Avantika was going to do it finally. She was standing in the courtyard, going to tell Art the ideas she and Mercury had come up with for the continued fighting education of the many young pups the pack now cared for. Thinking of it, what did the Hallows have against having one litter of kids at a time? There had been another birth near the same time as Resin and Tamsyn's and now Fern and Rudy and Briar and Art were having children very close together as well. But that wasn't the matter at hand. What she was here for, hesitating before she actually made the call for her Aegis, was getting his blessing and his ideas for both a more organized training setup for those interested children and a practice raid they might have with either another Auster pack, if one was suitable, or with the Armada kids as Mercury had suggested.

Truth be told, she didn't really know why she was hesitating. She really doubted that Art would shoot her down; he was much too considerate to not at least think about her ideas and they actually seemed like things he would also think were good. Though he was her leader, he was also Art -- her brother and one of the kindest people she had ever met. He would be happy that she was making an effort to help out in a... more social way than before. He could hardly get angry at her for making suggestions after he'd given her a high rank where presumably she would be expected to have more influence over the fighting sphere of the Hallows. With that confidence-boosting thought, she called out for Art before she could convince herself to back down.

"Speech"

Artorias had wondered how long it would take before Avantika came calling to him with ideas and prospects of how to best utilize her new role. When she had claimed the Commander rank, Art had been so overwhelmingly proud of his sister. Tika had always been driven and ambitious, but seeing her take to the role like a fish took to water had reassured him that despite her stumbles along her journey, she was indeed ready for this. He had heard from Mercury little hints of how their first Commander had been doing with their close collaboration, but no details of any plans had been leaked to him yet. It made him all the more excited to hear what Tika would come up with when she did finally seek his approval to initiate something. Turned out it didn't take long, and only a couple short weeks following her promotion, the Aegis' ears were greeted by the call from his sister. Artorias made his way from the renovations going on in the room that would become his High Council chambers out of the castle and into the courtyard.

Spring had made the gardens lush and vibrant with beautiful blooms of flowers everywhere, the bold violets of the wisterias in all their glory, and sweet honeysuckle vines creeping up the castle walls to burst with their distinct white flowers. The seasons in Auster really were something special. Artorias found Avantika waiting for him in the courtyard amongst the vegetation. He approached his sibling with a smile; for the first time in a long time, Tika looked genuinely happy. Not stressed, not worried or anxious, just happy. "Bună ziua, Commander Tika!" he greeted her as he approached. "You seem to be wearing your new rank well from what I've been hearing. Is it safe to assume this is going to be a business conversation?" Art raised a curious brow, the smile lingering on his lips all the while as he gave Tika the air to speak her mind to him. No doubt she had some ideas of what she wanted to do first with her new position within the pack.

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Eira" | "Argent"

Art arrived in only a few moments, coming up to her with a smile and a friendly greeting. Avantika met him with a genuine smile of her own, which widened slightly as he praised her beginning as the Commander. She was always a sucker for words of affirmation from those she respected as much as the Aegis. "At least that," she replied. While she was on a mission with this talk, talking to Art often seemed to last longer than she thought it would and she also wanted to ask how he was doing and see how being a parent was treating him.

She had rehearsed bits of what she was going to say beforehand in sheer excitement, tempered by a bit of nervousness that she wouldn't say it right. She was no great communicator of ideas; she did think that she was pretty smart, but her intelligence was tuned to battle strategy and things like that, not diplomacy or advising. "Mercury and I were discussing ideas for elevating the fighting training of the pups, and agreed that we might plan a practice raid -- perhaps with the Armada? Also, I was thinking that we could make their education in general more organized by assigning the knights, Mercury and I, and other wolves with fighting ability and willingness pups to teach? That might work for other subjects too, but I wouldn't want to speak for them." She tilted her head slightly, pausing to see what Art would say.

"Speech"

It did Artorias' heart good and brought him some peace when he saw Avantika's earnest smile on her face. For too long it had felt like his dear sister was working herself into an early grave with her constant worry and overburdening of herself. This Avantika he saw in front of him was a stark difference to the last time they'd had a one-on-one conversation, and though he knew there was still work to be done, he was proud of her for taking steps in the right direction of her work-life balance. As soon as he'd gotten settled in to chat with his sister, Tika launched into a pitch for a plan she and Mercury had been coming up with. Art listened with intrigue, eager to see what his newest promotees had crafted together. A plan for a practice raid with the Armada to elevate the fighting training of their youngest members was put forth. She also suggested a new plan for training the pups, using smaller mentoring partnerships to focus on each child, organized by her and delegated to the Knights respectively.

When he was given the floor to give his two cents, Artorias nodded his head, clearly impressed. "You and Mercury have been busy, I see! Way to hit the ground running, sis!" The Aegis chuckled and flashed a toothy smile to his sibling. She was waiting for his input though, and he wouldn't keep her in suspense. "I like the idea of leveraging our Knights to help mentor specific pups. I would still encourage group trainings, spars, and lessons, but having one consistent wolf to look up to and partner them with gives them stability in their development." Artorias thought on the suggestion of a practice raid with the Armada. He thought back on the practice raid with Ashen they had all taken a part in when they were pups themselves and how it had been good for them to experience real combat in a moderated setting. "The practice raid with the Armada does sound like something they would enjoy. Fun, yet educational. It would also benefit the Armadan pups as well. I will speak to Sirius about your idea and see if he feels the same," he replied with another nod of his head, then looked to Tika with a question in his eyes. "If you plan on having this raid involve our army of pups, we have several that are not yet of age or skill for battle. At the earliest, to involve all of the pups, we would need to plan for a summer raid. Did you plan on training them up to appropriate levels in advance, or wait until they reach their first birthdays?"

"Artorias Carpathius" | "Carpathian" | "Corbin" | "Eira" | "Argent"