Her trip to speak with all of Elysium's standing allies had gone well and that was enough to give her the confidence to branch out and speak to some of the other packs that Elysium has had less interaction with. The Armada wasn't entirely unknown to them, of course, but she personally hadn't had a chance to speak with anyone from the northern pack so she decided it was high time to do so. They were the second closest pack to theirs, after all, and if she remembered correctly they were led by the family that Kotori hailed from and were closely tied to Ashen who had been Elysium's most long running ally. It felt only fitting that they be next on her list to get to know better. A fairly quick trip around the edge of the Polar Sound and past the northern Wall brought her to their border and after a quick shake of her fur to smooth it from the journey she tipped back her head to call for their alpha. She remembered her mother speaking of a male named Sirius and one named Azure, both of which she had spoken with prior, so she wasn't sure who exactly to call for. She left it open to whoever wished to or was available to speak with her. With that done she settled back onto her haunches to wait while peeking through the twisting, gnarled trees in front of her.

"Avacyn Mendacium"

An unfamiliar call distracted Sirius was his puppy play date. He started to put Wylan down, and the little pup made a fuss. Sirius, who's greatest weakness was pups, sighed. "You're going to get me into trouble with your parents" he complained, but obediently hoisted the little winged mite back onto his back. Assured in his ability to defend the little one. And if he couldn't, Bear would get Wylan off the scene. When he arrived at the border, there was certainly enough Manea in the wolf - plus the scent of Elysium - to tell him that must be the alphas daughter. "Hello, and welcome to the Armada. I'm Sirius and this is Wylan. What can we do for Manea?" He asked kindly, and presumptuously. It had been a little while since he had spoken to her. "Speech"

Avacyn waited patiently for someone to appear and after a few moments she spotted a dark figure approaching her from deeper within the trees. Rising to her paws to greet the larger male properly, she dipped her head with a pleasant smile to him as Sirius introduced himself and welcomed her to the Armada. He, at the very least, correctly guessed her tie to Manea, but seemed to assume that she was here on behalf of her mother. "A pleasure to finally meet you, Sirius," she replied and then glanced up to the small pup on his back with a brighter grin as she added, "And a pleasure to meet you as well, Wylan." Refocusing her obsidian gaze on the Warlord she went on to explain, "I'm Avacyn. I actually came to introduce myself since I recently took over my mother's place as Matriarch of Elysium." And since it had become a point of concern and questioning from the other leaders she spoke to so far, she quickly added with a chuckle, "She and my father are both doing well and are throughly enjoying their retirement."

Her attention returned to the pup on his back for a moment, her tail wagging gently as she grinned up at him. "It seems like you have a formidable deputy with you today." While she wanted to assume that this was one of Sirius' grandchildren given the man's apparent age, she didn't want to be rude and guess incorrectly so she waited to see if he would mention it on his own. If there was one thing that anyone in her family would always fawn over it was pups so his little companion was a welcome surprise to her visit.

"Avacyn Mendacium"

He didn't think Manea had been terribly old, especially not by the Warlords reckoning. But before any concern he had could manifest as anything more than a puzzled frown, her words quickly put him at ease - it seemed this change had happened with Maneas blessing. "I'm glad to hear it. Not that I know the meaning of the word.." he said with an easy chuckle. He wasn't sure he would ever be retiring. He was too invested in this pack, and seemed to lose his heirs too easily. But those concerns were not for her. "Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Avacyn." He said, and grinned upwards as attention was turned to Wylan. "This is my supervisor. No doubt he'll have plenty to say about my conduct later, isn't that right?" He said, jiggling his coat enough to shake the boy a little. Giggling ensued, and the pup flapped his wings for balance. "He's the oldest son of my first born" he explained, noting her interest. "Why don't you hop down and show us your manner?" He said, kneeling against the earth so the boy could slide off. "Speech"

"Graaaampa" he said in the tone children used when their elders were being terribly silly. But there was plenty of giggling as well as he was rattled about the older wolf's back.


When he was told to use his manners, he knew he was supposed to introduce himself to this stranger properly. He had been quite happy to sit up there and watch, but suddenly everyone was interested in him. 


He felt a little shy, but a little brave, too. He hoped down from his grandfather's broad back and trotted over to the wolf who had called herself Avacyn. 


"Hello, I'm Wylan Fatalis, and it's a pleasure to meet you" he said, doing a little bow.

Avacyn couldn't help the grin she wore as Sirius introduced the little Wylan as his supervisor and jostled the pup playfully. That was the first time she had a chance to notice the boy's wings as they flared out to help him keep his balance and her brows lifted with intrigue and surprise at the extremely unusual trait. The Mendacium family was certainly no stranger to unusual and flashy–the glowing marking that framed her eye and the armored scales that covered portions of her limbs clearly showing this fact–but she hadn't heard of any wolves that carried wings like a bird.

She quickly put the thought to the side though to refocus on the conversation as Sirius explained that this was in fact one of his grandsons, clearing up that mystery for her. The way he acted with Wylan reminded her so much of her own father when he was around pups and it warmed her heart as he lowered down to the ground so that the young boy could hop down off of Sirius' back. His 'supervisor' did a wonderful job of introducing himself with excellent manners and she smiled as she gave him a small bow in return. "The pleasure is all mine, Wylan Fatalis. You are quite the gentleman."

With a chuckle she brought her gaze back up to meet Sirius' and she offered him another smile, saying, "I don't mean to take up too much of your time. I just know that we share some similar allies with Ashen and The Hallows so I thought that it would be fitting for us to get to know one another better. Perhaps we can arrange for a proper meeting or gathering of some sort in the future. We are always open to training, trade, or just a nice meal to share if you ever want to make the trip to Alias Island, you're more than welcome."

"Avacyn Mendacium"

Right, Business. Her attention on Wylan had rather effectively distracted him, but he knew her reason for visiting was pack related. Especially with the change in leadership, it was wise to see where your mothers allies stood with you. “Your mother and I have spoken a couple times before, we shared some similar beliefs and worked out a truce between our packs. Not allies, exactly, but a mutual understanding.” He explained, knowing she would wish to know where he stood. Both before, and now. “Training and trade could be interesting. You should stop by the Armada Market while you're in the area.” He encouraged her, “And as for pack standings - i’d be open to speaking further about what your ideas are for Elysium, and what you hope from the packs around you.” He said, looking over at Wylan. To keep him there, or ask him to leave? Perhaps this would be good for him, but he wasn’t sure how much would really stick to his young mind. "Speech"

Avacyn nodded to confirm what he explained about the agreement he had made with her mother, mirroring what she had already been told about the peaceful relationship between their packs. She certainly hadn't come here with the intentions of leaving with an alliance, but considering that they were both independently allied with Ashen and The Hallows–and likely Valta too, now that she thought about it–it made sense for her to try and improve the relationship between Elysium and Armada more. At least she knew now that what her mother had perceived as their current relationship still stood even with the news of the change in leadership.

Her expression brightened with interest at the mention of the Armada's market and she nodded eagerly at the idea of paying it a visit. "Yes, I would enjoy that! I do believe my brother visited a while ago and he came back with only good things to say about it." When he opened the floor for her to speak on her ideas for Elysium and her hopes for the there packs, she replied, "I do plan on keeping the tenants of Elysium mostly the same as what my mother created, though perhaps less focused on our own family and more focused on creating a home for any wayward souls that want a place to live their lives free of judgment. As for the relationships I'm working on building with other packs, they are all been focused on what we can mutually benefit from. We mostly keep to ourselves in our corner of Boreas, but we do have open borders for our allies in Ashen, The Hallows, and Valta."

"Avacyn Mendacium"

While the Warlord wasn’t opposed to the idea of building on the relations between their two packs, he found her answer a little vague and ambiguous for his taste. She wasn’t as direct and to the point as her mother had been. But then, she was still young, and likely still learning as she went as the new alpha. After a moment, he decided that the best way to proceed would be to be a little more straightforward with some of the thoughts on his mind. “Does your pack have any commerce you’d be willing to enter into trade with? Have you any enemies amongst the current pack, and in an alliance, what do you expect the response of your allies to be? He asked after a moment's thought. Those were good building blocks to begin with. "Speech"

Sirius met her answers with more questions, but he was only the second alpha that she was meeting with that Elysium didn't already have an established alliance with so it wasn't all that surprising. If anything this was teaching her what to be more specific about in her explanations and perhaps to not underestimate what could be covered in a first meeting. "So far we have been trading precious metals and gems that we mine from our mountains, a wide variety of furs and skins, and some herbal remedies made by our Master Physician, but I'm always brain storming other things that we can include in our trade offerings," she explained. Given that Armada had an open market she wasn't surprised that was a topic that Sirius was curious about.

There was a short pause as she considered answers to his other questions. While she did trust Sirius well enough purely from what she had heard about him from other leaders, he was still mostly a stranger to her so she wanted to be honest without oversharing. "Elysium does not have any sworn enemies, necessarily, though there are a few that we have had disagreements with," she finally shared. "My mother held a grudge toward Tojo-kai, but we have not had any contact with them so I don't for see that grudge holding under my rule. The only other packs we have held issue with are Insomnia and Pirate's Plunder–though in my recent travels I did notice that the Pirates have either moved or scattered so I'm uncertain whether they are still a concern."

"For our allies, I've tried to keep our agreements focused on our mutual trade and sharing of knowledge. I do not expect any of our allies to endanger themselves in our fights if we ever find ourselves in that situation unless they feel so inclined. I'm also more willing to negotiate terms on a case by case basis so if, for example, you expect your allies to fight with you but don't want open borders the way we have with some of our other allies I'm flexible and willing to meet in the middle on things." Turning a curious gaze to him now, she asked, "And you? Where is Armada when it comes to enemies and alliances?"

"Avacyn Mendacium"

The Warlord nodded his head, listening as the new Elysium alpha spoke of what trade they had available. “I’d be interested to see what precious metals you have. We pull ours from the mountain as well. A variety in coats is also useful.” He said with genuine interest. He wanted to see the market succeed, and was always on the lookout to introduce new things to the Armada. Her explanation on her packs alliances and views was detailed and concise. He found himself appreciative of the information. “It sounds like we are very much in the same boat - while the Tojo-kai are not our enemies, I’m not impressed with Hattori for abandoning Venom. The Pirates are called Raiders Hallow now. I don’t know much else beside the name, and that Sparrow is no longer leading them. But they are an enemy of the Armada, and Insomnia is on thin ice. Our closest allies are Ashen, the Hallows, and Valta” He said, explaining where the Armada stood with those packs as well. “I’m inclined to think well of Elysium, and I don’t see that changing with its change in leadership. I think I would like to get to know you and yours better, Avacyn” The ageing Warlord said. He hadn’t worked on a closer alliance with Manea, if only because time seemed to always get away from him. "Speech"

Avacyn listened intently while Sirius shared their stances with the other packs that they shared this land with and she wasn't all that surprised that they shared the same enemies and allies. She had already known that they had mutual friends, but it was interesting to learn that they also shared similar distaste for the same packs as well. It seemed that they were on a level playing field when it came to their pack relations and that felt slightly validating to know that even someone that had been an established leader for far longer than her or her mother still shared similar views on things. It at least had her feeling like she was going in the right direction. She made a mental note about the evolution of Pirates Plunder to the new Raiders Hollow and about their change in leadership. She knew that her mother's issue with the pack was mainly centered around Sparrow herself, but she would still be on the defensive about them at the very least since Sirius still considered them an enemy.

She offered the saber-toothed man a pleased smile as he spoke of his positive view of Elysium and mentioned his desire to get to know her and her pack better. "I think the same of you and Armada," she agreed with a small dip of her head. "I don't want to take up any more of your time so you can get back to your time with your grandchildren," she added with a glance toward Wylan, giving the boy a grin before she refocused her gaze on Sirius. "Perhaps we can arrange a proper meeting soon so that you can meet some more of my upper ranks as well. I would like to swing by your market place while I'm here if you could point me in that direction."

"Avacyn Mendacium"