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Rys had never held much stock in the 'old ways' - and so it had been a sad moment, indeed, when Aesir had fallen. His family had never much cared about who could be a reaver and who couldn't - nor had they spent hours agonizing over the fact that thralls could give birth to higher-ranked freeborn children.

It just hadn't been something that had mattered.

Maybe his family was made of weak stock, or maybe his family just didn't see the point in fretting over what they considered trivial matters.

With these thoughts in mind, Ryskios set out to find his cousin, Skansom. It was time they had a little chat.

Skansom did not have any sort of real opinion on the current direction of the pride. His family had never really flowed one way or the other - so long as they were left to do as they wished, for the most part.

It was a pity that he and his cousin were the only two left of their respective bloodlines. Well, at least they had no females to fret over. There was some sort of strange solace to be found in that odd little fact.

Almost as if his thoughts had summoned his cousin, Ryskios was there with his trademark goofy grin.

"Ryskios. I was just thinking about you."

Ryskios let out a loud laugh, shockingly orange eyes gleaming with humor he didn't bother to subdue.

"Oh, dear cousin," he chuckled, clapping a paw against his smaller cousin's shoulder, "such a heartwarming thought. I hope you were not thinking evil of me." Ryskios knew that wouldn't be the case. They had a good relationship, always had. Skansom always found himself picked on, and there was a time that Rys might have gone to his defense.

Skansom was old enough to look after himself now.

Ryskios sobered slightly.

"You have heard of the outcome of the challenge, I assume?"

Skansom was quiet for a short stretch of time, mulling over his cousin's final comment.

"I have heard."

He shrugged.

"It makes no difference to me. To us. You know how we have always been."

Go with the flow. Not opinionated. Opinions got you killed.

"It should not trouble you, Ryskios. I am surprised that it does. We have no ties to the ex-Warlord. The one before. The one before that. They come and go, live and die."

A vicious cycle, but so it went. It was not Skansom's business, nor was it his cousin's - and he much preferred to keep it that way.

"Aye, well."

Ryskios made a thoughtful sound.

"You are the only family I have left, and so I thought it prudent to speak with you on this matter so that we might decide how we feel about it."

Plus, he'd just wanted to touch base with his cousin again. It had been some time, after all.

"We have talked on the matter, and so now we move on, I suppose."

The pale lion shrugged.

"Let us speak of more entertaining matters. Like females. I think it is time we each found a wife. After all, we are not getting younger."

The very thought had Skansom snorting in amusement, his pale eyes meeting his cousin's much more vibrant ones.

"A wife? A wife, are you.. there is not a female here that would be proud to call a few simple freeborns their husband. We have one thing going for us - one thing - and that is the simple fact that we are of an old bloodline."

Come to think of it, that wasn't such a bad thing.

"You know who else is big on bloodlines? Thorgrim. I bet he'd set you up with a wife. He's setting everyone up with wives. Quite the little matchmaker, that one."

"Gods," Ryskios laughed and shook his head, "I bet if I approached him, he'd set me up with some sort of horrible b***h like Dalla - or his Gods forsaken granddaughter. Have you heard the mouth on that one? The things that come out of it are just mind-boggling. One would think that she spends most of her days just sitting about, fitting words together to create a foul word."

His laughter abated until he was left with rough chuckles, his bright eyes gleaming with humor.

"Truthfully, I think he's running out of old-blooded females to marry off." Rys grinned. "Most of the pretty girls I've seen are nuts. That Valena, for instance. Wouldn't touch her with a thirty foot branch."

Skansom let out a rough bark of laughter. He'd missed his cousin! Why hadn't they seen more of one another? It was something he'd have to change. Ryskios was pleasant to be around, and pleasant to him in particular - which wasn't something he could say about the majority of the pride. Kjar, Gaved - both were constantly picking on him.

He'd just come to accept it. Wasn't anything he could do to change it.

"Naja? Yeah, she isn't so bad. Nice enough, I guess. She wanted to be a Reaver. Don't see that happening now - unless gramps has a way of changing Njal's mind about the entire thing. Don't see that happening either."

Skansom shrugged.

Not his problem. He had enough of his own.

"Some things change, and some things stay the same," Rys mumbled cryptically, thinking about the most recent developments in the pride. "I really should give some serious thought to starting a family. I feel old," Rys laughed sheepishly, shaking his tawny-maned head. "I feel older every day. Wouldn't be so bad to settle down with a nice Freeborn lady."

Ryskios fell silent for a long stretch of time, gazing off into the distance before he shook himself from his reverie.

"Ah, well. I should get on home. Don't be a stranger, cousin. I'm not too far away. Always here for you."

He rose to his feet and clapped Skansom on the shoulder again.

"It's been nice talking," Skansom smiled at his cousin, reciprocating the shoulder clap. "I am sorry that it has been so long since we last caught up. My door is always open to you."

As he watched Ryskios leave, Skansom was left alone with his thoughts. Alone - it wasn't such a pleasant place to be, and there was a small part of him that yearned for some sort of companionship. He just wasn't entirely sure how to go about finding a suitable wife to court - and he'd much prefer finding a wife on his own.

Ah, well. Things would work themselves out. They usually did in the end.