Ankyra Sound uproar

In his titanous jaws he carries part of a seal, a peculiar kind of prey he found to be tough on the teeth. Perhaps that is why he likes it, for the thick blubber seems to fight back with every bite he takes. However, this particular kill is not for him to devour but to feed Caiaphas, whom he seeks out with an earnest step. Vaati finds he is somewhat out of the loop regarding their stance with the Drageda wolves; a history he had not been around to experience. Neither was it information he was willing to inquire from Firefly or Rosalyn, holding them in slight contempt for usurping someone whom he considered a perfectly capable leader and then proceeding to threaten the life of the woman in question. It has not earned his respect, nor his trust. There was a time and a place for doing what they had done, but in Vaati's judgement, it had been fruitless. Perhaps he is simply biased -- it would be no surprise. Nor would he care.

"Caiaphas," He calls out lowly, dropping the kill at his feet. She lurks not too far in the distance, if he is correct. Should anyone else present themselves, he will bring the prey to Grezig instead,

the days following her attack on vercingetorix, caiaphas battled a high fever. it made the already unstable siren delirious, and for hours her sides heaved and blood pulsed, filled with fervent and putrescent humor.

the fever was slow to drain, and left caiaphas in nothing but fits of trembling exhaustion. erzulie had tended to her best she could, but it was only the siren's fight now -- whether she lived or died was in her own determination.

vaati arrived only mere hours after the last of caiaphas' blistering fever had subsided: it would be many days yet before she returned to full strength, but she was cognizant enough to recognize his scent and the dark shape that obstructed the grotto's light. her eyelids drooped as she regarded the male, remembering faintly he had, surprisingly, stood guardian as rosalyn fumed above her. maybe if not for him, caiaphas too would have lost her throat that day.

"vaati," the sylph spoke, summoning up just enough energy to speak with a voice hoarse and tired. the hare was ignored - not because she cared little for it, but because she scarcely had the energy to do more than address the shadow across her door.

It was strange to see her this way. Weak. The unpleasing sight causes a slight frown to form on his lips, not because he feared that she would not live (something told him she had survived worse) but for the mere fact that the longer she took to heal, the more time she gave Rosalyn to act upon her desire to expel the matriarch from Rusalkan grounds. As far as he is aware, that was the new Alpha's intent and he has no reason to believe otherwise, for the words had come from her mouth. It is something that Vaati would have done in such a position. But that was no kudos to her -- Vaati had been a shit leader. 

The titanous figure notes Caiaphas' seemingly exhausted state, but nevertheless, presses on with the intent of his disturbance. "The red woman -- Rosalyn," He sits. "She wants to get rid of you." It is said so with a breath of accusation, coupled with hints of focused agitation towards the audacity of the statement. By doing nothing to disallow the banishment from taking place, he would be party to a particularly messy, treasonous act. 

"But I did not join this pack to betray the trust of the leader I chose to stay for." A snarl balances evenly on his tongue as he says it, feeling the rush of heated blood fill his cheeks. Yet, to fully understand the circumstances that led to the need to re-pledge his loyalty, he would require an answer that would explain exactly why Drageda hostiles had been brought into mix. "Now it is your turn to explain to me why I must even make that distinction at all." He looks to her with a pointed gaze, seeking confirmation that his fated clash with the present leaders would indeed be justified.

caiaphas knew she would have to explain her reasoning to at least rosalyn -- but to hear vaati expected it too drew a glint of amusement in her yellow eyes. she was weak -- far too weak to go on a long rant about her thousands of reasons for acting so stupidly -- but all the same she entertained the brute's question.

she propped herself gamely upwards on her thin elbows, her vision blurry as she focused on the imperial gamma. perhaps it was her delirium, but she had trouble focusing on the last of vaati's statement. did he want her to explain why - or how - things had become so convoluted?

"in rusalka you do not follow a weak leader." she started, her voice raspy as she sucked in a breath sorrowed by tiredness. "i found myself here because i could not tolerate being under the foot of men far smaller than me. i would not expect others to bite their tongue as i had. firefly challenged me -- and he won -- fairly." her shoulders sagged and the siren rallied herself with a wobble. "should you find yourself questioning the judgment of your leaders, that is when you know what must be done -- i am not as strong as firefly, but perhaps i am smarter making a system where the monarchy can always be toppled. if it is not you that contests our newest leaders, it will be someone else. maybe even someday it will be me."

she was spent from speaking so much, and the tone of her voice dipped once more. "as for rosalyn.. you cannot shed a barnacle once it has taken root. she can try.." caiaphas' voice trailed off, and a wry but sickly laugh wheezed from her throat. "if i had killed that man, it would have done rusalka a great service. drageda is not strong; if they were they would have crushed us immediately. instead they hide on their cliffs. i regret nothing.

my only mistake was not seeing it through."

Maybe Firefly was indeed stronger that Caiaphas, but that alone would not earn Vaati’s respect as a leader, nor would it so quickly shift his fidelity away the woman. He too had been strong -- perhaps stronger than the other -- when he had run Blackfeather, but the matter of his will had done nothing to speak for his wisdom. The present situation seemed eerily reminiscent.  

However, the two-toned woman was clever, wickedly so, and it was she whom Vaati would trust to win a war for her understanding of it was unmatched, in his opinion. At the moment her body was weak from injury, but weak as an Alpha, she was not. Hence why the takeover had not sit with him right… and it did not help his judgement that Vaati had beaten Firefly once before. What were the chances he was capable of doing so again, should the need become too great? “Perhaps I will.” He replies, letting the possibility hang in the balance.

The topic shifts from the matter of monarchy to the interest of Drageda, providing the curious notion that the cliff wolves are not all as strong as they liked to impose. This causes a brow to arch on his forehead. If they were as unimpressive as Caiaphas suggested, it only made sense to leave a lasting mark before they mustered the courage to confront Rusalka head-on. “Interesting.” Her take on it was not something he would have considered.

“But yet, the risk of war is great. Should we embark on a warpath and find ourselves outnumbered, not only you and I, but our children will be slaughtered.” He supposes he does not need to tell her that, but it is only a stepping stone in an effort to truly decipher whether or not she felt that they could rise as victors in a conflict that never seemed to end.

shortly after the wretch fell silent, she slyly studied the titan. he was thinking -- surely, weighing what information had been shared and deriving his own consensus from the matter. perhaps i will, vaati intones  -- and caiaphas cannot help the grinch-like smile that spills like rotten milk across her features.

perhaps he'd win, if he did.

either way, caiaphas was not so different in thought than vaati in that moment. surely brute force was not the only qualification in which to be a leader. she had never been as strong as most -- and likely never would be -- but that alone was little deterrent.

the topic shifts to drageda. caiaphas barely spares the cliffs a glance. her chin lifted, and her expression took on a hardened sheen. "we are always at war; it is during times of quiet you should be most suspicious." she let that sink in a moment, before expanding. "the dogs of the cliff are hardly more than us in terms of numbers. i do not fear them, and neither should you." the full bore of her gaze moved from the ocean, to the man before her -- inspecting him for any sign of fear. as to be expected, there was none -- caiaphas had suspected his last war had hardened him beyond measure, and she was not wrong.

"this is not my first run in with these wolves. you recall when i came to you in blackfeather, yes? after that, they hardly did more than worry our hides like fleas. the few scraps we had in griminsmal were quick and bloodless, though they did attempt to kill one of our wolves that lingered too close. they stand high in the cliffs above, but are powerless outside of their domain. grimnismal persisted, despite their best efforts... and rusalka will, too."

after speaking, caiaphas realized how tired she was -- she obliged vaati a while longer. they spoke of war, and they spoke of tactics -- afterwards, the siren sought quiet in the grotto, sleeping like a fitful demon in the shade of ankyra's dark cave.