Basilisk picked up his small wife, and placed a paw on Balrog in a silent gesture of comfort. “I'll find you after” he told the boy, before carrying Ignita back to their den. He released her on the veranda of their den, tucked in close to the cliff and out of sight of the pack. He touched a paw to her cheek and then leaned back, giving her room.


“Ignita. Your a queen. Your my Queen. Something has happened, you need to straighten up and weather this. You can fall apart later. Citadel trespassed. On who? Will there be retaliation?” Balrog had mentioned risking war. What had his son done? He needed to go down the events in order. They'd deal with the challenge and that fall out in due time.

Bas picked her up, as he was wont to do a time or two. So little in his grasp she didn't even wriggle in protest. She gave Balrog a warm and loving blink as she was carried away.

She felt the stone of the veranda by their den. The placement was tucked into a corner that was out of sight and somewhat muffled. She leaned into his touch until he pulled away. Her ears fell to the wayside with her eyes. Shame and guilt wove into her pelt like nits.

"I met a man named Cerberus at the border." She started after pulling in another steadying breath, "He was from Obscura. He said he had found Citadel trespassing their lands and brought him home. No harm done. He did ask to have our pack to practice a raid on and I told him I'd get back to him about that since you're more aware of our strength than I am." Her voice was flat, even. It was easier to separate the emotions with the retelling. Straightening up and weathering this was easier than dealing with the fallout with her son.

There was silence for a moment. "We are lucky he trespassed there and not somewhere else." She finished severely, showing him she knew the weight of the transgression.

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Basilisk was well aware of how terrible Citadel's transgression was. It could have gone terribly wrong. There were far less forgiving packs than the one he had stumbled upon. He might have found himself in trouble that his parents couldn’t easily pull him out of. He drummed a paw against the stone beside him, restless and frustrated. His son has hurt his wife, his wife had tried to imprison their son. The entire thing stunk of recklessness and emotions. He was supposed to be the emotional one, not Ignita. But then, he knew from the start that their children would always be her weak point.

“What CItadel did was reckless, and dangerous. Trying to squish him down to the rank of slave, Ignita?” he let out a long, exasperated breath. “You are Queen, and I gave you the right to make decisions. I won’t question the ones you make in public without good reason. But this… surely you must have seen how it could go wrong. You pushed him into a corner. Now our strongest heir…” Dammit, but he had high hopes for Citadel, who was powerful and skilled, but reckless. A part of the boy reminded him of Azure. Good and bad mixed in, until he didn’t know what he thought. “It’s done now. So what do we want to do about it?”

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As her husband began to speak her eyes would dart up to him. When it came to her making their boy a slave her eyes closed and turned away, her brow furrowing with a flash of anger.

As he started in with how she was Queen and had the right to make decisions she looked back at him, hopeful but a flash of righteous anger came sparking back as he went on about how she had pushed Citadel into a corner.

"What was I to do, Bas? How can I be your queen if I don't have the physical strength to back up my decisions like you do? Especially in the face of Citadel? How else was I supposed to teach him what it takes to run a pack and the costs at stake here? I-" She was about to continue but he finished with how it was done now and what they wanted to do about it.

Her breath still heaved at her chest, her cheeks red as she huffed.
Her energy quickly sapped away as the silence stretched out. Her son had fought her. She didn't know what else to do. Her other son left with them, on better terms but still... gone.

She was still stuck on what she could have done differently. Why did it turn out this way? What had she done wrong to veer Citadel so far away from them? Did she not pay attention enough? Did she snap at him too much?

She sighed. Trying to wrangle her mind into the task of what next was impossible when it kept looping the image of her son running away.

"I don't know." Her voice broke in the silence. For once Ignita was at a loss. She had no ideas, she had agony rending her heart into pieces. What could they do next? She leaned against the wall.

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There was that, a worry that sat in his heart still. She was his Queen, and he pushed her to be stronger… but she was not a born fighter. It would never come naturally to her. Already, their son who was barely more than 6 months old had beaten her in a fight. It was a hard reminder of where her strengths lay. “You are clever, and kind, and your knowledge far outstrips my own. Your strength doesn't lie in battle. I know your mind doesn't work like Citadels, and you didn’t foresee this, but he is a fighter. You pushed him into a corner and he lashed out. It’s something you're going to have to remember. We are not the perfect whole, we are compliments of each other. When it comes to strength, you need to find a means to delay.” But that only helped the future, it didn’t solve the now.

“I don’t know what the boy’s going to do next, he’s stubborn. I’m glad Iskandor went with him. He’s far more level headed than his brother. Perhaps if we could get a message to him, he could help guide the boy somewhere… The Hallows, perhaps. They would keep him safe until he’s ready to come home.”

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His words were a balm, reminding her of who she was. Where her own strengths lay. It gave her more of that inner strength to keep going. To hold herself together and wrestle that knowledge and intelligence into something they could tangibly work with. She should have delayed. That was where she had mistepped.

She pulled the fresh mountain air into her lungs, catching the scent of her husband next to her. She nodded as Basilisk went on about an idea he had. Ignita turned her gaze inward as she thought about how that would come across. She had delayed his apprenticeship to another pack because she had wanted to avoid this type of relationship where a schism ripped them apart.

Iskandor was clever like she was, but Citadel would be suspicious and paranoid now. She had seen how the boy would react sometimes when they played as children, usually keeping things for himself. They were just kids... Out in the world on their own...

"Do you think any guidance from Iska would go over well? Not push them apart? Seeing one of our birds might set Citadel off." She replied. Gently leaning her forehead on his arm. She at least had experience with a paranoid family member. But this was very different. The idea had merit.

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It was a good point, if he saw any of their companions, things would only get more complicated. He had to decide if he was going to treat Citadel gently, or bring him back to heel with an iron fist. If he did the latter, it could set him on the right path or ruin their relationship entirely. The former, and there was a chance he might never come home. It was tricky, and he wasn’t happy with the situation. A part of him wanted to blame Ignita, but he knew he’d been going too easy on the boy for a while.

He could feel a headache forming. His small family had broken almost in half.

“We would have to either wait for Iskandor to reach out to us, or use an intermediary to send a bird Citadel wouldn’t recognise. Iskandor is wise, I would expect him to check in with us.” But he couldn’t guarantee it.

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Ignita let his words sink in. There were too many unknowns and too many moving pieces to know anything for certain. She thought perhaps she could send a letter? No... nothing she did would help anything at this point. She was backed into a corner and felt like every move was the wrong one.

"Bas, I'm at a loss. I can't think, I can't even breathe. Every choice there is... there are too many unknowns... Currently, we don't have a war from his trespass, but we have been requested for a practice raid. This is going to take me a few days to work on. What will we need to be prepared for a raid?" She asked, trying to get a handle on what they could control. She had never been the best at thinking things on the fly and this had been such a blow that she couldn't even grasp anything plausible that would fix anything at all.

"Basilisk" | "Ignita"

The words caught in his throat. He knew what he wanted to say, that she was a Queen, and she was more than just herself. A mother, a leader. But at the end of the day, they were both only wolf. Sometimes, the day's events were too much. They were in private, it was just the two of them. So he scooped her small form onto his lap, brushed her fur back in gentle motions behind her ears, and let her change the subject.

“I’ll send a bird to Obscura, and suggest they raid in Spring when our children can participate. That will buy us time to prepare, and to train them to meet that raid when they reach a year of age.” with luck, Citadel and Iskandor would have returned to them, as well.

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Ignita hadn't wanted to change the subject but she knew her mind needed time to work all the angles. Distracting her thoughts with something else usually resulted in better results on the actual problem later. Her eyes glistened as she watched him pause and consider her. His relenting and smooth shift into his lap let her heave out a sigh. She closed her eyes a moment to the gentle motions behind her ears. Still trying to keep her heart from breaking and staunch the flow of tears any time she got to breathe.

She hummed with agreement. The children would be a year in the spring. Citadel and Iska were only nigh on the cusp of nine months. Her children would be old enough to participate in raids. How could this world be so harsh, indifferent, and volatile? Did it have to be? She never had the chance to study how others work. She had always been too focused on learning practically anything and everything else.

"Bas?" She asked quietly, her eyes softly opening and looking up through her blonde lashes, "Why was demoting him to slave the wrong move?" Their pack had slaves. The pack was built by slaves. They were encouraged to work their way out of slavery. She had been a slave herself. Was she missing something?

"Basilisk" | "Ignita"

He remembered when he had been Citadels age, young and desperate to impress his father. Proud. Hell, he was still proud. “He's full of hormones and pride. He's strong, and doesn't know his limits yet. In his way you told him he wasn't worthy. I wouldn't be surprised if a part of him did it to prove himself to you, even though you aren't impressed by shows of force” He continued to pat her fur, letting his thoughts roll through and off his tongue. 

“But mostly, I'd say it's because you made it public and he was angry and embarrassed and he reacted without thought. Pride is a sin that breeds true in the Fatalis bloodline.” He said, only a little regretfully.

"Not worthy!?" Ignita's eyes flashed open as she was struck with fear laced with shame. That had been the last thing she had ever wanted any of her children to feel! She had spent her whole life feeling unworthy of anything! Her body went tense under his paws as the tears flowed anew.

Bas was right, she wasn't impressed by shows of force. She was more impressed by shows of empathy and compassion. Which Bas had shown her plenty of. Even now, she was impressed by his gentleness. She slumped limp into his fur. She had failed Citadel. She had made him feel unworthy.

He had told her that she had to make him, and she knew she didn't have the means to force him into a lower rank, so she called on the pack to enforce it with her. But that had thrown the guillotine between them and there was no taking it back now. She looked back up at him as he admitted the Fatalis bloodline problems with pride. She couldn't help but chuckle half heartedly through the tears and a ghost of a smile as she reached up to her husband's face, "Pride? Is that what it is?" She asked ruefully, her paw caressing his cheek, "I thought it was greed or perhaps even wrath." with the way both Bas and Makara had talked about their father, pride wasn't the sin that she had associated it with.

"If they do make it to the Hallows, perhaps we should send a letter ahead of them. We don't have to give them details, I'm sure he'll spin it to suit his needs, however that looks like. But perhaps we could let Artorias know to keep an eye out for them?" She wondered out loud.

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