ORIGIN

Ears crept forward at the surprising little nugget of wisdom. "Very wisely said, and a very insightful point," he offered, quietly. This cub truly did have unseen depths.

He waited for Temperance to finish, to run their ideas out into the open. Then he commented, quietly, sparingly; though it was genuine conversation it was also enough to show he'd truly paid attention. "A cycle sounds good," he agreed; "-and the assignments sound good, too. Let's not force anything; let's--hmm, what do you say you and I go round everyone up and ask what they think, and you can suggest your ideas as to what they can do? But leave them the option, perhaps, of participating in other ways instead if they so wish. And perhaps they'll have more ideas that you can use, too," he added, musing. "But I think if it goes as you suggest, it will be a lovely gathering," he added.

He remembered when another of the Seven had wanted to do something similar; the group hadn't really been high enough in numbers, then, but now their family had swollen in size, and blood alone would be enough for a happy day of celebrating for the sake of it.

Pride considered. It was rather impromptu, but going around to ask people to have a conversation was hardly something that needed planning. (It was good, too, to see the smile in Temperance's eyes, the excitement--transformative, even.)

"And I will see who else I can find. Meet at the Throne?" he suggested, dipping his head to one side.

He'd come to talk to his child about Nassir, but they'd spoken of so much more; he'd worried it would go terribly, but... the end result almost seemed to be... good. It's gone better than I could've hoped for, he thought, half to himself--have to Mercy, along their link.

"I love you too, and I'll see you soon."

Pride watched Temperance go with a strange, foreign mixture of relief and subdued happiness. And beneath both lay the faint grief; for a moment, the black cub slipped his mind and his memories were drawn back to the other who had shared that ebon-dappled pelt. Pride looked away again, out over Orion, remembering.

I will always miss you, Nassir, he thought, quietly; but perhaps, given Temperance's laughter, he would finally be able to do the old leopard's quartz stone justice.

Well-... On to more joyous matters, then. This wasn't what he'd expected to follow that grim talk--a party--but... perhaps it was fitting.

Maybe it's just what Nassir would have wanted for them all--for the child he'd never meet.