The raven from his father, and Erik wasn't going to duck the call. It doesn't mean he's happy about it, but he knows better than to complain. Dutybound, Erik shifts back north. His mother had gone off, and well... what other choice does he have? Mind busy, heart adrift. The long hike north is chilly, offering some reprieve for his tumultuous mind. At least he's got something else to focus on.

Shouldering his heavy pack, laden with things dragged north for the family-- things only the bamboo could provide, he traipses across the border. Erik offers a shout, but doesn't wait before entering. He'd been asked to be here, they knew he was coming. The boy moves to the space his father uses to greet guests, finally dropping the heavy bundle to catch his breath. Ragged breaths, coppery taste of blood, hacking cough-- yup, Erik is home.

"Speech"

She's in her den out at the Steppe when Tas comes running through the doorway. Frantic words only a Tasmanian Devil could manage send Delphi's mind spinning. A harsh bark at the companion has him slowing down to explain that someone has crossed the borders without waiting for a response. One brow quickly raises before she lets out a sigh. Well, fuck who could it be?

Glad that Strai is out hunting with the others to keep him from mutilating a trespasser, Delphi picks up her pace. Running faster than she has in awhile, she's breathless by the time she makes it to the visitor den at the base of the maw. Skidding nearly past the entrance, she scrambles to a stop and peeks her head inside. What she sees is a tired and resting Erik who inevitably coughs rather hoarse and loudly. Delphi can't help but roll her eyes as she looks over at Tas and Binti.

"It's just Erik you dummies," she hisses under her breath before trotting inside, shaking tension and snow from her coat. "Glad you made it safe," Delphi greets Erik as she moves to sit near him beside the fire that warms her cold paws. "I assume you got the raven, but what do not know is the question?" Her head cants to the side, curious to know what all has been told so far.

Erik has no illusions about what life in the north will be, and what his role will likely entail from the moment he's settled. This is the calm before the storm, and he's had far too much time to think on the long walk north. Tired, bleak, but already beginning to unroll the supplies he's brought. Things from his mother's garden, gifts from Kiriko, bamboo rhizomes that he could at least attempt to keep alive through the winter in hopes of having something to make cordage from in the spring.

He's not alone for long before Delphi comes to greet him, and the boy offers her a smile-- caught between familiar warmth and the bleak circumstances that surround his arrival. Taking a seat beside her, allowing the warmth of the fire to bathe his soggy pelt, he sighs. "Tenshi's dying, 'n the man who's obsessed with trustin' th'gods... can't, this time." Hypocrite. Erik's gaze settles on the flames, watching as they crackle cheerfully, confined to their little pit.

Víðarr had damn near come unglued in public during Audra's funeral. Erik knows that it'll be nothing compared to whatever comes next. "I dunno what this'll do to'im," but by the boy's grave tone, he has a fairly good idea. Another cough racks his lungs, his ribs, and Erik wipes the blood from his lips. "What do you need?" He's been sent to help, and help he will. What that looks like? Delphi probably has a better idea. Hell, the old man has been more of a father to her than to Erik, and she's watched things devolve in real time.

"Speech"

Delphi also looks into the flames, all pensive and shit. It's not what she wants to be doing, but it's what she has to do. With Erik here to help, she'll be able to fulfill her duties as a pack alpha. Honestly, she can't help but laugh. He was right. For the man who believed in nothing but gods, he sure held nothing for them now. Isn't that how it always went? Gods were all cool and shit until the one you loved the most went and died well before their time. Shitty, right? Even shittier when the only one said man trusted to take his place was a cunt of a pixie girl who had no business running a pack. Thank Odin that the members weren't heathens like herself.

Pulled from his thoughts at his question, Delphi finally looks up at Erik after a silent pause. Slowly, a grimace covers her lips where a smirk normally was. "You gotta keep him together until either he kills himself or we do it for him," the amount of seriousness in her tone meant business. Unfortunately for Vidarr and the rest of them, she knew Erik would understand. As soon as Tenshi's soul left her body, the rampage that would ensue afterward meant trouble for all of them. "Not only do I have to worry about Vidarr, but the litter isn't too keen either," her teeth grit together as she looks back to the fire.

What were they to do?