It wasn’t often she found herself up here on the summit of all places, but she wanted to see if her mother @Talisa had some free time to spend some time with her. She knew they hadn’t always seen eye-to-eye on some things, but she hoped that their relationship was on the uprise of things.

Knowing she was accepted past the Summit’s borders, Cassandra stepped over them while also letting out a soft call for her mother as she sought out a slightly bit warmer area to situate herself. Despite her thicker coat, she was not used to the chillier climate that was in the Summit versus the Brook.

text. "Speech."

Art by Drifty | Code by Zodiac

The woman had been meandering for near on two hours now. Roaming the cliffs of the Summit and trying her best to clear it of any lingering debris now that there was a little less snow. It was still a dangerous place for those not prepared for it but she had done a lot with time she was given to making sure she marked the more dangerous areas and paths. She loved their pride but some days, she worried it would be their demise, too. So it was an exciting and much needed distraction when she caught sound of @Cassandra. Wasting as little time as possible in an effort to get herself down and nearer to the warmer bits, her anxieties dissipating the closer her daughter's scent was until she could see her with lilac eyes. Cass! she cried as she severed the distance and bringing in the woman with a hopefully tight embrace as any mother would. Eyes secretly looking around to see if she had brought any of her grandkids with her but by the looks of things she was alone which was also fine. How are the kids? Myrkvi? Vermeda? She kept in close of contact with everyone in Vermeda as best she could but sometimes life and time slipped away before she knew it.

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She wouldn’t get too far into the Summit’s borders when a familiar scent and then a voice called out to her excitedly. Her head turned to see her mother’s lighter frame closing the distance quickly between the pair of them. Duotoned purple eyes brightened as she saw the Summit Sovereign racing towards her excitedly. "Mama!" She called out excitedly in return, happily accepting her mother’s embrace and returning the hug as well.

A soft chuckle escaped her as she noticed @Talisa looking around her to see if any of her four had come along with her. "Just me to visit today." She said with a soft laugh, aiming to headbutt her mother affectionately. The paler lioness would then question how the cubs were, as well as her husband and Vermeda. "Everyone’s doing good - Myrkvi fell in the brook in the dead of winter so he’s recovering from a bout of pneumonia. He’s doing well though. The Brook is fine as well, nothing major to report either." Cassandra said, filling her mother in on some of the recent developments that had occurred.

"Can you believe the four of them are almost a year old already?" She asked, her own tone almost in disbelief that her cubs were nearing their first birthday. It seemed like just yesterday they were tiny little things curled up at her belly in an unseasonably cold winter.

text. "Speech."

Art by Drifty | Code by Zodiac

Despite their differences and misunderstandings, Talisa did her very best to not hold anything against her dearest daughter. If anything, in the late hours when she and Morrigan simply talked, they had come across the notion that @Cassandra was very much so a mixture of the two of them. Fire and ice, more or less. A dark to the light as it were. A shame but I suppose my company list is quite full now that you've come. She smiled, happy to have her daughter come visit with or without the young children. News of Myrkvi snapped her attention and her brows furrowed in deep concerns. Do you still have a medic to take care of him? Last she could recall Heloise and Valkravn were the only practiced healers within Vermeda that might be able to help him with any pain or lingering frostbite that might incur. If not then Talisa was happy to lend her own services to them. Her skill might not be professional but she could get a job done. That.. I do believe. A smile, knowing and clear. I still cannot believe that you, Khal and Ori are anything over a year still yet here you are past three. Talisa's big family had come into focus many times now and had been her biggest desire in life but truly nothing spoke louder to her than the love that she had with her first litter. The one that Maua had granted her.

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"I'll definitely see if any of them want to come visit next time I head up this way. Not all of them were blessed with my extra fluffy fur, so it makes it harder on them to deal with the colder temperatures up here." Cassandra said with a chuckle, knowing her mother loved getting to see and spend time with her first grandchildren. "Figured this time we should just have some mother-daughter time. It's been awhile since we did that." She said softly, smiling at her mother. They hadn't had much quality time together just the two of them since she'd had her cubs, and her mother had moved to the Summit once Morrigan had claimed it.

"We do, and he's almost fully recovered. Still got a bit of a lingering cough but he's nearly back to full health again." She assured her mother. "I just didn't want someone else to mention it in passing. I wanted to be the one to tell you about the situation. He had to stay away from me and the cubs for a bit, to ensure we didn't get sick as well. It was hard to not have him at my side every night while he was sick." The young girl admitted, not afraid to hold things back from her mother regarding her feelings towards her husband.

"There was actually something Kvi and I have been thinking about now that our first litter is almost a year old." She added quietly, duotoned gaze searching @Talisa's to see if her mother would catch the hint she was dropping regarding what she and her husband had been talking about.

text. "Speech."

Art by Drifty | Code by Zodiac

Sounds like they should spend a week up here and let nature do the rest! She teases, knowing that Vermeda was a lot cooler in temperature and was better suited to those younger. The cold wasn't for everyone. Hell, if she and Morrigan didn't believe that this Summit had been given to them from Maua in some way then she probably would've scowled at it, too. Of course, my dear. I'm always open for some mother-daughter time. She grinned, happy to have @Cassandra come so far up from the Brook just to see her Mama. It is... very difficult to not have your mate when you feel you need them most. Talisa remembered the year or so that she had raised Cassandra, Khal and Ori almost entirely by herself. A part of her had always felt a dark frustration that Morrigan had rarely visited and had not helped as much as she could have in Vermeda. But Talisa was Talisa... she forgave far too easily for love was far too fragile. But sometimes it is a nice reminder to know that you're so so so very capable of doing things on your own. She'd be the first to admit that even when you're capable, it was always nice to have someone else by your side and lifting you up. Though, the very mention of her and Myrkvi thinking about something had gotten her attention, it wasn't until she included her own children nearly reaching a year old that her ears were quite erect. To anyone else, it would've been a weird inclusion but she had been itching for more children around the time that Cassandra, Khal and Ori had reached a year old. Yesssss? she asked, chomping at her tongue to not say it out loud and make the assumption.

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"Perhaps Eisa would enjoy spending some time up here - she does have a mane that's been starting to sprout I've noticed." Cassandra said with a chuckle. She had noticed her brightly hued daughter had started to sprout a mane as dark black as her father's was. At her mother's comment of being happy for some mother-daughter time, Cassandra would aim to gently headbutt her mother affectionally. "I feel like its a bit overdue - plus its a good excuse to come visit the summit where you and Morrigan are these days." She added on with a smile.

"Especially considering he was still in the Brook but I couldn't spend time with him.." Cassandra agreed, a dark ear turning back as she spoke. When she had been younger she hadn't noticed the issues @Talisa had been dealing with in regards to the situation between her and Morrigan, and unless her mom was vocal about it - she'd never know. "Its always hard to try to lead and pride and care for 4 cubs on your own." She added with a chuckle, knowing that it had been difficult to continue to keep tabs on the four cubs and run the Brook on her own at the time.

A grin spread across her face as Talisa got seemingly more excited as she started to talk about something she and Myrkvi had been thinking about. "Well... we had been thinking about maybe trying for a second litter now that Eisa, Lukas, Analía, and Imber are just about a year old." And there was the bombshell - now to wait for her mother's reaction.

text. "Speech."

Art by Drifty | Code by Zodiac

Perfect! She excitedly rebounded, knowing that full mane would help protect her a little bit from the cold chill of the mountain. Once you live on it long enough it doesn't affect one quite as much but just visiting could take its toll, for certain. It's weird, not being a leader in Vermeda. It was -- still is, kinda -- my home for the longest time and where all of my childhood memories are. Everything was there, really, except Morrigan. And likely a small portion of their children, too. So many children that were either in the Summit, Vermeda, rogues or even not in Amaryllis anymore. But that was the life she had always wanted -- being a mother to many. With @Cassandra's comment Talisa smirked. I know. It was hard to wrangle you, Khal and Ori all the time. Especially since I had to keep Ori pretty contained in the beginning. That sickness had lasted quite some time and she was certain that it never truly left him but he had simply grown older, far more tolerant and understanding of how to mask it. Of course, the news that she had anticipated and assumed was rightfully so! Talisa's whole body seemed to shake with excitement. AHH I KNEW IT! She jumped up, all four paws leaving the ground for a second. I get to be a grandma twice over! Though, it did leave a moment to truly grasp that Cassandra was itching to have more children -- perhaps she wasn't entirely like Mummy after all?

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"Sometimes I wonder what would've happened had I never gone with Morrigan to the Cove those couple years ago..." She murmured, flicking an ear as she spoke. Sometimes she did wonder if there would've been a difference in how she would've been raised and such. Perhaps she would've been more like Talisa than Morrigan, but there's no reason to dwell on the past these days. What was done was done now - and she was who she was at this point now.

"We couldn't have been that troublesome." Cassandra said with a soft chuckle as her mother talked about having to wrangle herself and her littermates when she was younger. However, when she finally revealed her news, she could not have predicted her mother's reaction no matter how much she knew her mom.

The excitement that took over @Talisa caused her to laugh for a few minutes. She knew how much her mother loved children, and her ability to get to snuggle more little ones seemed to excite her lighter mother. "At the very least twice - though hopefully at this time they won't be born in a freak snowstorm." She said with a soft chuckle. Ever since she had had her first litter, despite losing their one daughter, she had learned that she enjoyed being a mother more than she thought she would've when she was younger.

text. "Speech."

Art by Drifty | Code by Zodiac

There was a certain amount of strain that came with the idea of what might have happened with @Cassandra had she stayed in the Brook. A part of her believed that her daughter might have never found happiness while the other more stubborn (and unknowingly more selfish) part of her felt that she might have gotten a child that was interested in the spiritual side of life. Truth was that she had never gotten that (still hadn't) and the closest she had gotten with Diomedeidae, Aquila's girl, but she had decided to go on her own adventures elsewhere for now. Both Khal and Ori were very simple child, but it had always been Cassandra that had been the most social and active. Not that Talisa would complain, of course, but she was happy that it was only one child and not all three. Though, she could hardly continue thinking of any of that on the news that she was potentially going to be a grandmother again! Especially when her own daughter expressed at the very least, twice because that meant that her daughter would not only provide more grandchildren to fawn over but that she might have taken more of her Mama than she thought. Being a mother definitely tested a lot of your abilities but knew that Cassandra could do it and do it well. Come. We'll walk the bottom of the Summit here and you can tell me your plans for names and things, yeah? There weren't even any children brewing in her belly yet and Talisa wasn't already ten steps ahead. Though, wasn't that just her way? Being overly excited about something that hadn't even come to pass yet? Either way it was a chance to just talk and she was eager to catch up. fade exit via talking?

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