steady course

Artur had never been so far from Valhalla, let alone as far north as he had made his way. It felt exhilarating to stand upon the cliff face and stare out over an endless ocean and know he had gone as far as any wolf could walk. He felt suddenly the urge to turn and make for the southern tip of Auster, to place his paws at every corner of the lands...

But no.

He stepped back from the cliff face stoically, knowing as he had always known that the fate of the true Adravendi rested on his shoulders. He could not do as his siblings and be content to remain forever in the shadows of another, his name and his blood never again to see the gold shine of glory.

The sound of a call caught the angular youth's attention, and he cocked to one side his scarred, red-masked head to better triangulate. The call was not for him, but it was close enough to date his curiosity without hardship. A stranger could bring him news, rumors, or new knowledge and skills, an opportunity worth taking. And after all, useless knowledge was simply knowledge not yet used.

He stopped suddenly as the object of his search appeared in front of him, and he took her in with a cool distance in his sharp featured face that somehow spoke more loudly of disdain than expression of outright disgust would have. She was shorter even than his diminutive sister Viviane but Artur suspected far heavier, she being squat bodied and stumped legged unlike his slim fox-like sibling. Still, were it not for her age and dumpy frame she could have almost passed for being more closely related to his brothers than he or his sisters were, so closely did her markings and coloration mirror theirs at first glance. Even if her blocky, dwarven build had not proclaimed her a common low blooded mongrel, though, her muddy purple eyes - so different from the clear blues and greens that ran in his bloodline - and her pink rodent-like snout made her grubby, ill-bred origins clear.

Still, he inclined his head to her slightly in a polite, if not particularly friendly, greeting. "Lost someone?" he asked, the syllables wrapped in ice.