The Great Hall of House Redrain's estate has been cleared enough so that people may come and go without banging hips and toes into chairs and tables, seating reserved for off to the side. Rather than sitting on a chair, on a raised dias of any sort, Freja stands at level with any that may approach her. The Princess of towering height has opted for her northern furs and dress, the albino bear cloak weather-tattered and sun-bleached from well use. A diadem of stygian frost is nestled in her curls, its peaks raising to razor sharp points crowned with blood-red rubicund. Her untamed nature is hinted at in spite of the finery of furs, three deep crimson streaks across her face as a woad known to be used by her father, former Sword of Farhaven.
     She stands patiently, speaking softly with a scout that stands beside her and her ungodly enormous bearded vulture at her feet.

Victus did his best impression of sneaking in that he could manage. Not like that was even possible given his size, or the retinue that followed him around. But regardless it was an inspired attempt as he strode through the door and took a seat at the nearest and most unoccupied table. For a time the High Lord was just silently assessing those there, his eyes resting on the shaman at the center of it all more often than not.

Petal arrives in the the great hall while adorned in a blue tunic embroidered with a wolf howling at the moon, leggings and boots. She carries along her sewing basket. A young hound is close to her slender legs. She looks toward Freja first, giving her voice a polite smile of greeting. She then notices High Lord Victus. He is given a polite nod as well.

Donella can count the times she has been in the great hall of the Redrain Villa on a single hand. But she does find it. All she has to do is follow the sneaking Victus, which the snacks and drinks, and some of the subjects of the North bring up the rear.

Ian is already here. When did he come? Who knows? But clearly, he decided to come early, possibly so he could snag the coveted Table In The Back Of The Room. He's probably just here to watch. He'll angle his head towards the empty chair when he notices Victus "stealthing" into the room in a silent invitation, but not one he seems particularly insistent about.

The Voice of Redrain ceases her conversation with the scout at her side, the latter nodding a farewell before stepping back to be become part of the decor lining the wall. With a squawk the vulture stretches out its wings and hops, then hobbles over in that weird vulture stalk to a chair not too far from his own. Freja gives the horror a fond smile before turning back to address those slowly filtering in. "Well met and welcome to our halls, vassals and lookie-loos." Victus is given a pointed stare at this turn before she continues, "I know that while I am always approachable via missive or when out in public, it is not nearly as effective as times set aside specifically for this task: If you need to bitch, praise, or otherwise bring matters to the attention of High Lord Darren and myself as his Voice, now is your time of clemency from me. Ask, approach, and be merry." at the last word servents see to it that whiskey is on every table, filling glasses and requests as they may.

*before stepping back to become part

It is on the soft whisper of cured, black hide boots that Lady Brianna Halfshav steps into the open hours of Redrain's Voice. Wrapped in black leather pants and jacket with jagged lines that clings to her soft frame, she would move like a shadow, if it weren't for the bright flaming tresses that catch at the light of the room as she slips towards the door. Her gaze catches on Victus, widening and then narrowing, and then ending with her lips twitching into a curve as she slides onto a seat opposite the Highlord at the nearest unoccupied table. Seems they have the same thing on their mind, sitting near the back.

Clara makes her way into the hall and quickly finds a seat near the front. She takes up a cup of whiskey and silently listens to Freja speak. Tonight she is wearing a dark blue dress and her long curly hair is loose around her shoulders, small red skull beads dangling from her locks. Her feet have boots on them and she reaches up to release the cloak around her shoulders to let it all onto the chair behind her. She doesn't appear to have anything to say, she may just be here to listen today.

"Voice of Redrain," says Donella, occupying a space by Victus's elbow. "I praise this effort you are making, to make a time for the fealty to come to you. I know I am not the only one that will rejoice to see other such gatherings of proaction happen in the future. As... one of your newest vassals, however, I came with a question. After the damages done during the siege, has everything been put right again? Did you learn there was anything about the defenses of the northern wards that could be improved?"

Petal goes to find herself a drink and her hound continues to trail close at her legs. She glances over to Ian, upon noticing him and he is given a nod of greeting. The smile she has for Princess Donella is warm. She then turns to Clara, listening to her as she speaks.

There's a glance to Donella as she brings it up around Victus' side, his face softening a bit when he notices his cousin right by him. That expression turns just a little darker though when he spies Brianna across the way, locking eyes with the woman for just a brief moment. It was long enough for his face to fall into one brief frown and then snap right back to apathy as quick as it came. He kept his head low while his cousin asked a question, though soon enough his silence was broken by a few careful placed murmurs between himself and the others.

Aksel has arrived! carrying bottles of booze, but when seeing that it's being provided he hands it off to a servant or housecarl or whatever. and moves towards the front and quietly takes a seat.

Hey, whisky! Ian nods when he's given a glass, and takes a sip. And continues to just watch.

Sharp, dark eyes drift to Donella as she speaks up and Freja's scarred brow quirks upwards at the inquiry. "Ah, our newest recruit. Thank you for your praise. Our damages from the siege are well on their way to completion, compensation and assistance given to those that lost loved ones in the battle additionally. I would rather see to it that my people are built up before walls. Walls can always be made thicker and of sterner stuff, but it is the man keeping a weather eye open and the axe in hand that I will put faith in. I have new training regimes and plans in mind, but naturally I defer to my brother in his role as our Warchief for that matter." A beat. "Though it is to our neighbors and the harbors the eye must turn for now, and while we can't empty our coffers and vaults, we will give assistance where it can be allotted. One cannot pour from an empty cup."

Petal listens to Freja's words and gives her a smile. "That sounds good, Princess Freja. I mostly came here to be more involved. I spend so much time with my creations, I sometimes don't get out much and Redrain was very kind to take Tallius and myself in and has continued to treat us well."

"If you wish to be more involved, that falls on your shoulders. If you, or any of you for that matter, have desires to become more involved for find a way to be of use, let us know. I'm not going to be chasing you down to bang on your door like a Lycene man that caught his first sight of some ankle." Freja answers honestly, albeit kindly. "I cannot remedy a situation I know nothing about. Now, most recently I have heard of your....well, words to a Goddess of the Pantheon." No name mentioned; Shaman alert. "You are a Prodigal, no?"

Donella answers Freja, "I know that the Thrax people have received the outpouring of support from it's neighbors and allies in the north with glad hearts, and hope for our linked futures. Twice, now, you have aided us unlooked for, unasked, on the darkest of days. And it will not be forgotten." She looks behind her to Victus, as though to say, "It won't be, right?" Because that's not her call. Sortof. Is she still a Voice in Thrax? Complicated. Donella falls quiet to let Petal speak for herself.

Clara nods her head to Aksel when he joins the party. She continues to remain silent and drink whiskey while she listens to the conversations being passed around.

Donella is overheard praising Freja for: For keeping the Voice of the North accessible!

Petal listens to the northern princess, nodding in response to her first words. "Yes, Princess Freja, I am of the Northern Shav." She says in her heavy accent. "I did pray to the Goddess Mangata. She heard my prayer and she came. I am a seamtress and a woodworker, but I also am a healer. That is possibly how I could help. If you need a healer at some point."

Brianna's words are soft for Victus as she leans only minutely in towards the Highlord, withdrawing with a smile as Donella looks to Victus and questions him. Her gaze lingers only briefly, before it draws towards Petal and Freja as the two speak, listening with expressive eyes that widen a bit as they take in the named Prodigal with a flicker of distrust in them.

Aksel brow quirks looking over at Petal a moment, but it's only a moment before he's resting in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest.

Clara looks curiously between Petal and Freja as they talk. She turns another chair towards her and puts her feet up while she continues to sit in silence and drink her whiskey.

"I may not be as pliable nor jovial as others would like, but I am loyal until the last to those that have earned it and to my fealty." Freja remarks to Donella with a nod of thanks, her eyes drifting to Victus momentarily with all of the emotional giveaway of a glacier. Habitual neutrality is her modus operandi. Petal's words garner her attention once more. "Healers will always be in need, so why not see to it there? Your talents as a seamstress are known, woodworker...not so much. Healer? I hadn't a notion until now. But perhaps, after being listened to by one of these gods, you can help to serve as an example that while the Pantheon does exist, there is no way for it to negate the existance of our own elder spirits of Shamanism. I had thought foolishly my spirits were the only beings until a God told me otherwise." A pensive pause before the addendum; "That last bit of faith I say as myself in my capacity as a Shaman, not as Redrain's Voice."

"We don't be forgetting." Victus replies to Donella's statement. "None of the Houses that helped us will not be forgotten, but the North most of all for always standin' by us in most things. Now included, providing a home for my cousin. With what I hope is a very, very loving husband." Just a little bit of bitter salt sprinkled onto that last part, but hardly in any serious capacity.

The Scout of the Snows is quick to add, "The example learned there, whether you agree with the semantics of this Prodigal's words or not, is that no matter the rank or wealth in life, the gods and Spirits may bless none or one of us all. You cannot rest on the laurels of your name nor station, and if you have desire to be of use? I will make it my own personal duty to ensure you have a strength of place to be utilized, Vassals."

Donella mutters sideways to Victus, in a good-humored attempt not to be disruptive. "Loving and appreciative, Your Grace."

Petal turns her attention to Brianna, now giving the redhead a smile. She doesn't seem to know her, but maybe she is trying to be polite. She then turns her focus back to the Redrain Snow Princess. "I should have mentioned it before hand. I was just a student of healing during the siege, but Mistress Cybele has been training me and I am quite skilled now. I would be happy to help." She then pauses for a moment. "I grew up as a shaman and I didn't believe in the gods of the faith. Now I believe in both and well I believe in Mangata very intensely. I have faith in the spirits and the gods. I will try to serve as such an example and thank you Princess, for your words and your time."

"Well, when we're bleeding out on the field is no time to mention so I am glad you have done it now." Freja says to Petal with a twitch at the corner of her lips, as if she may dare a smile that never quite escapes. "Keep up the good work." she gives the small dose of praise and then the Voice is turning to the crowd gone silent. "Since we are all staring in rapt fascination and silence, shall I dance or start calling you out at random?" Her eyes turn to Brianna, "Are you making faces at the Highlord across the table? Please, guest right and all of that. You might hurt his fragile ego."

"I would never, your highness," defends Brianna with a laugh catching in her throat, her smile a sharp and amused flicker at the corners of her lips. She stands as she's called out, bowing to Freja, and then adding more politely, more formally, "I apologize, Princess Freja and House Redrain, for my long absence from the city. I have been seeking to find something lost, as you may be aware." She glances to Petal, briefly, but she doesn't return the Prodigal's smile.

Donella clears her throat. "Are there any threats, your highness, that you anticipate having to deal with primarily in the north, with the coming of the thaws?" Donella Redrain, nee Thrax. Noooooooisy cricket.

Clara nods her head to Freja. "I am also skilled healer, a field medic. If you have any need of my assistance please feel free to let me know. Beyound that I've not been in Arx long enough to have much to offer in the way of words."

Victus leans back in his seat at the behest of Freja's poking. "She's not doin' anything I'm gonna kill her over. Your floors are important to me too." A beat then before the giant of a man is standing up as well. "My only question is wondering if Redrain has any opinion of what happened at the harbor. Not a comment about the tragedy, we all know the horror of it. But what it may be thinking now that a monster like that came up to the Compact's crown jewel city and attacked blatantly. It's scary shit for leaders to face, so how is the North dealing with it?"

Petal has whiskey in her hand and she steps back a bit to make room for the others. "Thank you, Princess." She says, seeming pleased with the exchange. Her smile fades as the conversation turns to threats and Petal looks somber.

"The threats are as they always were the snows thawing - The Red Run will quicken in its currents, pathways will clear and along with it movements will begin of Shavs and those in general that always remain a little...itchy at the axe handle." Freja explains. "But, my scouts and those of our vassals are accustomed to the snows and the threats their shifting of seasons can bring. We have been doing this for countless ages and it will not slip by us now. The dance never changes, simply the gravity of its rhythm. The threats are noted, but eyes will not and have never left them. We strike on our chord, not their false flags."
     Freja shifts her weight to one hip, resting her hands on the heads of her dual-wielded broadaxes on either hip."Your name and face is added to the ranks." she assures Clara before the Thraxian Highlord catches her attention. "It is no mystery that Arx, as a central focal point where all Great Houses lay a claim of headquarters and ward, would fall under such an attack. We stand as a beacon, targets on us all simply for the locale. Strategic weaknesses aside, House Redrain is finding solace in the recent blessings of Magenta..." a beat. "...Magnata. When the gods smile favor, the abyss recedes further into its recesses and that in itself is a well of strength, no matter how fleeting the moment may be. I do not fear it, for it is not my place to. It is my duty to fight it and fear has no quarter there."

Brianna slides back into a seat next to Victus, but her attention remains on Freja, those bright eyes shadowed as she listens.

Clara nods her head, white eyes straying away from Freja to look between Victus and Brianna once again. Then they return to the Princess and remain there.

Victus cracks a hearty laugh between the goings-on at his table and at Freja as well. "Magenta. Good fucking try." He clears his throat and silences himself, fading into that picture perfect posture of neutrality. "Appreciate the warm response, Freja."

Ann Redrain, not often seen in public, enters the hall, looking as odd and out of place as always, her curls askew and her mouth a cherry red ill-suited to her coloring. There are several books tucked in the crook of one arm and a lopsided smile to go with them. For the very astute, there's dirt under her nails and smudges on her gown.

Petal listens to Freja's words, nodding in response. "Blessed be, Mangata " She murmurs in her heavy accent.

"I'd like to see you try some of Shamanism." Freja quips to Victus with a scowl. "Is there any other matters that would wish to be addressed this evening? Any feedback for House Redrain in what more we could be doing for your, or even personal favors - before I end this thing."

Petal has whiskey in her hand and her hound close to her legs. "I have no further questions, thank you Princess Freja." She then peeks over to Ann, giving the woman a smile. Petal seems friendly like.

Petal is overheard praising Freja for: Holding open hours and bringing her fealty together. Wise words too.

With the meeting close to an end, Ian finishes off his whisky.

"No thanks, I'm confused enough with the gods we already got. Don't need more spirits in my head." Victus snorts right back in reply as he rolls in his seat to face his companion at the table. Looking quite a bit more peaceful than when he'd initially arrived, that much was for certain.

Did you forget that Aksel was sitting in the audience? It's pretty easy to do that sometimes the way that he casually just seems to blend. He doesn't seem like he's going to speak just watch the proceedings. And drink, because that's important.

With a soldier's salute of a nod, a closed fist brought over her heart, Freja says, "Thank you all for attending and making your concerns known, or rather for the illusion of concern by attendance alone. As always, I am reachable in missive if you wish to send word. Thank you for your time and eyes and ears. Spirits keep you all."