Ever since Myrkvi had gotten sick, she realized she was struggling more and more with keeping up with being at the head of the Brook. While she'd realized originally that she was able to do it on her own, having older children that were much less cautious and less constrained to the Brook's borders made things more difficult. Especially with her husband being sick, it was becoming harder to do things on her own. But there was one lioness who she knew she could trust to help her run the Brook in her husband's absence.

Moving to the central area of the Brook, Cassandra let out a soft summoning call for @Revna. She knew the older lioness might still be healing up from her own fight for the Hollows, but she was hoping that she might be interested in either the Sovereign or Heiress position that was open at the head of the Brook. While Cassandra didn't know which one the older lioness would want, she figured she would offer her both and let her choose whichever one she wanted.

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Since her challenge for the Hollow Revna has been a little reserved, her disappointment getting to her. If she had been able to take the Hollows for herself she would have offered all those displaced lions their home back, but she had been pushed aside by the brute she had fought. A lion who had clearly been Dieudonne, somehow related to Amara. He had smelled so strongly of Wolfbron. Him taking over could not be good for anyone who had once called the Hollows home, let alone the Sigrun and their allies across Amaryllis.

But dwelling on the past is not the way to go about things. Her wounds have since healed and she is well and strong again, putting her energy into herding around the little ones and teaching them new things. Everything she can, except for anything concerning the Sigrun and Vellen. She does not doubt that they have heard some things, but she hasn't had any prying questions...yet.

A soft call jerks her out of a momentary reverie and she pricks her ears, catching the last echoes of the call from @Cassandra. She has not been completely unaware of the absence of Myrkvi, but she doesn't connect that and the High Sovereign's call at this point. Curious, she stands up and quickly heads towards the center of the Brook to see what is needed of her.

"Cass?" she calls as she reaches the woman, her friend, after a few moments of walking. They had not spent much time together recently, and perhaps it was time to change that. Revna had grown fond of the young woman, and despite Cass' continued ties to the Sigrun that Revna had now left behind, she remained fond of her. Because everyone has the right to make their choices and she does not have the right to judge anyone for them. She only hopes that Cass will never have to endure the pain of losing a child to Vellen as she did.

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She knew she hadn't seen @Revna around too terribly much after her challenge for the Hollows, and figured the older lioness was just busy with her own family and healing for her to see her around too much. Truthfully, she had hoped that Revna would've been the one to win the Hollows. It would've made for a powerful ally in another pride, much like the Brook has with the Summit.

While waiting for Revna to show up from wherever she might've been, Cassandra situated herself comfortably in her spot. She knew that Revna and Eira's cubs were older and wandering around, so that likely kept the parents busy in general.

She wouldn't be kept waiting for too terribly long though, as a soft call would come from behind her as Revna appeared. "Revna. Hope I didn't interrupt anything. How's everything been after the Hollows challenge?" She asked, moving to greet her friend. She didn't know of Revna's issues with the Sigrun personally, but she was trying as much as possible to stay out of the family feud while keeping her own children safe from it.

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@Cassandra turns to greet her and Revna attempts to bump her head against the sovereign's in greeting. She might be the leader of the Brook but to Revna she is a friend first. It is a little strange for the younger woman - who was barely a woman when they first met - to outrank her so heavily, but Revna is hardly the kind of lion to be bothered by such things. Cassandra has had much experience in Amaryllis, despite only being a few years old.

With the greeting out of the way, Revna settles down on her haunches with a bit of a sigh. "Nothing interrupted," she says lightly with a smile. "I'm finally all healed up, though still a little disappointed," she adds with a chuckle. Having another Wolfbron lion on the throne creates yet another enemy. "Did we take in any lions from the Hollows?" She'd found herself wondering what had happened to all of them a few times, knowing that there had been Sigrun living there at some time.

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The headbump from @Revna was accepted without hesitation. It still felt a little awkward sometimes to be in charge of lions older than her - especially when some of them were her own family members that had known her since she came into this world. But she knew they would always have her back if she needed it. Same with the friends she'd made thus far in her 3 years in this land.

Revna was one of those friends she'd made. The pair of them had become friends in a strange way, and it still felt a little weird sometimes to have such a friendship in a lioness a couple years her senior. When Revna settled down on her haunches Cassandra did as well. She was grateful that she hadn't interrupted anything, and that the older lioness was healed up completely from her fight. "Honestly I don't see the Hollows lasting long underneath that Bluffs lion. I always kinda suspected Amara was the brains of the operation over there and its just been confirmed." Cassandra said with a soft chuckle.

"I haven't had any come here, but I know Maia of Firnen used to live within the Hollows, so its possible many of them went there. I can check with her when I go by the Rainforest next." Cassandra said, flicking an ear. "But any Hollows members will always be welcomed here if you come across them." She added on.

"But that's not why I called for you. I had something I wanted to ask of you, if you're willing to hear me out." She said, her tail flicking as she spoke. Hopefully Revna would be willing to listen and hear her out.

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Perhaps it is so easy for Revna to find friendship in @Cassandra because of the similarity of their situations. She thinks she was around Cass' age when she first married Elias and joined the Sigrun. Similarly, Cassandra had married Myrkvi. Though Revna no longer had Elias and their situations now differ, the friendship remained.

"We can hope," she answers with a lopsided smile. Amara had certainly not seemed happy when she had been present at the fight. Perhaps the two prides would not be as friendly as she had first assumed. Revna's feelings toward Amara were in a strange place these days. Were they enemies? Revna isn't even certain now that she is no longer Sigrun, at least in every way except the name she took when she married Elias.

"If I run into any I'll keep that in mind," she says with a nod of her head. "Hrefna was living there at some point, though I haven't seen her." The daughter of Magnus who's name was so similar to her own. She wishes she had gotten more opportunities to get to know her cousins and put down real roots with the Sigrun here.

Her ears flick expectantly to Cass at the change in subject, her curiosity awakening. Not just a social call, then. "Of course," she relents with a wave of her paw to signal Cass to go ahead with what she has to say. She would always be willing to listen to what her friend had to say.

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"I had hoped that the Brook and the Bluffs could at the very least be neutral with each other - though the fight that I found myself in at the claim for the Lagoon after it fell proved otherwise." Cassandra said, shaking her head as she spoke. One of the Bluffs members had staked a claim on a member of the Brook, and when her uncle came in to contest the claim he was then piled on by another member of the Bluffs. So she had to get herself involved as well. Her own wounds were mostly scabbed over by now, though the wounds were still fading as they healed completely.

"Yeah - I know my sister-in-law and her cubs were there along with her own betrothed. I hadn’t heard anything of them in quite some time however." Cassandra admitted, a dark ear turning backwards as she spoke. She hadn’t heard anything about Hrefna in quite some time - nor anything about the two cubs that Myrkvi’s sister had had. Perhaps it was something she could ask Roan about whenever she saw him next…

Turning her mind back to the subject at paw, Cassandra would mentally breathe a sigh of relief at @Revna’s willingness to hear out what she had to speak to her about. "I’m not sure if you knew - but Myrkvi had stepped up to rule alongside me at the head of the Brook. However, he took a tumble into the brook and caught pneumonia, having to step down from his position at my side." She began, wanting to fill the older lioness in on what had happened recently with Myrkvi and all that. "There are many others in the Brook who I trust, but none of whom I think could fill one of these two positions better at this time." Cassandra continued, trying to phrase her words just right.

"I want to offer the position of either Sovereign or Heiress of the Brook to you. It is completely your decision on which you’d like to take, but I can’t think of anyone other than you or my husband to take either position. And since my husband is currently recovering, that brings me to you. My children aren’t old enough to hold the heir position, nor do I want to burden them with that at this time." Cassandra explained, hoping she wasn’t flinging too much on Revna as she spoke. Having Revna rule alongside her would give her a bit more of an experienced lion at her side as well, and would give her a bit more stability at the head of the Brook while also not feeling like she needed to do everything on her own as she had been doing since Myrkvi had fallen ill.

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Revna shifts uncomfortably, remembering one of @Cassandra's opponents from the fights that occurred at the Lagoon challenge. "I know how it looks, but..." she shakes her head. "Maybe give Amara a second chance? One of the lionesses you fought, her name is Helah and she's...eccentric." Had not her fight with Helah turned into something entirely more interesting, despite her being a Wolfbron member? She wasn't certain the lioness was entirely controllable. "I'm not sure about the other one, though, so maybe I'm wrong. Did Amara say anything about it?" She thought she had seen Amara at the challenge too.

She wants to think better of Amara, but she isn't sure it's even possible for things to change.

Her eyes cloud over a little, worry for their family intruding on her thoughts. "Hopefully they turn up," she says, half comfort to both of them and half prayer to...someone. She is surprised to hear that Myrkvi has taken ill enough to need to step down from leading alongside Cass. "I figured he would rule by your side," she says in response to the beginning of what she had to say. And Myrkvi is an excellent and obvious choice, despite Revna's current discomfort with him that remains from the Jarl challenges. "I'm sorry to hear he's sick." She has no idea where this is going, of course, and just offers up her condolences.

And then comes the whole point of this summons and conversation. She blinks at Cassandra, caught off guard by the offer of a higher position within the pride. It is wholly unexpected. At least Cass gives her plenty of time to catch up, explaining why there are so few options for the positions she mentioned. By the time she finishes, Revna has at least begun to construct a reply on the matter.

"Well," she says with a chuckle. "I'm honored you would think to ask me." And there are so many things she could say - that there are better options in the pride, that she never expected this, and so forth. But then, she realizes that she is a good choice. She has experience in terms of years lived and fights fought. She was seeking a crown herself not to long ago. She is not a bad choice. And it doesn't hurt to be aware of that at all. "I'd be happy to help in whatever way I can, Cass," she finally says, dipping her head towards her friend in a sign of respect and thanks for the faith in her.

She doesn't want to be greedy, but right now it seems as though Cass needs a Sovereign, at least until Kvi was feeling better. "I could take Sovereign for now," she offers, following it up with, "and when Myrkvi is feeling better perhaps he can take over and I can drop down to Heiress to continue to support you both?" Because she would never take Kvi's rightful place from him.

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"I might go and speak to her personally after everything has died down, see if we can actually have a conversation over why her pridemember went for that lioness in particular. It seemed very out of the blue considering before that the Brook and the Bluffs were relatively neutral before that without any major issues for awhile." Cassandra said, her tone turning musing as she spoke. Her interest seemed piqued, and she'd roll her eyes when @Revna told her what the name of the lioness she had fought was. "She tried to claim to a cub at the passage that I had started the whole fiasco with that fight, when it was her pridemate doing it." Cassandra said with a sigh and a shake of her head.

"Amara didn't have a chance to say anything before Aquila started after her. I wanted to try to solve things with words but it apparently wasn't how it was meant to happen there." She said, flicking her tail as she spoke. Perhaps it wasn't fair for her to judge Amara based off of the actions of her members, but didn't it reflect on the pride and its leader whenever one of its members did something publicly? Either way it would probably do to actually speak with the Wolfbron Queen and figure out what was going on. "Myrkvi did rule alongside me for a bit, but with this pneumonia... It took a lot out of him. Especially since our son just returned from being lost recently as well." She added on in response to what Revna was talking about.

"Honestly while I enjoy having you as lead fighter, you've got more in you than just being the Brook's lead fighter." Cassandra said with a chuckle and a smile. She knew it was probably unexpected for her to offer either position to the older lioness, but she was secure in her decision to do so.

"I would be honored to have you as both, but I will admit I could use the help of another as Sovereign - especially with what's going on in the lands these days." She said, flicking an ear. "I am glad to have you ruling at my side as Sovereign, however temporarily it might be." She said with another soft chuckle. "So Sovereign it is for now, and whenever Myrkvi is feeling better and ready to take back over I will be glad to have you as my Heiress as well." Cassandra affirmed, shifting forward to give the other lioness a grateful headbump if she would allow her to do so.

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Things between herself and Amara were...strange. She'd been attacked by both the woman's daughter and the woman herself, and had paid things back in kind during the war at Ecrosia Mire. But why? What is the point of all of this fighting and hatred? She doesn't want that to be her legacy here in Amaryllis now that she is no longer Sigrun. And so, perhaps that is the driving force behind her next request. "If you do go to her, do you mind if I tag along?"

If only to make it clear that her own intentions were to stop the meaningless fighting.

Revna shifts her weight, feeling a little guilty about her unproductive time spent as lead fighter. "I've hardly done much with the role," she admits. "With the little ones here now I've been preoccupied. And...fighting hasn't been foremost on my mind lately." She doesn't add that fighting is less important to her now that she is no longer Sigrun, though she still intended to keep her skills sharp so she could defend her pride and children in the future. And perhaps secure a home of their own one day.

"I'm honored that you would think of me," she says with a smile at last. "And I'll do as much as I can to take some of the burdens off your shoulders." She meets @Cassandra's head bump with a purr. It is nice to have a friend like Cass, no matter their age difference.

"I haven't had a reason to go to the passage since the Cove," she adds with a smile. "I'll have to go peruse for some good new members, or knock a few heads together when some of the other prides try to claim." She flexes her claws in anticipation. She had enjoyed teaching a few lions some manners. It would be fun to get to do that again, among other responsibilities.

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