Taking in the rolling landscape with his keen gaze, Erik can see why a pack would like it so much. It probably didn't get as cold as the Maw did. Heck, it didn't even seem humid, like back home in Auster. The weather in Monument Rapids, especially today, seemed to be pretty nice. With the Steppe so near, he guessed this was what dad talked about when it came to good dirt too. Er, good land? Something like that. There was something else about the good land being good for the livestock, and his father did seem to be pretty concerned with the sheep lately.
"Cove's pretty too," Erik wagged his tail lightly at his haunches. He and his siblings had been around when Ursa and hers were born. The early days playing on the beach, splashing around... it was nice. Nice, like the breeze that lifted and played in his inky coat. Nice, like the way her voice sounded as they walked along the shallows, exploring in the afternoon sunlight. Though Erik would need to return home, home-home, to Auster soon... he was trying to forget that part. Instead, he would walk beside Ursa, splashing in the shallows of the river, gaze keen as they wandered north.
"M'stepma wanted th'mountain so..." Erik gave a chuckle, lifted his eyebrows. Hell, he'd figured out dad's next move probably before he had. Though the boy felt weird about the whole thing, Tenshi had been good to him. She was a healer, not unlike his mother, and had a nice way about her. She was hard to dislike, not that Erik had tried all that hard to dislike her. At the next rise in the land, Erik paused to take another bearing. In the not-so-distant distance, he could see the familiar shapes of the stones within the Steppe. Back the way they'd come, and even farther back, he could see the more dangerous parts of the Rapids. To his right, Valta's lands. To his left, his father's. What an interesting vantage point. He finds himself drawn into it, and Erik stood to take it all in for a long moment.
"Ursa..." he trails off, trying to figure out if he's got the right words. "Morg'n'me're goin' back't Tojo soon." He shifts his weight, over his paws, maybe more emotion than he would have owned up to in his words. Winter had melted away, which meant that Auster would have the better climate for both of their conditions. But then... all of his friends were here. Why did Erik's chest feel funny when he thought about leaving them?
"Speech"
