Nemean

Backdated to like January 5

Is the world truly falling apart?

The king of their allies lies dead. Edelweiss is gone. It's not fair, she thinks. Why do bad things have to happen in such rapid succession?

If only she controlled the world. She'd make it fair. But Northfall had invited them to a celebration of the King's life, and Fleetwood knows Valeska will likely go. It'd be dangerous, and perhaps a good chance to give her children a chance to see the world. She's not just gonna leave without them!

Waiting until the berries have fallen asleep, she leads Nemean deeper into the den.

"I think we should go with the High Priestess to Northfall," she opens, voice low so as not to wake the berries.

Nemean could barely fathom Edelweiss wanting to go off on her own, but he just kept telling himself.... she was too much like him. But he'd knew they'd trained her well, so even if it tore him up inside he watched his most capable kid jaunt off into the sunset, just hoping she'd return one day.
The death of the Northfall King bothered him less, of course, but his heart went out to Valeska, whom he was sure was hurting. They were friends, he thought, or at least close allies. He, too, assumed that she and a handful of others would be going to pay their respects at whatever party was going down.

Nem didn't realize their family unit would be a part of that, but he was happy to follow Fleetwood to the back of the tunnel to chat and met the suggestion with a tip of his head and, eventually, a smile.

I think most of 'em would like that a lot, love, he hummed, leaning his head against hers. After a brief pause, he lowered his voice further: ... D'you think Penny can handle it? My one on one lessons don't seem to be doing him any better than learning with his littermates.

Pennyroyal... He's stumbling so much. And she doesn't know what to say. Maybe he needs to... try something else?

"Well, maybe he needs to try something different?" Her ears flatten, her head tilts. "Maybe he's got a talent for something we haven't tried. Maybe he should talk to Harper or Dimitri?" Perhaps the boy has a gift for healing or magic or priesthood that they haven't discovered. "Or maybe he just needs to be inspired. I plan on entering the tournament at Northfall, and maybe seeing me and Spider compete will spark something in him." She sighs. "I'm not worried about him yet. He's... They grew fast, but he's not going to be sorted yet. We've got time, don't we?"

She's started pacing mid-way through her speech, though. Pennyroyal is nothing like her. It's hard to think about training him personally when he's hardly taken to the training like Pinesprings has. "I... Also worry about Lily, honestly." Spiderlily's frailty is definitely something to be concerned about. "I plan on seeking out Harper tomorrow, to make sure it's even a good idea to take Lily, but I also don't want to treat her any different than we treat Pine and--" Her throat locks up. Edelweiss. "Like Pine and Verbena," she adds lamely after a moment.

Something different - he didn't have any other skills to try, frankly, but he knew Fleet was aware of that. She suggested Harper, Dimitri, and Nemean was quick to grimace and shake his head.

Do not give that boy herbs, he commented knowingly, but Valeska's spiritual boy was an idea he hadn't thought of, Dimitri might be able to spark some interest, though. Maybe that is all he's missing?

Nemean didn't believe that, and the bend of his shoulders shouted that aloud. Pennyroyal tried so fucking hard! For a while, he'd been the first with a response to every question, but he'd never gotten an answer right in his life. The little shit couldn't even remember what spiderwebs were for, and they literally only had one medical use. Inspiration, he supposed, was different; and Fleet had a lot of good points, good ideas. Maybe all he needed was a path Nem couldn't show him. It was a sad, sobering thought, but as long as his kids found happiness he wasn't sure he had a right to care if it took them far from him, physically or emotionally.
But if the spiritual path was one for him, why didn't he seem more interested in the bits of The Five Nemean could offer them, say something? It wasn't as if the subject had never come up. Still, Nem ignored his worries and listened to Fleet.

They HAD grown fast.

Yeah, 'course there's time, he agreed mostly to soothe her own growing nerves, but nodding along to the idea of the tourney too, An adventure, some excitement; maybe he just needs a kick start.

But it wasn't just Penny she was worrying over, Spiderlily was brought into the conversation. Her health had never been great, but Nem admittedly had much less anxiety over their stubborn, headstrong daughter. And he agreed over all, he didn't want to treat her different from -- Nemean's chest tightened at Fleetwood's pause, hearing her name in the silence between them. The Nightshade moved to intercept Fleet's pacing to nuzzle her cheek, if she would allow it.
He hoped Edelweiss was out there doing good, but it did assure him of one thing: Spiderlily is strong enough to do anything she puts her mind to, I think. It's not like we can't leave early, rest whenever we need to, go at her pace if she needs to slow down. And if she hates it or feels shitty when we get there, I'll bring her back home myself. We can't... take the opportunity away from her.

She'd probably just follow anyway, and he would rather be at her side if some predator thought a sickly teenager was a good target.