(Set directly after Keligan's meeting with Ryker.. @Sunder might do a sneaky observing but Keligan is unaware his wife is following him)

The alliance between the Cove and the Rainforest was now set in stone. The next on his list would be the Mire. They were once a long standing ally when Gauthier was the King and Keligan was hopeful that it would continue. Especially since Tiamat had established alliances between the Cove and the Lagoon. He remembered the Mire was at the Lagoon challenge in support for the current Queens who ruled it. Through the muck, vines and everything else on his way to get closer to the Mire, he would stop on the outside of the borders. The muck was not pleasant to the nose and he remembered the same smell coming from Patchouli when she healed his broken nose from his battle with Roarke. Sending out a chuff for @Alaric , Keligan waited for the High Sovereign to show.

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With the inevitable rise and fall of Kingdoms, the landscape of Amaryllis was an ever changing beast. Alliances made and unmade, wars fought and lost. It was not suprising that with Gauthier dispatched by the elements, that a creature should rise up in his place and come knocking upon the door of @Alaric's great domain.

Sláine was an insular creature and cared little for the politics of the land, making no alliances save for that which Alaric brokered. But defending them as if they were by her own paw. He is the captain at the helm and she, for the most part, his stalwart first mate.

The large male (@Keligan) is watched with curiousity from her mostly concealed place amongst the swamp ferns, his arrival coincidentally having come to her attention a few minutes before his call rose up in a summons for her King.

The Scot unveils her azure self from the shadowy depths of the ferns, stepping out some metres to the left of the male and regarding him with an unreadable expression. "I'll keep ye company until th' King arrives." She stated with a nod, long blue tail lashing at her side.

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It was disheartening to hear of Gauthier's disappearance. Alaric had rather liked the man, and yet he was to become the second ally to be swept away by the sea. A vicious beast it was, and he was beginning to think that the Cove was not meant for inhabitants.

Yet here was the newly crowned King at his borders, kept company by his.. Queen. Alaric gives her a quick look but his gaze does not linger, the tension between them unresolved, his own feelings a bloody mess he has not had the time to sort out. Still he wants to stand beside her, but there is a space there that he does not know how to cross. His attentions shifts quickly to @Keligan, unwilling to linger long on his unresolved issues in the presence of a stranger.

"Welcome to Ecrosia," is all he offers, before giving pause to allow the man to speak.

@Sláine

THE THUNDER OF THE DRUMS

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The first Mire member to greet the Cove High Sovereign wasn't @Alaric. Instead it was the Queen to sat on the throne next to him. She comes towards him and speaks with an accent where it gets a smile from his own lips. Thank you. Company well received while they waited for Alaric to arrive and soon he did. But the Mire King does not seem.. like something was off. Shaking his head mentally within his mind, he didn't press it. Instead he focused on Alaric's greeting. My name is Keligan of Gaia. As you may have heard, the Cove was destroyed by a storm during the night and Gauthier was swept out to sea when the dens flooded. I called for a search party with no luck. Clicking his tongue, he continued, I would like to renew the alliance between our prides. Valaine still resides in the Cove as our Noble. I know we were allied with the Rike under Gauthier and I plan to continue that. Then a thought crossed his mind and it wouldn't hurt to ask. Maybe Alaric would know. Gauthier never did explain why there is such a war of Rike against Sigrun. And I would like to know why, if you have the answer. There had to be a reason.

@Sláine

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@Keligan's smile is returned by one that furnishes her own blue tinged lips. It was an easy gesture of goodwill that hit the Scot in the right way and at the right time, alleviating the tight knot of tension she had felt for some days, wondering if perhaps all the world sat in judgement of her.

Alaric was hardly ever late in the pressing matter of politics and in usual form, it was not long before she witnessed the pale flash of his fur appear through the green jungle foliage, her sapphire gaze tightening in only the barest of apprehension.

But years of experience told her that he would not readily dismiss her infront of strangers and not least another King. Her athletic form stands supportively, fixed to the spot with an ever expectant expression, there for decoration and defense rather than to enter herself into the game of alliances. It is much easier to observe than to play, then when heads roll they would not haunt her dreams like the others.

Sláine's smile for Keligan faded back into neutrality as @Alaric approached. A tentative look toward her Chieftain revealed green eyes staring back at her, hitching her breath unexpectedly. The look lasts but a moment but she is floored by the longing that rises within her.

Thankfully, Keligan delivers ample distraction by way of questioning, drawing the Queen's gaze toward him, interested in Alaric's response.

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It is all as he expects. Alliances, politics, the never ending balance. Alaric grows weary of it -- a part of him wants to tell them all to bugger off and leave him be. Of course that would hardly bode well for the future of the Mire so he dons his usual neutral expression, a carefully crafted mask that he wears with skill.

"I am not Rike," he wants this to be clear, because @Keligan is not the only one that seems to equate the Mire with the family. Ecrosia was the family home of Starke, first and foremost, no matter how tightly he had been tied with the Rike in the past. "I will not speak to their history, but if you are interested in my opinion..." He leveled the other King with a look that indicated he'd be wise to want to know Alaric's thoughts if he intended to ally with him.

"The Sigrun are no friends of mine, largely because of their tendency to drown their children in order to appease their God." He speaks this almost matter-of-factly, as if he is merely commenting on the weather, but the brief look he sends towards @Sláine says more than the visitor-King would understand. Alaric had not forgotten their shared anger when it came to the practices of the Sigrun.

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@Sláine didn't say anything to him or to the Mire King when @Alaric arrived. But instead, she was merely a shadow while the two lions talked. He made it very clear that the Mire wasn't Rike but instead Starke and Keligan shook his head. You misunderstood me. My only experience in these lands are of the Cove and what Gauthier has told me and what I have personally have seen. So I'm basing everything on that. Clicking his tongue, he then added, In my time living in the Cove, I have helped our allies without question or hesitation. I am hoping to continue to help aid in my allies.

Shrugging his shoulder slightly, he then rose a brow at what was said next and frowned. Gaia had something similar but it was out of superstition and something he had never been involved in. Those who were born crimson red or lionesses who grew manes or lions who lacked them at a year old were cursed by the Mog-Ur of the Clan. Either sent in exile or killed. His own sister, Tapeesa, was a maned lioness with a double tail, but their mother had given birth outside of Gaia and the tradition was not carried out. But to drown all children just to supposedly appease a god was not something he could condone.

Clicking his tongue again, he spoke carefully, The Oasis is considered my cautious enemy as Nephthys lives there and gave threat. The Summit and Brook are considered cautious enemy as they were enemy under Gauthier. Until grievance is given, I'm keeping it as that. But I do not condone what the Sigrun do, now that I know. The Cove King waited on what would be said and done next.

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The Rike and the Sigrun, a war that seemed to roll through the generations and fold in every friend or acquaintance along with them. Slaine did not relish the far reaching grasp that might eventuallu ensnare her or Alaric's children. To Erna's bairns, it might prove inevitable now, and it was to Slaine's great shame that she had not encouraged the Mire into the annihilation of such an adversary an age ago, if only to rid those now young adults of the burden they might come to bear. But the bloodshed required was too much, even for an Armour, even for her. Haunted enough by ghosts of the past.

Even so, when @Alaric's passing stare settles briefly across her waiting, ardent gaze, she ripples visibly, agreement stated in the lashing of her tongue against exposed incisors as her mouth tips downward. "Tae kill a bairn is th' most heinous act." It is only when Slaine talks of cubs that the genteelness slips from her azure form, replaced by a viper, coiled, ready to strike.

But the threat was not in the form of @Keligan and so the feeling eventually subsides, as the new King seeks only to reaffirm the connection between his pride and Ecrosia. Slaine straightens her posture, lifting her skull but barely able to contain the surprise in her reaction to the news that somehow Nephthys was a threat to this new ruler. She does not speak but nor does the mask fall to hide her unspoken query of 'how' or 'why'. She might have made herself a promise to no longer disguise her thoughts from Alaric, but he was already well versed in reading them.

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this world is dying in our arms

@Keligan was quick to admit to his own short-comings, and Alaric wasn't entirely sure how to take that. By all appearances there wasn't much for him to gain with the Cove as an ally, and a man who was admittedly lacking in information didn't exactly seem like the best choice of an ally. Alaric kept his expression neutral through it all, giving away nothing of his internal machinations. The Cove leader continues to name his enemies, ones that were not entirely his to begin with. "While I have no particular love for the Brook or the Summit," he chose his words carefully, for he also had no real desire to bring trouble down on Morrigan, "I would suggest that you choose your allies and enemies based on more than that of the prior rulers opinions." Naming an enemy simply because they were enemies with Gauthier seemed foolish to the Starke, though he kept that particular thought to himself. "You can consider us on friendly terms for now, Keligan. We can connect again once you've settled in to your position to further discuss a possible alliance." A brow arched, watching the other King closely for his response, wondering if he would find his words amenable. @Sláine.

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Clicking his tongue, he glanced at @Sláine as she spoke in heavy accent before nodding slowly. He didn't agree with the Mog-Urs who slain the red cubs who were born within the lands or those who were outcasted based on their looks. Flicking his ears, he rose a brow at @Alaric as the High Sovereign spoke before shaking his head. When the members of the Summit and Brook tossed my pride mates over the cliffs edge, it tends to not be taken lightly. Valaine still struggles from that. I was thankfully healed by one of your healers from my broken nose bridge. The scars were very prominent on his muzzle, keloided over from Roarke's teeth. It's not just on opinions of what Gauthier proposed before, it is why they are only cautious enemies. There is reason.

But he wouldn't mention that he stole Calta from the Summit during the challenge for the Hollows, using that opportunity for himself. No one needed to know that. Especially since Lucanus had won the fight to win her back. When Alaric spoke of the Mire being on just friendly terms with the Cove, he nodded slowly. I can agree with that. Friendly terms it is. Looking between the two Mire Leaders, before shifting to stand up. He wasn't seeking war or revenge against the two northern prides but his distaste of watching his pride mates being tossed over the cliffs had left that sour feeling in his gut. He was determined now to prove that under his leadership, the Cove would be a good ally. His numbers were slowly growing.

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