Silver Creek where have you buried all your children?

They had come to the territory intended for them, promised to them. Now it was time to begin reestablishing.

But to do that, she first had to discuss something with @Thalassa.

Approaching where the future queen rested, she looked over her shoulder before speaking. This would be a private matter. Feeling well? She asked. Usually Haedwig was blunt and straight to the point, but this was a bit more difficult. She knew it would likely be that way for all of them, for it was about Europia. She was the baby.

But just as the rest of them, a princess had a duty too. It was time for it to be discussed.

There was much to be done, yet so little worthy of a Queen's hand upon it. Thalassa quickly grew restless. In her grief she sought to occupy her mind with work, even work far below her station. Within the blooming forest she sought homes for her siblings, somewhere the nobility might den together away from the rabble. Nothing so far had caught her eye.

It was when she finally allowed herself a small rest to break her fast that the Prophet approached. Thalassa glanced down sharply from where she rested upon a tall boulder, stomach souring immediately. Haedwig had been a faithful servant, of course. Diligent and wise as her station required. Yet it was her prophecy which had torn Thalassa from her home, from her heart —

Orestes, whispered from the grief-stained marrow of her bones, yet Thalassa would not listen. Could not. Her mouth tightened as she regarded Haedwig for a moment. As well as one might expect, she allowed, dark tail sweeping back in a splay of sunlit obsidian. And you, Wise One?

Thalassa sat upon a boulder that Haedwig knew all too well she would hurt herself attempting to climb atop of. So, on the ground she would remain. My grief has settled. She responded simply. The witch had long accepted the deaths she knew would come. But, there is work to be done. We cannot afford to waste any time.

We need to discuss Europia. She was yet to bring up the girl's marriage prospects to anyone. While the first territory was still in place Haedwig had discussed it with the late Queen and Prince Consort, but it had promptly been decided against. Europia was still young, too loud, not yet a proper lady. But now things had changed; she would need to be taught.

Europia. Thalassa's eyes sharpened on the Prophet. For a moment her throat felt constricted, and she could not speak; she feared that even if she could have spoken then, she would only have shouted at the prophet, for it was all she thought of in those moments of silence. Keep your scheming and your prophecies away from my sister, she wanted to spit — but no one could run from the curse of their own blood.

The Queen gestured stiffly for Haedwig to go on. She turned her eyes away so that the Prophet would not see the hatred in them. Hatred not for the woman herself, no, but for all that she represented; for the weight her words had held in the ears of Thalassa's mother. It was the shade of the old Queen which guided her hand even now, even as everything in her trembled at it.

Unsteady legs brought her to a sit. She would need to look for her usual herbal remedies sooner than later.

Europia is your only tool for diplomacy here. We do not have the status or influence here that your mother had in your birth home. Her gaze was hard, not distant or uninterested like usual; this was a serious matter. She needs to be taught to be a proper lady, and she needs to be found a husband in a pack larger than our own. It was the way of their court, the true role of a younger sister. Haedwig had not been born to it, but she understood it well.

No.

Thalassa realized she had begun to bristle and swiftly calmed herself. It was her mother's words in her ears now, soothing her, reminding her that it was a Queen's duty to see first to her people's needs. When she spoke again her voice had smoothed, yet it was no less firm for that:

It is too soon, the Queen turned her dark gaze back to the Prophet. Much, much too soon to be speaking of status, of influence. Your word is respected, Wise One, but it is my mother's final command I mean to follow. Before we can thrive, we must learn to survive - without our people, without our armies or our spies.

We do not even know what a man of this land might want in a wife. We do not even know what it means to call another wolf friend in this place. So learn. That is my command.

Haedwig's eyes narrowed. Maybe Thalassa was the queen now, but Haedwig was still the prophet. Thalassa was still a child in her own right.

Whether it is too soon or not, you are to teach her to be a well-rounded young lady. She spoke, her tone stern. You do not need to be pleased with me, you just need to do it. Europia does not have your mother to learn from as you did, do not deprive her of necessary social skills. It will not stop her from growing up. She knew the way Thalassa and Makhai spoiled the princess, she was guilty of it too, but the matter of the fact was that Europia had to learn maturity and do her job.

Bringing herself to a stand, she began to stalk off. I will tell her to expect an etiquette lesson from you in the coming week.