The little wraith made her way weaving among the towering trees that had once belonged to her family. They still belonged to them - now they simply did not have the ability to keep others out any longer. There were traces here and there of her sisters' scents, and her mother's, but Laufey and her brother still had not been returned to them. Without their strength and her uncle's wily loyalty, the Finnvi simply could not continue to hold Yfir. Her mother's sightlessness made her more burden than leader now, so nothing held the family together anymore. Alfrun certainly could not - she was no leader, no warrior. She was a godi, a priest, and while that was important and necessary a godi should not be alpha. One could not devote the proper attention both to the spiritual, and the mundane.

Pausing in the bowl beneath a tree, she considered her sisters. Would any of them take up the mantle of leadership? It was not likely, she decided. They had each of them chosen a path towards independence, not leadership, and it would take a strong leader to bind them together once more. She tilted her head thoughtfully. No one of her generation showed interest, yet Katja had given herself to Odinn to create the children who would be the Finnvi future. Perhaps they were not meant to lead the family themselves, but to birth those who would.

It was an interesting thought, but she could not see any of her sisters taking to the idea of playing broodmare with anything approaching enthusiasm. She, though, who had already given her life to the gods, would she be willing to dare offer herself to them as consort? She touched her tongue lightly to the twisted deformation of her palate, the crooked teeth, the gap in her lip. She would be willing, certainly, to do what she must to preserve her family and their rule... but would the gods not be offended by being offered a stunted, deformed consort such as she, their priestess? Perhaps she should seek more knowledge of the gods' feelings in this - did they not, after all, form her as she was?

She let her delicate body lower to the soft ground, her gaze turned inward and thoughtful as she considered the future of her family.

Hirondelle had moved too quickly through the northern region, at least in her own mind. She had wanted to linger longer, explore its every inch but in the end she had been drawn southern and towards her pink paradise, where she now rested. Now that she was more settled though she was free to wander as she saw fit; a safe haven was always within reach and it allowed her the freedom to return to unconquered lands. Well unconquered by her anyways.

So she was drawn inexorably northward again and this time she would give herself the time to appreciate the sights. The colder climate settled comfortably upon her pelt helping to relieve some of the physical aspects of her season though she had gotten pretty proficient at more or less ignoring it at this point. The dappled girl glided among the enormous trees, violet gaze turned skywards and mouth agape.

She rounded a particularly large trunk and had her gaze not been drawn downwards towards a dark shape she likely would have stepped on the wraith like wolf. Hirondelle let out a sharp yelp and began to frantically back peddle to avoid colliding with the other.  


"Talk"

The female who nearly stumbled over her may have been startled by the near-accident, but Alfrun simply blinked owlishly at her. The stranger who appeared out of nowhere resembled Alfrun's mother in coloration, but her size was more similar to Alfrun's own diminutive stature. The priestess tilted her head birdlike to continue to watch her in what might be considered a disconcertingly distant, dreamy manner. Really she was watching the play of the little blue pixies dancing along the bark of the tree trunk beside the stranger, mostly, but she spoke lightly and breathily aloud. "This forest is a dangerous place to wander carelessly through," she observed to the pixies in a faintly sing-song manner, beaming at them as they giggled and fluttered their wings in reply. "It would not do to stumble over a draugr, or chase a will-o-the-wisp and lose one's way, would it?"