exile

Person: Open to those in Haven Location: Meeting Hall Notes: Girl it's a state of emergency again She wants a vote, she wants to know what everyone thinks before she makes the last call. Her word is ultimately law and she'd already lost wolves to Aventia, she doesn't know if she could send them all to fight again. And yet where would they go if not Haven? Where would they go if not home? Anxiety sits heavy in her chest as she stands there in the center of the long table, looking out to the wolves and those in Haven that had all crammed into the meeting hall. The Wildlands, they could venture further there, those too weak to fight would go there anyways, she'd find a place for them. "Haven is home." She says to the room, head held high and circlet upon her head feeling heavier than ever. Looking out and not seeing Freydis felt like an actual punch to the gut. "We were lucky enough to fortify it against the darkspawn and survived the packs of them that appeared. The Kossith are not something we can fight alone."

There had been a darkness that was looming over her, but it seemed even more potent now than it had ever been. She could feel the nerves radiating off of Aurea as if they were her own. There was no way for her to comfort the wolf other than what she had already been doing. Aradia thought of Naevia. She thought of the woman she had called a best friend and how she had lost her even with all of the strength she had. Would she lose Althea, too? Aurea? No, she wouldn’t allow it. Until her dying breath, she would fight for them and everyone within Haven. There was no part of her that would not fight because that was all she had ever done. It was what she was made for. So they could not give up and she would fight for all of them. “Then we won’t.” Her hand rested upon Aurea’s arm and gently squeezed. “All I know is that we cannot fold. Not to them.”

Wisdom was acquired through life experience and whatever visions Odin provided when Istar imbibed one of his braincell-obliterating concoctions. He probably was stupid, but at least he was smart enough to value Aradia. Anyone who earned an Olympian ring was tough so there was no need to patronize her. Still, it must've been hard to be driven away and have all the people of Haven rely on her skill in one way or another. Establishing a new life didn't stop the grieving for the old, and clearly, Aradia was still craving connections to those who remained in the Tower as he did. Istar would have to do better to remember that. "I wonder what else I could say to you. All good things, but I will have to look you in the eye to say them," he informed her, his voice rumbling in his chest. Istar may have only had one himself, but when he looked into her soul to affirm Aradia's place in the world, he did so with the intensity of two. "You've done incredible things and have mastered magic. You may not have the Tower, but you can still touch the One Power. You're a survivor, and one of the toughest witches we've ever had in our ranks. You don't need anything more than your strength and my muscles to get by. I'm sure of it."

Every single time she hugged Istar, it was so hard to let go. Maybe it was because his hugs were so tight. She certainly wasn't going to say she liked hugging him or else he would never stop. But then did she even want him to stop hugging her? It was a comfort for her that she didn't get often from others. If she started asking Althea for hugs, she was sure her sister would let that little feather duster she called a hand meet Aradia's cheek again. She supposed that was what was classified as a hug for the two of them though. Istar was much more sentimental than most she surrounded herself with. She would never take that for granted. "Please don't look me directly in the eye. You'll make it weird." She didn't let go even as he went against what she had just said. Leave it to Istar. After he was done, she merely shook her head. She was so bad at this. "Hey, I have muscles, too, you know. Have you seen my abs and arms? I could bench press you without breaking a sweat." It was said in a joking tone as she continued. "You're stronger than me though. Or maybe we can just say we're equal in that regard before you drag me across this room by my hair for looking down on myself for even a second."

"He wants to know how you wound up an emissary for a pack of wolves." Goose had said no such thing and looked at him with sideways glance that Etienne, as per usual, ignored. "We've never met a pack." Which was probably for the better and he couldn't say he'd made a point to try to find other wolves either. Considering up until setting foot on Lysaran soil, the only encounter he'd had with another wolf had left the other dead. Out there in the Iskaran wilderness he'd have avoided a pack, here though, in Haven, there were no snarling monsters to be found. Just people who happened to be wolves and some of them showed it a little more outwardly in style and mannerism sure, but otherwise you'd never know what they got up to on the full moon.

Well, she supposed she expected that question from a werewolf. Aradia also didn't mind giving him an answer. As opposed to what most would probably think of her, she wasn't a mean person. She was just quite standoffish because she didn't know how to talk to people properly. It felt like, every time she tried, she was saying something that sounded cryptic and weird. She thought for a second that her answer to his question would probably sound the same, but she answered regardless. They would be around each other a lot now. It would be best to get to know each other. Especially given that he was indeed a werewolf. Maybe he'd be a part of the pack. "Does he now?" She looked down at the direwolf and then back at Etienne. "Well, I got exiled from the Tower of Olympia and the Feronia pack took me in when I didn't think I had anywhere to go. Now here I am. My sister just came with me because she obviously loves me." Althea had never said any such thing, but that was what Aradia would say to anyone who would listen. "Why haven't you ever met a pack? Have you been alone all this time? Besides your companion here, I mean."

She could be intense, but that intensity served her well in countless battles. Emotions weren't a weakness, they were a strength and they propelled Thora into her rank as a blademaster. The women she traveled with to the blighted temple certainly did not lack passion, and she witnessed Aradia's strength firsthand, as she did the others. That's why Thora was a bit taken aback by the response she received.   "Yeah, that is a good thing to have in common. I've never gotten on with the cold, calculating types. Defending Haven together, I think, will be a good thing." She tried to put an emphasis on "together" but really, Thora couldn't fault Aradia one bit for taking a solitary approach to her problems. She could relate because she tended to do the same, another thing they had in common. "There's no arguing with that. A lot has been going on, I've barely had a chance to breathe. I'm not focusing on my deal either," she commented, clutching her fists tightly as she thought about the Aetherians. True, Thora was attempting to shed her hangups about being a legionnaire, but her hatred for the ones who stole her home still burned intensely. That was a good sign. "I won't push you, I probably wouldn't know what to do anyway. But we are the first line of defense against the darkspawn should they make their way to Haven. If you don't find a way to unburden yourself, your suffering will spread. Be careful." Not a full explanation and Thora still lacked the context to understand what Aradia's words meant. Still, she supposed it was enough. "Kari helps me all the time. If a blademaster can get another's help, then anyone can. I'd help you, or try to, if you asked."

There was a part of her that wanted to accept Thora's help. The woman didn't need to offer any assistance at all, but she had. They were in this together, weren't they? They had become legionnaires together along with Althea. They had fought a battle together that brought them closer than they ever could have been without it. Contrary to what she would have said outwardly, she trusted the blademaster with every fiber of her being. Not because she had to, but because she wanted to. Because Thora had given her no reason not to trust her.

Were they being sentimental again? Althea disliked that. She'd already said several kind things to her sister last year, she was well above quota. Then again, it was a new year and sincerity didn't roll over. Unfortunately, the daemon that had placed its hooks in Aradia had burrowed deep, separating them now would be nearly impossible without destroying the source. Still, there were worse places to be than in a spirit's debt.

If there was one thing she knew that her sister despised, it was sentiment. They were always much better off when they were insulting each other every other second. Perhaps that was why Aradia was always so determined to have a sentimental conversation with Althea. If it pissed her sister off, then she was doing something right. And she absolutely preferred it that way. Still though, she did hope to have some sort of real conversation sometimes. Even if it ended with them insulting each other as per usual. Then again, Althea had already started. That was nothing new though. Obviously.

But you almost did, you all sent me away. Aurea had practiced this speech on accident time and time again in her chambers, pacing and talking to herself. Before the excursion into the Wildlands, Aradia had been distant, understandably so, the witch was clearly going through it. It was so irrational, the worry that there was this wedge between them and that she was being shut out. It's the stress of everything, Aurea thinks, something happening to herself and Aradia would just be the icing on the shit cake that was everything going on. Standing there looking at the witch though, feeling her warm hands on cheeks cold from the brisk wintery winds, Aurea believes her. It's something she swears she can feel sometimes as a tangible thing, this bond between them that'd formed when the witch had taken up being an emissary for the pack. She felt it with Althea too, but it was different somehow, connected but with Aradia it was like as they stood there before one another, she could feel the actual tether between them. They hadn't ever really vocalized it, what they were, what the bond meant. And yet Aurea knew there was no one else for her and it seemed mutual, like they didn't really need to talk about it because they could feel it. "I'm gonna hold you to that." The words are rushed after a moment of contemplation and then her hands are going to the witch's forearms and she's tipping her head to press her lips to hers.

An unknown tether connected the two of them. It was one Aradia had never felt before, but she had decided to not pay any mind to. All sense had gone out of her as of late so she couldn't have understood it if she tried. All she truly knew was that, whatever she felt towards Naevia, it wasn't the same as what she felt towards Aurea. It was different and it was confusing. She wasn't going to stand around and say that she hadn't been with anyone before. She had. Feelings hadn't really been involved though. She hadn't talked about herself enough past her name. That was all she ever thought was needed.