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He knew it was a bad idea somewhere within his mind. The home - pack, actually - that his father had decided to build needed every able-bodied wolf it had at this point to keep itself running, particularly with the young mouths to feed and half of the numbers being mere youths with only minimal training and experience. It would not do for him to leave the pack lands and go off on his own, without anyone to back him up and without having first told someone where it was that he intended to go either. But it was all under the pretense of a hunt, beyond the territory's borders, in search of something a little more rare. So long as he kept at it, he could basically get away with going anywhere he wanted, right?

That was his mindset as the tall, lanky youth traveled at an easy trot from the Gulley and across the swamplands, his dark paws doing their best to dodge as much of the nastier parts as he could. If he did somehow earn the ire of his parents when he got back, he did not want to look as if he had traipsed all over Alacritia by the time he showed up again. Eventually the swamp had given way to woods, and those woods had sickened almost to the point of dying, with green vines gripping them tight and seemingly draining the life from their host plant. The large boy's rosy pink eyes stared with a mixture of confusion and curiosity at the trees as he wandered through, an eerie sort of feeling beginning to creep up on him as he progressed further and further within. It reminded him vaguely of the feeling he had gotten within the Range, surrounded by unnatural and strange structures and objects. Would he find things here that he could not explain, would they be similar to those he had seen once already?

A dazed sort of autopilot settled over him, drawing him deeper toward the Shrine. Had Warja been here before? She seemed to go so many more places than he did, and get into plenty more adventures for it. It all made his small run in with the cat all that time ago seem insignificant by comparison. But maybe he could drag her and Keiki here sometime, when Keiki was well again. And maybe he could surprise her if she had yet to explore this way too.

Saga Destruction couldn't stop feeling angry at her mother, despite her return to Ludicael. The fact that she had been mourning wasn't a good enough excuse to abandon her family. She had been mourning, too; so had Requiem and Dutiron and the rest of their family. Her fur bristled in obvious annoyance as she made her way out of her pack's territory. It was rare for her to go far from home, but she had little desire to be around most of her family today and leaving all together, even just for the afternoon, seemed like the most releasable solution. The walk was not as easy as she had anticipated. Although the land to the west of her home was quite flat, the grasses here were thick, making it difficult to traverse -- especially when the vegetation was in full bloom on this warm summer day. The tiny girl felt lost in the plains, feeling the tall grass tickle her nose. Though she was a yearling now, she looked very much like a child even still. She was short and had a small frame in general, though it was clear that she was not small because she was underfed, but simply because she was naturally tiny. Saga felt relief fill her chest as the vegetation grew more sparse. Instead of enveloping her more deeply, it seemed to fade as the landscape shifted into something significantly easier to travel on. A sense of calm washed over her as she lost herself in the gentle silence of the day. Being alone was refreshing, and her worries seemed to fade into nothingness as she went further from home. But the strange sense of serenity seemed to fade quickly as the scent of a stranger reached her nose. The foreign structure in the distance held her attention but for a moment before she spotted the wolf with pale fur and black markings. Slowly the girl's nose would wrinkle, distaste written plainly on her delicate features. Warily she would close the distance between them, mostly because she was intrigued by the structure he stood near, but partially because it had been awhile since she'd met anyone outside of her family.

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His rosy eyes fixed themselves on the stone structure with a startled look, his jaw slightly agape as he stared openly at it and then the small pond that sat within its center, sheltered by the stones around it. He had seen nothing like it before, not at the mountain his father was so partial to or where Covari had sat upon the Range, and he wondered briefly how it had come to be. His imagination was not quite so fanciful to drag up an explanation of his own, but Eirik was already making a mental note to himself to bring Warja here the next time they got a chance. She was the adventurer; if anyone would be able to spin a story based on past exploration then it was likely to be her.

He had stopped upon getting distracted by the structure, not yet treading within, and made a small turn in place, his dark paws slowly drawing him around while his gaze shifted to assess the surroundings for anything he might have missed initially. A small figure in mostly white had appeared there nearby and for a very quick moment he thought he might have been found out, that his mother had been sent to fetch him and take him back to Secretua in order to complete the job he had there as one of its sole Guards. But even as he did a double take to proper stare her way, the panic at being found out nearly seizing his heart in those initial seconds, he relaxed just as quickly. Not mom. That was good.

It was easy to understand why he had mistaken her for his petite mother. They appeared to be roughly the same height, both composed of a base of lovely white. But there the similarities appeared to end. This girl's coat was broken by bits of pale brown, the color sitting across her tail, coating a paw, both ears and, as she drew close enough for him to notice, running in thin, wavy stripes beneath each eye. Her eyes, too, were not pink but green, a light shade of it that, though soft, still seemed to stand out.

Overall, she might have been pretty, if not for the unimpressed, rather guarded look that sat upon her face, one that suggested to him any interest she had in coming this way really had nothing to do with him. Was it the shrine then? Because he felt he had to, being the son of a newly instated pack leader and all, Eirik straightened up where he stood, trying rather unsuccessfully to adopt the same serious sort of manner that his father typically exuded. "Hey," was what he offered in simple greeting, mostly because it was all he could think of on the fly. "You here to look at the shrine?" Well of course she was, his thoughts countered, too late after he had already said the words aloud. She certainly had not come this way to see him.

The shrine was a strange thing, and she found her pale green gaze fixated on it as she drew closer to it. It seemed like this structure wasn't natural, but what could have created it? She'd heard mere stories of creatures with two legs, with hands that could easily manipulate things like these stones, but she didn't know if she believed them. Interest glimmered briefly in her gaze, her gait slow and calculated as she approached the strange wolf that stood near the shrine. Though she wasn't particularly interested in meeting new wolves, part of her found solace in the presence of others, even if neither of them enjoyed each others company. Perhaps that was what drew her closer to Eirik, even if she would've quickly denied that she wanted to be near him, let alone speak to him. The Destruction yearling was quiet as her gaze fell on him, tail hanging limply behind her. Her gaze was more vacant now as she watched him, the initial interest fading into something much more like irritation. She was usually distant around family, but her mother's departure and then surprising reappearance had made her grow more wary of getting close to anyone; not that she had ever been close to any besides her litter-mates. Her expression was carefully guarded, so cold for a girl so small and fragile, and yet her stony expression did not falter as she crept closer to him. "Hi," she responded, her voice level and soft, hardly audible at all. She studied him for a moment, some of the harsh gleam fading from her light gaze, though her expression was largely unreadable even still. "I guess so." Saga didn't really have much of a plan other than to stray from Ludicael's borders, and the shrine had caught her attention, however briefly it might hold it. "You?"

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Compared to his sisters, with their excitable expressions, and his mother with her sunny smiles, this girl might as well have been made of stone. She gave absolutely nothing away, maintaining a hard, focused sort of look about her that made the boy feel as if he tread upon broken shells. Was that tolerant sort of blank stare or could it have been one of complete disinterest instead? It would have been nice to know. He might not have given himself very many chances to make friends or meet other wolves who were not immediately related to him, but he knew he needed to and it seemed a better idea to put his efforts toward those he thought might actually respond to him.

But it was not exactly like she was complete stone at least. She did talk, however softly it might have been, and answered his questions in a concise manner. Even with his ears straining to hear her initial statement he was glad he had gotten that much out of her. For a moment, he thought he might get nothing at all. "I was hunting," he informed her, turning his head to eye the stone structure once more, "but this thing sort of distracted me." And maybe it did not help that he had gotten so far away from territory that he knew was plentiful in game.

Wondering how much more he might get the girl to say, Eirik turned his gaze back toward her, rosy eyes curious. "I'm Eirik, by the way. Of Secretua." Was he allowed to say that now? They were official after all. Maybe it would be okay.

It felt strangely freeing to be in the company of a stranger. This boy was not her family, and he knew nothing of her or of the drama that surrounded Ludicael -- or so she assumed. Though she loved her siblings, she felt pressure from them to forgive her mother for her abandonment, and she couldn't find it in her heart to let her off the hook so easily. The weight seemed to be lifted as she watched this Eirik with her empty stare, and she felt considerably more relaxed, though it would be terribly hard to guess that from her vacant expression. Saga was grateful that he stood and responded to her. Instantly she remembered her meeting with Iowerth, one of her many family members, who had been aggravated by her presence. His reaction had only made her grow irritated in turn, but she felt no such hostility from her newest acquaintance. He seemed tolerant and she found herself taking a few steps closer to him. The possibility of spending time with someone entirely outside of her own family's circle was interesting to her and she wasn't going to ruin the opportunity quite yet. "Did you find anything?" the small girl would inquire softly. There was no scent of blood on his coat, so she figured not, but it didn't hurt to ask anyway. "To eat, I mean." Her hazel gaze would stray to the shrine again and she studied it. Though Saga had resigned herself to not knowing what it was, it didn't stop the slight curiosity that bubbled up inside her. He introduced himself then. He was Eirik of Secretua. She didn't know what that was. "Saga Destruction," she offered in turn, her eyes not leaving the stone structure before them. "Of Ludicael. Secretua is your pack?" She'd never heard of it, but then again, she didn't really pay attention to talk of such things, and she had no reason to doubt his validity.

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Oh! She spoke again! Eirik's dark colored ears immediately perked again, eager to hear what it was that the quiet, stoic girl had found important enough to say. In a way, though her small stature reminded him immediately of his petite mother, her quiet seriousness seemed a lot like how his father was, each of his words carrying weight for how often he spoke. It seemed so strange and out of place for a girl to be that way, but then again he himself was hardly the serious, stuffy brute that Rune could be at times. Maybe it was not quite so odd as he had been thinking it to be.

As soon as he caught her question, the pale grey wolf reacted. He laughed through his nose, an airy huff that was very nearly a snort, and followed up with a concise and flat, "No." It was really not all that surprising to him, all things considered, and he was counting on his present company's ignorance of his decision to do his hunting beyond the plentiful boundaries within which he should have conducted his task. So long as she did not know that he had purposefully put himself in a horrible location for his hunt, he need not worry about looking bad in front of her.

She seemed quite interested in the stones that stood beside them, the structures easily drawing her eye and holding it. Just a little Eirik felt irked, wondering if maybe he was reading her wrong and assuming her cooperation in speaking with him so far meant somehow she was interested in his company instead of their location. How sad that he could not compete with a pile of stone for someone's attention! But before he could decide that he did not want her attention after all she questioned his pack, and though her green eyes were focused on the stones he thought maybe there was some curiosity in there for him after all.

Encouraged by her question, Eirik managed to smile as he responded with a lift of his chin, a moment of rare pride, "It is. Founded by my dad and our family," the boy stated with a smile. "We're still new but we're doing good." Aside from him shirking his responsibilities to explore rather than hunt. Trying not to think about that part, he instead set his rosy pink eyes upon the structure that had so transfixed Saga's attention and asked with nonchalance, "Where exactly is Ludicael?"

The silence was less uncomfortable than she had anticipated. As unfamiliar as she was with interacting with strangers, it hadn't struck her before that it might not be as difficult as she pictured. This male had no expectation of who she was, or how she would act -- she could simply talk as she liked and hope that she offered him some form of company he enjoyed, even if their meeting was brief at best. Quietly she would creep forward again, taking a few hesitant steps toward him as she examined his features. He was not at all unpleasant to the eye and she found herself staring in silence for far too long. He admitted he hadn't found anything to eat -- his half-snort was audible and she found herself grinning for a moment, even if the expression was hardly visible at all, amused at how uninhibited the sound had been. "I see," she would comment simply, acknowledging his failure to find anything to eat. It was a pity; she felt hunger gnawing suddenly at her own stomach. Even if he had found food, she didn't know if he would've shared, or even if she would've accepted if he had offered her something to eat. So Secretua was a new pack. She hadn't heard of them, but Saga didn't really pay attention to things like that. "Ludicael is to the east of here. Closer to the ocean. Where do you live?" These lands were not his home, she could tell that. "What do you think these are for, anyway?" she asked suddenly, her inquiry interrupting her former train of thought. They were interesting, and she had no idea he was frustrated at the fact that he might pale in comparison.

Walk | Talk | Think

He continued to hold up his charade of staring at the structure, feigning interest in the thing while his gaze continued to wander and peer sidelong at the girl beside him. He rather liked watching her and the way her expression seemed to shift somewhere between curious and inattentive, as if her mind was caught right in the middle of studying the stones and listening to what he had to say. The fact she might actually be listening to him, really listening and not just letting his words slide in one ear and out the other, was encouraging, and it made him feel a little better about their conversation, particularly when she ventured closer to him.

She did not laugh at his failed hunting attempt but instead accepted it at face value, remarking simply upon his statement. Eirik, with another sidelong glance, grinned. She had smiled, openly and unabashed, and he had seen it. So there was a little bit of humor in her after all. He could not place why it struck him as funny, watching her crack a smile, but it did. She was like some complex puzzle, and though he had barely said five words to the girl he was already intrigued by her odd, outward seriousness and quiet, hidden playfulness.

Eirik logged away the location she spoke of in regards to her pack, Ludicael, and understood then why he had heard so little about it. Most of his family's wanderings had been done in the western and southern regions, the only eastern territory that they had spent any particular amount of time on being the volcanic mountain his father had been born on. "Oh," he remarked, nodding his head thoughtfully as he cast his rosy stare further up along the stone structure. Maybe one day he could find himself in that area.

When asked about his own home, he answered readily enough, "We're mostly based in the Fern Gulley." The tail end of his words, however, were very nearly cut off as Saga posed another question directly after, once again turning most of the focus back upon the Shrine. Though he was admittedly less than interested in the Shrine, he was at least less frustrated now than he had been before. At least she was asking him about the stone structure, so she was not entirely ignoring him. "I dunno," he said thoughtfully, following her gaze toward it before adding, "Sure are weird looking though. You think they were always like that?"