Those Who Fare Forward (band creation)

Alfrun twitched one ear, waking instantly from sleep as a distant howl called out from the battlefield to the south. She lifted her head, twitched an ear again, and smiled dreamily. "The Finnvi rise, my darling," she cooed in a singsong voice, waking the young raven that perched with his head under his wing on rock nearby her. She had raised the raven and his clutchmate from not long after they'd hatched, when they were both still covered in black downy feathers. The female had flown off to parts unknown after they'd fledged, but this male, her little Tanken with the dark dark maroon eyes with the crimson highlights that flashed through them when the light hit them, had chosen to remain with her. Her Father's gift to his godi daughter, surely. The raven gave a harsh, croaking caw in reply, taking off in a riotous manner to circle overhead, while Alfrun stretched and made her own way out of their little cave and broke into a loose, meandering lope towards the howl.

It was Valkyrie, she knew, her young niece by Taufr. Though others may have chafed at it, she was pleased that the girl had not rushed into anything back when they'd met. She had wisely bided her time and surely gained in both experience and in resources. The call she was following now was Valkyrie's summons to those who would follow her, as once they'd followed her grandmother.

Greeted with the sight of her browncoated niece, Alfrun bestowed a misty smile upon her. "En lovende dag for Finnvi å stige," she mused, casting her eyes to the sky where Tanken flew among the swirls of color that marked the wind currents. "Min mor er sikkert stolt av å se dette øyeblikket, unge Valkyrie."

Her gaze traveled beamingly over those gathered, but faltered when it fell upon one strangely familiar form. Her head tilted to the side thoughtfully. Who did the woman so resemble? She watched glimmering stars swirl around the striped female, dribbling down her pale back and along her legs and falling from the bobbed tip of her tail - oh! Alfrun blinked as memory flickered up from the depths of her childhood. "Eisleif," she said with surprised breathiness. The last she had seen of her half-sister had been when they were still young pups. "Jeg hadde ikke tenkt å se deg igjen da du og din mor forsvant." She let her mind wander back, and could see Katja sitting there, her eyes cold fury as she set her pack to watching for the woman who had stolen a Finnvi child from them. She smiled to remember it.