The cold winter nights of Boreas were usually dark as the abyss, but lately the skies had been alive with rippling bands of bright auroras, illuminating the world in their neon lights along with the argent silver of the waning moon. It made the snowcapped peaks of Fenrir’s Maw seem to glow with the otherworldly hues, turning the white canvas of snow into a vibrant rainbow across the ground. Though still a pup, Hallvarðr was almost a teenager, and rebellion and angst were as much a part of him as the blood in his veins. So the tall lad was out in the cold and the snow, his thick coat protecting him from the chill of the winter night, paws much too large for his current stature crunching through the snow. His breath hung in humid clouds with each exhale, sharp arctic blue eyes peering around at the arid mountainside, looking for someone. He had watched Rúna get up and leave their den a little earlier in the night, and while sleeplessness was not unusual for the pups as they were going through this tumultuous time, it was well past their curfew. Oh well, who was going to stop them from taking a little midnight stroll?

Rounding past a boulder, his footsteps pressing through the fresh powdery snow with a gentle sound, following the trail left behind by his sister in her wake. With the freshly fallen snow on the mountain, it was an easy task to see concisely where she had been, and it made tracking her all the easier as well. Following his sister's large paw prints and her scent on the bitter cold wind, Hal's icy blue eyes scanned around trying to locate her. She had gotten a little ways ahead of him, which meant he could follow her undetected and see what she was up to. He would not tattle on her, of course; the siblings were much closer and shared many of the same crimes of disobedience as one another, and they had since birth. He simply wanted to know what she was up to. Plus he could not sleep as well, and this seemed like a productive use of his excess time.

Keeping his gait leisurely and measured, Hal followed almost directly in Rúna's paw prints, using her path to mask his own in his pursuit of her and muffle any crunching of snow beneath his own large paws. He did not know how far ahead of him she had gotten or where she was going to, but he knew he would be finding out soon enough. He just had to catch up to her first...

WC: 442
Total: 442 / 1500

Rúna glanced back over her shoulder as she left the den to make sure everyone at least appeared asleep before she set out into the chilly evening. Sleep felt impossible and she could only stare at a wall for so long before she started to lose her mind so she quietly crept out, hoping that she'd be able to escape without anyone noticing. And even if they did who would stop her? Sure, she knew they were supposed to respect and answer to whoever their babysitter of the day was, but the longer this went on the more she refused. They were a season away from being yearlings and in her mind that practically made them adults. She was taller than some of the adults anyway. With a grumpy, angsty frown she trudged ahead, her large paws crunching through the snow as she went nowhere in particular out into the night. It was bitterly cold out here at night, but she was used to it having been on the mountain pretty much her whole life with just small adventures to other places to give her some context of just how cold winter in the mountains was.

Eventually she made it to a flat plateau a fair distance from the den where the sky opened up overhead and she could clearly see the wide expanse of stars. That was one thing she did like about living here. The stars and moon felt so close and the crisp air seemed so incredibly clear. She could see every star point and she loved coming here to look at them. She sat back on her haunches and started tracing the shapes the stars made and guessing what they could be. It was more abstract than when she would draw in the snow or the dirt, but the fact that the stars made patters or shapes at all felt too intentional to be coincidence. The night that their parents had left to tend to their mother's illness had been dark and heavily clouded, so much so that she couldn't see even a single star. Ever since then it felt like the stars were a sign of some kind and she was determined to figure out what they were trying to say.

She was engrossed in her studying so when she heard a soft crunch that sounded louder than it probably was in the absolute silence that was a winter night it made her jump a bit and her silver gaze quickly looked away from the sky and out toward her surroundings. "Who's there?" she called, her brow furrowing. She didn't care if it was one of her siblings or even one of the other pack wolves, but it wasn't uncommon for bears to be wandering about in the mountain range so she didn't want to get snuck up on by one of those.

WC: 478
Total: 920 / 1500

"Rúna"

Where in the world was Rúna going at this hour? The mystery continued to compound the longer Hal followed her tracks away from the den and around the winding mountain paths. Thanks to the fresh snow, it was all too easy to follow exactly where she had been. Eventually he rounded a bend in the path and spotted the golden form of his sister sitting out on a spacious plateau at the end of the path, just staring up at the sky. Was she entranced by the bands of dancing lights in the sky as well? Hal's eyes lifted skyward to follow hers to the auroras, observing their fluid, graceful rippling movements for a time. Truly the gods had crafted such a magnificent spectacle for them. What other explanation could there be? But there was still the matter of his sister sneaking out on her own to go look at them without him and that just would not do.

Steely blue eyes lowering once more to his distracted sibling, Hallvarðr began a slow prowling approach towards her. Still utilizing her own tracks to avoid making any sound in the snow, he crept closer and closer towards her. His breathing was slow, measured, making sure to minimize how much of a footprint he was making with his approach. Nearer and nearer he slunk, his eyes laser focused on Rúna's backside, already anticipating the moment he got close enough to launch a surprise attack on her. Then just as he neared close enough to his unsuspecting target, his paw misjudged a step and crunched through some untouched snow. The sound was not very loud, but in the almost deafening silence of the winter night, it might as well have been an explosion. Hal froze in place, ears alert and eyes wide, every nerve on a hair trigger and ready to burst. Rúna's attention snapped back to earth and she asked who was there. Well, it was now or never!

With a puppy-like growl, Hallvarðr launched himself at Rúna with all his might, paws outstretched as he aimed to pounce and grab her around her midsection, planning to take her down to the snow and pin her in a sudden surprise spar. She had not been expecting him and maybe the element of surprise would give him the advantage he needed to take down his equally sized sister before she had a chance to fight back.

WC: 403
Total: 1323 / 1500

No more than a moment after she realized she wasn't alone anymore, she heard a familiar growl. She began to spin around toward her brother, but she only just had enough time to face him and see him already mid air in a leap toward her. "Hall-!" she started to scold, but was quickly cut off when her brother barreled into her, his forelegs hooking around her sides and knocking her backward off of her paws. So much for her quiet, contemplative evening! She had to think fast, but in a way she didn't have to think much at all. She just had to use the sudden momentum he created to her advantage and they went tumbling head over heels though the snow, her own forelegs hooking around him in return. He could cause whatever trouble he wanted, but she certainly wasn't going down without a fight and she was definitely going to be the one to finish it!

After they tumbled around a bit, getting absolutely coated in snow in the process, she waited till she felt Hall under her and then she quickly moved her paws to his shoulders and pushed down to pin him, her back legs kicking out to catch the ground and stop their rolling with her on top. She was panting a bit from their spontaneous tussle through the snow, but there was a big, victorious grin on her face at the same time. "Ha! Pinned you," she said proudly, forcing him to stay pinned for a moment longer just to prove a point before she climbed off of him to shake the clumps of snow out of her fur. "That's what you get for disturbing my star gazing!"

WC: 285
Total: 1608 / 1500

"Rúna"