Inner Peace?

Kai would be free from Winterfell's imprisonment soon. All he had to do was help Winterfell with two raids - and truthfully he wasn't entirely uninterested in the idea of participating. Maybe even finding a way to stir up some bullshit might be mildly entertaining.. or maybe it'd just be a giant waste of time. He honestly had no clue, but he was determined now to see this through and find a way to make things work out to his own advantage; decides the whole... not being delivered back to Valkyrie thing. Not that he thought Acere could do that one on his own. The mere thought earned a quiet scoff as he continued on through the forest, finally lifting his head to focus on his surroundings rather than his thoughts.

He'd been here before, but had he properly explored this place? Kai found it hard to recall. The trees were massive - far more monstrous than the pines back in the forest Winterfell inhabited. Feeling restless, today he'd let his paws carry him away from too-familiar lands toward the redwood forest that was far less known to him. Kai was pleased at how small the trees made him feel, despite normally being content with being as large as he was. There was something weirdly freeing about seeming insignificant, weaving between their towering trunks. These trees were far older than he was, than anyone he could ever dream of meeting, and their power and stability wasn't at all lost on him.  

The sound of scratching pulled him from his stupor, and he lowered his head from his examination of the tall trees to search for the source of the sound. It was close, but it was hard to tell just what it was. Curious, he followed the source of the sound - and even from a distance he felt a memory begin to resurface. It wasn't often he met wolves with coats even half as lovely as hers. Though she'd been a child when they'd met, he knew he wasn't mistaken in his memory. "Aerndis, wasn't it?" Kai called out with a grin, pleased to see a familiar face, regardless of how brief their interaction had been. Wide paws carried him toward her, briefly focusing on the tree that she'd been digging at and wondering just what she was up to.