister wasn't hurt and she grinned at her joking that the big cat didn't stand a chance. She chuckled and gave Fia's shoulder a playful nudge with her own as they began to head back toward the island together, replying, "Definitely didn't stand a chance! Especially not with two Mendaciums up against it." Avacyn didn't necessarily fall into the egotistical mindset about their family that some of their family members did, but she did believe that they were all naturally talented and skilled enough to take on pretty much any threat—especially when there was more than one of them involved. It was one of the benefits of all of their gifts from the Ancients and their strong bloodline. Of course that wasn't enough on its own to make them formidable, but that combined with the work they put into their skills it made them the strongest wolves she could imagine.

They fell into an easy silence for a bit as they walked until Fiametta brought up something that caught her off guard. She glanced toward her sister as she began to speak, giving her a curious look as she paused and seemed to hesitate over something. Just as she was about to assure her sister that she could ask her anything, Fia elaborated and asked her about what was going on with their parents. Ava's gaze widened a bit with surprise before her ears flicked uncertainly, glancing away as she muttered an uncomfortable, "Um... Well..." She probably knew more about the current issues with their parent's relationship than her siblings did simply because of the fact that she had to work so closely with their mother on pack business and had to pick up some extra work here and there to help their mother as she dealt with this, but even she didn't know all the details. Manea had specifically asked her not to mention it to her siblings and had certainly been trying her best to hide it from them, but that obviously wasn't working well.

After a moment Avacyn sighed and looked back to Fia as she replied, "They're... figuring out some things." It was definitely the most vague answer she could have come up with, but there wasn't really a better way to say it. "I don't really know the details of anything, but... there's definitely some kind of disagreement about something—something that really hurt mom's feelings, I guess." Avacyn was quiet for a moment while she thought about it all and tried to figure out if there was a better or less confusing way she could phrase any of it, but she came up short. "They'll figure it out," she told her little sister with a little smile. "We have a lot of really strong personalities in our family. Just like our gifts and strengths, it's just something that runs in our family. Very strong personalities with really hard stances that clash sometimes. But mom and dad are soul mates. Their souls are bound together forever and they love each other very much. Sometimes they fight, but they always figure it out."

"Avacyn Medacium"

Fia would catch onto the swing of Avacyn's response, but she wouldn't pester her to answer. She believed if it was something she needed to know then it would come to her in whatever way was fit, whether that was from her sister now, her mother later, or never at all. It would be another moment before Avacyn would respond though.

She squinted at first when Avacyn had started, but that was really giving her attention to the words she said. Avacyn may have known that for her younger sister, but anyone else may have seen it as offensive or something of the like. She waited until Avacyn was done speaking before considering anything else to respond back.

She could say to herself that wasn't really an answer, but she didn't really care. Avacyn told her everything she could, whether that was because she was told not to or simply didn't know. She wouldn't prod. Fia wasn't necessarily old enough to understand or that was her own thought on the matter. But she still appreciated everything her sister told her. "I guess I'll know more when I'm older. But I know what you mean." At least to the thought of their family's strong personalities and driven minds. It wasn't something she needed a lesson on. "Come on." She spoke with a gentle smile before trotting forward towards the land bridge and back home. Avacyn had been a big part of her younger childhood even if her sister didn't know it.

"Fiametta"