Talisa was and would always be just happy to have her children happy. Even if it meant finding friendship and love in dangerous places. Well, welcome Rusalka. I hope you're not too put off by the cold. She smiled, knowing that the snow was not the most alluring to some folks but still it did not deter everyone unfortunately. Hopefully they are all nice things? She asked rhetorically, for the most part, for she would never believe @Virgil to say anything less than good things.

@Morrigan ♔ was not too far off from when she herself had arrived and greeted @Rusalka with the same kindness. Though judging by the way her wife's eyes moved over the individual she could feel something. There was a distinctive look in them that was her wife's own gears turning her head as though she were trying to see through something and it became painfully obvious what that was as soon as she spoke and as soon as Rusalka came with a quick, albeit nervous, response.

After learning that Bordeaux had been placed into the Summit as a spy for its heir, Talisa wasn't sure what to make of this. If anything, she felt more like a target here even though she had no reason to be. It was the children in her womb that made her slightly more on edge. Worried for the sake of her children and all that they had come to know and with it, her body tensed and muscles tightened.

^{ART BY CUSH, CODE BY CALA}

@Talisa ♔ is always a balm, a vision of sunlight even all the way up here in the mountains. even still, his boisterous confidence falters for a moment when she speaks, quicksilver eyes widening. mu-tti! of course it's all been good! he says, a little hastily, almost pouting at even the implication that he’d ever say anything not nice about them. she doesn’t look terribly serious but still he worries, the anxiety of this meeting pushing him into cautious overdrive. he, who barely knows the meaning of the word anxiety, feels his heart flutter in his chest, his fingers clenching tight for some semblance of energy release.

fortunately @Rusalka takes it in better stride than he does, polite and and calm in a way he almost envies. he didn’t know why he was so nervous but he can’t quite shake it — even if seeing her smile towards his mother gave him some semblance of okay. so far so good, right? she’d love the summit and want to stay, and then they could worry about trying to get her out of the mire. pshh, easy peasy!

until, of course, @Morrigan ♔ arrives.

he beams to see her, even if something seems… off. the compliment on her name is noted only because he probably should’ve been the one complimenting her ( definitely something to keep in mind for later! ), but the way she catches his eye makes his head tilt. her last name…? clearly, he is out of the loop here but the sudden edge in rusalka’s voice makes his heart sink. how did morrigan know?! she didn’t smell like the mire at all, and yet —

she lives in the mire, mutter, but she’s not one of them. it’s clear that he’s oblivious to the real issue at hand, but he speaks to what he does know. she’s not safe there. he, at least, looks sheepish for trying to sneak something past his mothers but it’s clear he was only doing it for good.

BG & CODE

This content might touch on topics that are sensitive or triggering for some readers. Trigger Warning for brief mentions of attempted abortion maim.

She hates that she is the one to spoil what should have been a sweet-hearted meeting of her son's new friend, someone he obviously cared about very much... and as far as Morrigan's limited knowledge and observations lent, the girl seemed to care for @Virgil as well. Any remaining doubts were shattered with @Rusalka's quick refute, and rejection of the surname Morrigan didn't even have to say aloud. Not yet.

@Talisa ♔ seemed equally concerned as Morrigan looked to her wife for resolve. She would have loved nothing more than to let the subject lie, let the cards fall where they did and sort out the rest later. If only to spare herself from that look on her son's face. "It isn't about the Mire," she began to explain gently, "Not entirely at least. The Rike and Sigrún are perfectly willing to keep killing each other with or without the protection of a crown."

A deep breath, and then, "No matter where you go, Rusalka will still be the daughter of the Rike Jarl, and even if you were to reject me, Virgil, you will still be the brother of the Sigrún Jarl, and the son of the one who led them here in the first place. It was her kin who tried to kill you before you were even born, for nothing more than my loyalty to Magnus. You would have to give up more than your name to leave that behind, mein Wolfswelpe."

Like your brother, who looks entirely too much like Magnus. Just as Rusalka looked so much like her own sire. "I want to be clear. Talisa and I are your parents, in every way that matters, but I need you to understand why my loyalty to the Sigrún will always be so unyielding." Because her children were bound by blood and by the gods. If Vellen had truly been present to bless Talisa, Morrigan, and Eyvindr with the newest children, she could not hope the elder children would go unnoticed by the vengeful god.

coding & image by flea

Tears burned in her eyes, and they cascade down her cheeks when @Virgil tries to speak for her, Her heart hammers in her ears as @Morgan continues on, and the veil is lifted from both children's eyes. Rusalka doesn't know what will happen, will be turn on her, as if some story book spell will take over both and they'll go for eachothers throats the moment the knowledge is given. But as Morrigan continues, the girl doesn't change, she doesn't feel the sudden urge to go for his throat, Rike/Sigrun, they were just last names, names she would give up if only to be with him.

I would forsake them, I'd throw it all away and stand with you, She's talking to them all but her eyes are on Virgil, with you. They can still keep killing each other...I don't want to. She is begging, and begging Morrigan not to go on, her lip trembles at her next words, her legs were trembling and she felt like she was going to faint again. Rusalka looked to them and flattened her ears against her head, There has to be a way... I won't ever cause any problems, I'll stay in the border, I'll hide, I'll never unsheathe my claws... She was trying not to break, this was her way out, and she would give anything to be out. To be with him.

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Talisa felt like she was slowly being dragged to the edge of her seat. A slow drag that she couldn't quite feel but she could tell that her body was slowly moving forward metaphorically. A blanket being lifted in front of her as she shifted her gaze to @Morrigan ♔ in a quiet ask of I know where this is going ... but is this the right time? Apparently, it was the only time for her wife set it straight then and there for who Virgil had been born to be. Not that he was that boy now, but it was who he had been born as and there were some folks that wouldn't be able to see it any different. Regardless of who raised him, he was still a Sigrun by blood.

With her wife's admittance that this was the daughter of the rike jarl, was enough to force her gaze back to @Rusalka. On one hand it brought fear into her heart that she had living beings by maua's grace cradled in her belly so close to an "heir" of the enemy but on the other hand she felt pity and sorrow for the girl who had not chosen her parents just as Virgil had not chosen his. Virgil had had the opportunity (unbeknownst to him) to stay hidden under the guise of two loving mothers) but this Rike daughter had not.

With a breath that continued to be held in the deepest part of her, sequestered into her body as she struggled to stay afloat. All that she could feel was the babies in her belly and all the blood that she had seen shed over this feud. Talisa's stomach knotted, a sharp pain pushing into her as she winced. Attempting to hide it as best that she could as she struggled to keep the stress and emotions at bay. For them; for @Virgil, her son by all means. I'm sorry -- I.. she murmured and knew that they might not understand. But, she couldn't.

No matter what the girl would and could do, her lineage could never change. If she forsook her name they would come for her, Talisa assumed. They would turn their back on their own kin at the drop of a hat and not only that, but they could turn to execution for her betrayal. That, in turn, would turn her beloved son to step in and save her... to die for her. And Talisa Valour could not stand here and continue to see that scenario play out.

I can't deal with this right now. Her entire face was sympathetic, truly, in recognition of what this might mean to the two younger parties present. Her wife would understand more of why she couldn't stand here and listen to another word. Not only was she heavily pregnant and the stress was eating at her, causing her pain -- but she had always been the softer and more emotional of the pair. The less tactical and war-inclined woman; while that didn't make her any lesser of a woman, she was recognizing her limits that lay in front of her. I am sure that you are a lovely girl, Rusalka. Just as I know that my boy, she looks to her son now, MY BOY she reiterates, has such a big heart and wants to help others as much as he can. Only when she got here did her voice begin to choke and she wrinkled her nose to avoid tears before she nudged her wife's shoulder and turned to leave.

Her only hope was that the youth's understood that she wasn't leaving because she didn't believe in their unique cause, but because all this would do would tear her fragile heart apart. exit talisa unless stopped

^{ART BY CUSH, CODE BY CALA}

it isn’t about the mire, morrigan says, and his ears tip forward — immediately on edge. no, but — he says, happy to start but she cuts him off. and, damn, she wasn’t lying. it was more than just the mire. because he, apparently, is sigrun. through his… dad? dad. his features wrinkle to hear the words now, now of all times — he had never asked before now, because he’d never had any reason to doubt. @Morrigan ♔ was his mutter and @Talisa ♔ his mutti, but… no. that’s not right, either. whatever assumptions he’d made about their pairing and his existence were clearly wrong, terribly wrong, and he feels his stomach sinking lower and lower as morrigan goes on and explains everything.

( well. almost everything.

because even here, she leaves out the most damning of things. )

i can’t deal with this right now, talisa says — as if she’s the one who’s had the rug of her entire existence pulled out from under her. his wide-eyed gaze moves to her and virgil’s expression crumples, pain etched into every line on his youthful face. she claims him but turns away from him in the same breath; talisa does nothing except turn around and leave.

leave him.

( you’re not her son anyway. )

they both deny it, of course — they both claim him still — but that’s not what he hears. or feels, for that matter. if they’d lied about this, then what else? if he didn’t even know who he was, then how could he know anything else? i — he says, and feels a little like he’s going to be sick. quicksilver eyes cut to @Rusalka — lupine features pleading, even if he doesn’t know what he’s asking for. forgiveness, maybe; he didn’t mean to bring her here under false pretenses, and he certainly didn’t mean for any of this to happen. i-i’m sorry. he says, and then —

he flees.

turns tail and runs, right back down and away from the summit. away from his family, away from it all. he hopes rus will follow but he doesn’t think to ask, too scattered and overwhelmed.

so much for their nice tour, huh?

exit

BG & CODE

Fuck. That wasn't how that was supposed to go. Fuck, fuck, fuck. First it was @Talisa ♔, whom Morrigan at least understood her wife's ire was with her and not a rejection of their son. And @Virgil had taken it hard, much harder than the Greyflood's thick skull and shallow emotional intelligence had been able to predict. Something that had not seemed a large detail in the grand scheme of things had clearly shaken her son to his core.

Can you see that, stupid? she cursed to herself as he, too, fled as well. Morrigan was torn between giving her son the room to process and running immediately after him. She would look to @Rusalka instead. "You can follow me after him, but if your parents see you with me, I doubt they will appreciate it." She wouldn't make the mistake of leaving him too long to his thoughts lest he returned to the wild in anger. exit morrigan to attempt tracking virgil

coding & image by flea

What is happening Morrigan speaks and Talisa looks shaken and quickly takes her leave, Virgil freezes, can see the gears turning in his head and The bomb drops suddenly and leaves the girls whole world scattering, @Virgil meets her eyes, a pleading look sent her way, one that causes her grief. How could she help? His whole entire life, world, it was just ripped out from under him and she couldn't understand what to say. Though she doesn't get much of a chance before he stutters an apology and rushes away, leaving her standing there, shocked, confused, unable to comprehend the what exactly took place for a moment.

@Morrigan ♔ turns her attention back to the girl and she freezes, ready to be thrown out, until she is addressed, given permission to cross the border and go after Virgil, to which she takes the permission and follows after the Queen, but not before responding to her, My parents don't appreciate anything I do. My father wants me dead, my mother is more a captive than a wife. I care more for Virgil, than what they do for me. She says it not rudely, but just as if it were some normal day to day thing for her. Her attention returns to running after the boy, worry and anxiety still haunting her mind.

/Rus exits after Virgil with Morrigan

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