Ever since her arrival back into Vermeda, she'd started to slowly get more comfortable with the lands again. The discomfort was still there, but it wasn't as bad as it had been for the original challenge of the Brook by that bastard. Especially having Myrkvi here with her permanently was helpful in making her become more comfortable with her homeland again. Now that she was mostly back up to 100% again with the injuries she sustained from her challenge for the Brook, Cassandra felt like she was ready to tackle more within the pride once again. Having to sit and allow herself to heal had been hard on the fluffy girl. She was definitely one who enjoyed getting to do stuff, and keeping herself busy with work and tasks.

Especially since she'd left the Brook initially to join her mother Morrigan within the Cove, she'd found her place helping find new recruits for the Cove and doing tasks to help her mother out then as well. Having no tasks she was required to help out with made her feel restless (plus she was feeling a bit funky as well but she was ignoring that feeling for now), and as such it was why she was seeking out her uncle @Aquila and her mother @Talisa. Making her way to a clearing near the Brook her homeland was named for, Cassandra let out some soft calls for the leading pair of Vermeda. The young girl had a proposition she wanted to discuss with the two of them. Perhaps her uncle and mother would be willing to hear her out, and understand she wanted to help take some of the pressure off of them when it came to being the forefront of Vermeda. Plus... she figured she could give them some information about the allegiances of some of the other prides if they wanted as well.

+10 Discuss pride, group, or family relations with another character (0/2)
+5 Have a conversation about politics (0/2)

actions. "speech." thoughts.

Art by Amphispiza | Table code by Zodiac

@Cassandra’s call carried through the surrounding forest and caught Aquila’s attention. The bronze lion lifted himself from where he rested outside of his family’s own den (grunting slightly as his knees protested) and began to head towards the Brook itself. Pacing along, breeze and light streaming down between the trees his company on the walk to answer his younger family member’s call. He always suffered that bit of wondering on the way, fretting that something might be wrong or amiss but rarely finding it was so (no, no not always was the world ending). Not when voices carried calmly, but with intention, like Cassandra’s. With a twitch and twinge of his right torn ear against an itch he carried himself the last bit of distance and closed the gap. Coming up towards her side he angled to sit down near. "Cassandra." He look intrigued, questioning the why but knowing the answer would probably wait until her mother arrived too.

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Ironic, perhaps, that Talisa and Cassandra had been thinking potentially the same thing. Over the course of the days since her daughter's joining, Talisa had thought how she wanted to keep herself busy and helpful when she had lived in Caladan with Mummy. That it made a lot of sense that she ascend the ranks but had not wished to push responsibility on her daughter when she was still healing. Hey, she said as she crossed the distance to @Cassandra and to @Aquila who had already arrived prior. How are you feeling? Perhaps it could've been seen as though she were only asking her daughter but the same went to Aquila as her eyes passed over her cousin, too. They had all fought and all had needed time to recuperate. She could only hope they would heal and continue to have the upper hand.

^{MANIP BY ZODIAC !}

She wasn’t kept waiting too terribly long before her uncle @Aquila showed up to heed her call. She’d purposefully made her call as calm as possible to avoid worrying either one of them. Her icky feeling hit her again, and the fluffy girl had to sit down for a moment to let it wash over her before she greeted her uncle with a head bump if he’d allow her to do so. "“Hey uncle. Once mom gets here I’ll let you both know why I wanted to talk with both of you.”" She wasn’t sure how this would go over… but one had to give the option to both of them… right? Plus, she had experience in what she wanted to request from the pair so it made sense…

Her mother @Talisa would be not far behind her uncle’s arrival, and as she crossed the distance and asked how she was feeling, Cassandra knew this one wouldn’t be an easy answer. "“My wounds have healed… but I have been having this icky feeling and this heaviness in my stomach area lately.”" She said, answering her mother’s question with how she had been feeling lately. It was weird - she hadn’t eaten anything off that she knew of. Her and Kvi shared most meals, and he was perfectly fine. "“I… wanted to ask something of both of you. I know it seems like a lot to ask… but I wanted to ask if it was possible if I could take up the mantle of the Brook’s Heiress.”" Cassandra started, pushing an ear back as she spoke.

This felt like a lot to request of her mom and uncle… But she had to ask it of them at the very least. "“I understand if you have your reservations about it… Especially since I was just so recently a public figure at the war… But I want to help out the Brook where I can. I was Mummy’s - Morrigan’s heiress when she led the Cove, and I found the position enjoyable… It was nice being able to help out in that capacity.”" Cassandra explained, hoping that the pair would understand why she was requesting what she was at the moment.

actions. "speech." thoughts.

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"Things like this don't just leave the physical wounds Cassandra. It sticks with you." He hoped if she needed to talk to someone she knew he was there. He wouldn't have the answers, he still bore plenty of the past in his mind himself, but he knew what it was like to fight and to navigate the days, months, years after. You don't get back to normal.

Her request was met with some mixture of emotions inside, none of them surprise. Not with the way he knew Cassandra and her dreams. He only wished, for a moment, she'd come to them with this before. The calamity could not be avoided, not while Sigrún and Rike both lived in his homelands... but it could have been held off just a bit longer. He was proud, he felt the weight of what if. But not for a second did he worry about what she did. "I am not worried about Ecrosia and the war." He said with assurance, glancing aside to @Talisa as he continued to speak. "Your mother and I will not be where we are forever. And I can't promise we'll get to pick when we're done." The world could sweep the rug out from under them any day. And he did not hold the illusion they would have the luxury to pick their next transfer of the rank. He looked to Cassandra. "You obviously felt ready enough to run things if you were challenging the Mire, but I have to know for sure would you feel ready to do the same in Vermeda if you needed?" To lay it all on the line for the family, for their history and future.

ART BY NICOLEXV , CODE BY LARS

As her daughter expressed that she had been feeling a little less than alright, a heaviness in her stomach, it wasn't her very first thought that her she be pregnant. In fact, the thought was that maybe it was stress from the war that had just transpired that was still eating her up and causing her some anxiety illness. Though, before Talisa could even begin to consider and tell @Cassandra what she could try to do she expressed that there was something that both she and @Aquila needed to be here for. There was no surprise that came with the admission for Talisa could have bet a thousand meals that she would be there at some point to give herself the opportunity to vie for a rank. That was what she had excelled at since she had left Vermeda was knowing how badly she wanted to help out and given that the rank of Heir was once again open, she saw no reason not to. However, her cousin was a little more careful if only because Talisa was the potential heiress in question's mother. Thankfully Aquila knew just what to say that Talisa would have said in some way. That the war of Ecrosia and Vermeda and Cassandra's position in it all hardly mattered. It was more than true that Vermeda could not be guaranteed the Valour's stronghold forever. There would always be someone prepared to take and keep, to hold and to conquer. They had been lucky to be able to take it back again as well as to have defended it as Aquila had but they wouldn't always be so. With the war that transpired, the dial has been turned up a few notches. Folks will be unsettled and nursing their wounds but it will only keep them back for so long. She added on, wishing to only instill in her vivacious and confident daughter that times were changing. If that were clear from Talisa putting herself forward to make sure that their enemies were pushed back. They couldn't be docile and tamed anymore, they had to fight to keep what was theirs.

^{MANIP BY ZODIAC !}

A dark ear pushed back at her uncle's insistence that what had happened didn't just leave physical wounds that needed to heal, but that things stuck with one after the wounds had healed. ""I have Myrkvi... He's helped me a lot previously when I had issues that stuck with me even after the fact. Like the first challenge for the Brook. Like the rock slide in the Cove that chased me and mummy out of there."" She said, tail flicking as she spoke. Both had caused nightmares and issues to some degree, and even coming home after so long had been hard on her. But she had slowly become more and more comfortable being back home now that she had her husband with her fully. ""He helps ground me when I need it. He's exactly what I need."" Cassandra said, her voice growing warm as she spoke of her husband. He always made her heart swell, and she couldn't not have a smile on her face when she spoke of the dark Sigrun.

She had known from the moment that the Brook had first been challenged for that things weren't going to be the same as they were growing up. Losing multiple homes had helped push her further on the path she had been teetering on for so long. She was much like Talisa in multiple ways, but Morrigan's spirit was always there inside her. When her uncle made it clear they wouldn't be there forever, and that they wouldn't get to pick when they were done, Cassandra's frame wavered for merely a moment. She knew her mom @Talisa and uncle @Aquila weren't immortal. She knew they wouldn't be around forever. ""The Valour will always remain strong - no matter how fragmented we could become if something were to happen."" Cassandra affirmed. She knew her family was strong, even if they ended up fragmented at some point.

At her uncle's question of if she was ready to step up if need be, Cassandra met his gaze and nodded. ""Family is everything to me. The Brook will always be my home, and I will always fight for my home and my family. I would lay down my life if it meant I would keep another safe."" A twinge in her belly at the statement, and she has to keep herself from making a face as the icky feeling hit her again for a moment. Looking towards her mother as she emphasized how things had been turned up a notch because of the war, Cassandra knew they were only emphasizing the danger because they cared for her. ""I have learned from losing my home time and time again that things are never certain. Nothing is ever easy and planned. But that's just how life is, and if I can do something to make things a bit easier for others then I want to do it. I know Alaric will not be content to let things go as they were - especially not after one of his own fell in the war. But I can help train those who want to learn in the basics of self defense, and teach others more if they desire to learn. I know the Brook cannot stay calm and peaceful as it once was. But that just means we should adjust how we work - at least a little bit. Some basic self defense is always good to know, and that would give those we love and care about a fighting chance to protect themselves and those they care about as well."" Cassandra said, not sure how the duo would take to her want to teach others basic self defense. It wouldn't be forced, of course. But it would be helpful for more to know how to defend themselves.

""Amaryllis has been changing since my brothers and I were born. Maybe even since before that. But we should adapt with it, while also holding true to what we value most as well."" She added on. She was aware of how unstable things were becoming in the lands, and her challenge that had sparked the war had just made things that much more unstable. But she was ready to meet those challenges head on. She was not the kind to back down from a challenge. ""I know you both are worried about me - and I understand that. But I'm ready for this. I wouldn't ask it of you if I wasn't. I'm asking you to trust me. I can help protect our home and our family."" Cassandra said softly, aiming to step forward and give her mother a gentle headbump if the elder Valour would allow her to do so. She would then look at her uncle, hoping he'd understood where she was coming from as well.

actions. "speech." thoughts.

Art by Amphispiza | Table code by Zodiac

FORTUNE FORTUNE SMILING FATE
I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU MUCH OF LATE
NEED YOU NOW AND CANNOT WAIT
BUT WANNA LOOK, YOU'RE NOT AROUND

Things changed. They must adapt. It was a truth he'd slowly, painfully, been forced to realize and accept himself. It was hard hearing Cassandra express the sentiments. Hard because he knew it was the only truth they'd ever know. That some day, coming soon upon them, there would not be lions who remembered the land he knew grewing up, the one Talisa too was born into. He'd felt the need for change and adapting but inevitably with it came the vanishing of what used to be. For worse. He looked and listened, not with emotion but some deep burning sorrow in his belly. He knew she'd be a fine heir, he knew she had her heart where he himself would want it to be. Not all that far from his own sentiments came the ideas of family, of protecting them, of doing what it took to survive. She was what the the family needed to ensure longevity, that some part of them however changed it was continued. Warped, corrupted. Was an end better?

Better or not life was racing ahead. "I asked Soren and Valkravn to show themselves worthy of it, an heir is for the pride. Would you be willing to defend it? Show your worth?" Not just against an enemy but against an ally, family. The world would question her eventually, it could come from within. The allure of power, the desire of creating your own stability. "If you agree, then its yours." He initially spoke but then looking to Talisa for her opinion on the matter. It was her daughter after all- he'd favor her thoughts over his own, over Cassandra's wishes even.

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Talisa, of course, did not mind giving her daughter the opportunity to rise as Heiress of Vermeda. If her daughter had been here rather than the Cove, it likely would have been a position of hers anyhow a while ago. Khal had never shown an interest in being a leader but he had always been there to have the family's back when they needed it. I know that you are willing to do what is necessary to fight the injustice that has seeded itself within Amaryllis, she speaks to @Cassandra but knows that @Aquila is listening. That he knows that she would do whatever she could to back Vermeda and the Valour should the worst happen. There was little room to worry about what would come in the future. All that they could have was the knowledge of preparing for the future. I know you are ready. You always have been. Whether you'd known it or not. Talisa hadn't known when she had originally taken the role of Heiress what that meant but she had grown to understand that that description had changed. While she had once been the reason and kindness at her older sister's side, she was also a voice for Vermeda and (she hoped) that she was a sign of hope to look towards the future for the bad and the good. Maua was still a strong part of her and while her faith continued to shake, rattle and roll she had to believe that They were still watching them. Still looking over Their children day in and day out, even if Talisa couldn't understand why certain things happened.

^{MANIP BY ZODIAC !}

The fact of how Soren and Valkravn had been required to show themselves worthy of being the pride's Heir was not lost on Cassandra, and the young girl was willing to prove herself as well. She knew deep within her heart that no matter how hard it might be to fight against someone of her own family or pride, if the need arose she'd do it. To protect the many from the few she'd do whatever she had to do. ""I'm willing to prove myself in whatever way. The Brook is my home - it always has been. It just took a little while to truly realize that. I will alwaysdefend my home and those who call the Brook home."" Cassandra vowed, meeting her uncle's gaze as she spoke.

Her mother's words made her feel lighter, knowing that the elder Valour knew she was ready for what she had asked of them. Taking a few steps towards her mother, Cassandra aimed to gently press her head against her mother's. Knowing that her mother had always believed in her meant the world to the young girl. Even when she'd been lost, knowing that @Talisa had always believed in her made her feel like a little girl again for a few moments. ""I promise I'll make you both proud, and I won't let you down."" Cassandra said, looking to her uncle @Aquila. She might've been born in a time of peace, but she had grown up in a harsh world led by things that had caused her to grow up sooner than she had probably wanted to. Looking back to her mother, she aimed to move towards her. ""Could we perhaps talk? I feel like I might need some help with something... I've been feeling rather funky lately in my stomach."" She said, pausing for a moment to give her uncle a headbump and a quiet ""thank you for believing in me"" before moving back to her mother's side to head back towards her den.

-exit Cassandra?-

actions. "speech." thoughts.

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