Alysanne

Her news about the Falls wasn’t greeted with any sort of surprise or disdain, for which Alysanne was incredibly grateful. In fact, Tembovu’s response seemed rather simple and short - which made her wonder. Did he have more to say on the matter, but was wary about getting into an argument with her? Or was there something else they needed to talk about?

In the few moments where they were simply working side by side, Alysanne’s mind considered the possibilities - always coming back to the idea that Tembovu was working up the courage to ask her to step down so he could appoint someone better as queen. She often wondered if he regretted his choice but her pride stopped her from ever (EVER) asking.

Sure enough, the silence was broken by the King as he explained what had happened in the Edge while she had been gone. Figures, that when she was somewhere else entirely that she would miss something incredibly important. At first, her response was a troubled frown. This was only the second rank challenge she had ever heard of happening since she had come to Helovia - they hardly seemed common. The challenge between Aurelia and Kahlua had caused long-lasting ramifications inside of the herd and the personal lives of both the mares involved, was this the same?

Alysanne waited patiently, only picking up a few small items while waiting out the pregnant pause between one piece of news and the next...

And then he said it - the point that she was sure he had called her over here to state.

“He did WHAT?!” Alysanne, ever the one to remain totally calm, could have nearly decked her co-leader in the face with her wings as they unfurled in surprise and she spun to look at him. For a moment, her green eyes were wild and it looked as though she was going to take off and push a certain someone off the cliff herself. But that moment passed in a heartbeat - and of course Alysanne never actually would resort to such terrible violence. Her pale wings returned to her side but she did not return to the task at hand.

She thought carefully, willing her anger down so she might think about this clearly as she could. Although Raeden had certainly caused a little bit of trouble herself, she had trusted the mare - bonding with her over, of all things, a certain leather bag that had caused so much strife.

“I wouldn’t consider attempting to push a fellow herd member from a cliff fighting well but you are more of an expert on these matters than I.” Though there was an edge to her tone, it existed only in the beginning of the sentence - there was no bitterness in Alysanne to admit that Tembovu was more knowledgeable about war and fighting of the two of them. Everyone knew that. “How can we trust Toulouse to be a member of the Edge’s high ranks and council if these are the tricks he uses to gain a rank? What else might he be up to?” Alysanne frowned more deeply, clearly troubled by this turn of events.

Before she got herself fuming in the defense of Raeden, she tried to think logically about this - ask the right questions - before making assumptions.

(“What Would Isopia Do?”)

“Did you speak to him afterwards? Did he have anything to say in defense of his actions?”