“Together, indeed.”

At that moment, the tea was brought. Each person had a cup placed before them, with the exception of Kasper and the children who had not had their first rites. Just as Norah had seen during her last visit, Isolde would lift the cup to the heavens and recite a prayer in the ancient tongue. The Valkyries would not touch their cups, and the Nevermereans would do well not to touch their either. Once the prayer was completed, Isolde would drink the bitter liquid and expect others to do the same.

Isolde set her cup down on the table and directed her gaze on Norah once again. Any person who did not take a drink from their cup would be noted, and if Kasper protested, that would be noted as well.

“I thought that’s why you were in Coheed in the first place,” Isolde said smoothly, almost as if she were confused, “To defend against Eldouir attack. It seems you were unsuccessful.” Isolde wouldn’t give Norah an opportunity to respond. She gestured to the table of food and said, “Please, eat.”

The Cambrians would dig in, as would Isolde. As she did, she would continue to make conversation, as if this dinner party were a social occasion and not a diplomatic affair. “And is that why you have come to visit us? To make adjustments?”

Norah, staring down at the tea that was placed in front of her, remembered the last time she had come. When she had been on a tight timeline of informing not one, not two, but three kingdoms of what had happened in Lorendale. How this tea had been what started the riff between her and the Chieftess, at the time the Witch Doctor. What a joke. A witch? Not at all.

But she sat quietly, glancing at the soldiers at her sides and if any reached for it, she’d shaking her head while looking at them. They were guests, best they behave for the moment. It would be once all of the women of Cambria reached for the tea that Norah would reach for hers. Taking it to her lips and tilting it as Isolde proceeded to point out a failure.

The cup was lowered and she, while Isolde tried to leave her where she could not speak, spoke anyway. “And yet there is no Eldouir’s in Coheed anymore, and hadn’t been for years before.” She pointed out before she’d move for any utensils on the table to use to eat. She couldn’t be suspicious of all the food there. Not as the rest of the table moved to eat.

“It’s been a while since we’ve come to see how everything has been. Soldiers amongst warriors. Men living here… it’s probably been an interesting adjustment?” She went for easing into the conversation.

“But the Eldouirs did come to Coheed. They came, killed, and escaped with ease. One wonders if it is the Eldouirs’ disinterest, not Nevermerean supremacy, that has kept them from our lands.” Isolde set down her tea. Her tone was even. Polite. Dignified. But her eyes were sharp as any Cambrian spear.

Isolde did not follow the conversation where Norah tried to lead it. She had seen it to comment on Isolde’s observation, and she would hold her to it. Isolde had no particular interest in discussing Nevermerean men. This particular point of inquiry was the far more relevant one.

The tea was abandoned as Norah met Isolde’s eyes. The two seemingly having tension pop between them as it happened. Yet Norah smiled. “Disinterest. Yet the moment we stepped in… the Eldouir’s stopped their brutalizing of the people in two kingdoms.” She didn’t let her eyes fall. “Just like the capture of Cambria was easily resolved the moment our boots hit your soil. Not because of your own. From men who you had an alliance with?” She tilted her head almost innocently, as if she was looking for Isolde to correct her.

Because she couldn’t. Norah and every single person knew it. It was the Nevermeran soldiers who had gained Cambria its freedom. From men who they’d rather populate with than those who rescued them, and the payment that had been agreed upon had never been given to the king? Absolutely idiotic if you asked her. She’d only pause long enough to make her point, and if Isolde went to speak she’d do exactly what the Governess had done to her. She spoke quickly to not allow her to speak. “I heard some of your women were in Coheed for their… celebration. Do you all have a similar festival here?” It was polite to ask wasn’t it? She let her eyes drop away, as if bored and started to cut into her food on her plate.

Isolde smiled with motherly condescension at the witch that Nevermere had sent. The hubris of the dark-haired foreigners knew no bounds. They fancied themselves saviors; protectors of their savage and unruly children. But Isolde knew better. She’d seen the path cut for them by the All-Mother, and it was one that led to a Cambria restored. There was only one savior, and she was seated to Isolde’s right. Norah was nothing but a girl acting in a man’s service.

“Kore felt your presence was necessary to defend against Coheed. And to that end Nevermere was a valuable ally,” Isolde responded breezily after Norah had asked her final question—one that she notably didn’t answer. “But fortunately for us all, today is a new day. Kaalim is a man of honor, so much as a man can be. Coheed is not the threat to our people that it once was.” Isolde’s tone was instructive as if Norah were one of her daughters.

“Your king should remember that one day’s defeat does bar one from victory, and one day’s success is not an excuse for the next day’s failure.”

Each time her offer to change subject was ignored, Norah noted it. Listening to how all Isolde wanted to do was try and prove to Norah that Nevermere was... what? Less? Didn't she have better things to do then fuel fake confidence into the women around her? Ones who still struggled under each kingdom they stepped foot in? They had seen some promise when the women had come to Nevermere, yet apparently that was all frowned upon.

"Fortunate for all that we have Kaalim as Governor now." She agreed. Possible the first thing they actually agreed upon. But it would be the slight towards her King that would cause the direwolf at her shoulder to tense. If there was a man that Norah defended almost instantly, it was Cassian.

"Yet you have not spent time with the King who has graciously given you many days of peace. Something you should remember." She pressed, a brow lifting slightly as she spoke.

With a slight movement, she reached for the tea again. But kept speaking. "It's a shame that all you seem to want to do is speak on your distaste for our kingdom. Instead of trying to educate those who have come here willingly to learn." She lifted the tea to her lips once more, blowing over the hot liquid to cool it.

“To learn?” The calm of Isolden’s tone did not waver, but the muscles in her shoulders tightened. As she put her tea down, her chin tipped upwards, the Priestess looking down her nose at the little witch.

“So far, your interest in learning our culture has extended only as far as your desire to change it. Learning is a thing of humility. It requires one to forestall judgment. To respect one’s teacher. You are not here to learn, Lady Norah. You are here to investigate.”

Isolde was a warrior of Cambria. Her strength—the strength of any of her sisters—could bring a soldier of Nevermere to his knees. The preistess carried the mantle of her ancestors and the blessing of the All-Mother. Her power was not one that Nevermere could give or take. It was not terrestrial, it was divine.

This wasn't Wren's battlefield. Initially she had been hanging on every word, but as it progressed she found her mind drifting. Remembering what had transpired by the fire. When the talking stopped and weapons were drawn then she would return to the present and be more than prepared to act. To crush the skulls of these Nevermereans without hesitation if that was what was necessary.

Until then, she waited.

The tension was palpable. And the feeling of eyes on her from different areas of the table had her slender neck almost elongate with confidence and tilt ever so slightly to the side. A smile formally making its way onto her face. “Perception, Governess. Investigating means there is something here that would be amiss for me to do such a thing.” She could feel the brush of fur on her shoulder as Deimos lingered.

“I’d like to think of this as more… Gathering information to learn, seeking to understand why our kingdoms have such a… rift between them. Even after all these years.” She finally lowered her eyes to her plate to stab a vegetable on it and eat it while those amber eyes were watching from her shoulder. She was simply redirecting the accusation. It could be a learning opportunity, or an investigation. It all depended on the angle it was looked at and how Isolde wanted to proceed from here. Those dark eyes flickered up to look at the blonde woman across from her through her thick lashes.

Isolde was quiet for a moment, watching Norah with a bemused smile. Capturing Cambria was one thing, capturing its spirit was another thing entirely. Perhaps the Nevermereans were puzzled as to why Cambria didn’t roll over and submit. After all, Kore had done so easily enough. But Kore didn’t carry the torch Isolde did. And it was one that would never be extinguished, no matter how many times the Nevermereans tried to snuff it out.

“Our kingdoms…” Isolde started, a low chuckle in her voice, “Please, Lady Norah. To Nevermere, there is only one. For if Cambria still belonged to its daughters—” Isolde turned and locked her gaze on Kasper Van Zant , “Never would you find a man seated at my table.” Her eyes remained for a long, harsh moment before she turned back to Norah and her food.