Though summer had reached the lower latitudes, even in the north, here the land lay locked in the eternal winter of the far north. It was the world she had been born to inhabit, the same sort of world her kind had inhabited for untold generations. Long before humans had died out... long before the human species had even existed... her kind had been here, lived and loved and fought and died here. Her gods had existed long before humans had begun their worship - even the clumsy, naked ape-creatures had recognized it, with their version of Odin flanked by two loyal wolves. She felt closest to the All-father, her Father, here in the eternal cold. There were so many places here that were clearly god-touched, she mused as she set paw upon the frozen lake and watched the familiar luminescence flare to life beneath the pressure of her weight. The icy arches and spires were as worthy of attention and admiration as the colorful lights beneath the ice, in many ways a more beautiful and worthy temple than any hof humans had built in their graceless worship.

The slender, wraithlike godi stared contemplatively over the ice, watching the lights of the ice play merrily with the swirling gold smoke her Otherworldly vision attributed to this place, then lifted her muzzle to howl, the sweet voice of wolfsong, a prayer of kinship and thankfulness offered to the gods.

A soft croon rose over the landscape. There was tenderness in the song that begged their attention. The young wolf turned away from the stones gathered in the snow. They had been sniffing curiously at the fairy ring, having rarely seen them so far from the warm areas to the south. Glancing about at the neighbouring landmarks, they made a mental note of the location so that they could return later. Broad paws slipped easily over the thin layer of snow, headed in the direction from which the call had arisen. The thought never occurred to them that perhaps the source of the song wouldn't want to be bothered. Instead, curiosity drove them forth. With such long limbs as they had, the trip went smoothly. Pallid form blended seamlessly into the environment, champagne bodice slinking across the snow. Elders of the land might recall a rose hued king of the north, gazing upon their elegant visage as it moved through the snow. However, it had been a long time since his reign. No one remembered the northern king anymore. The lake stretched on before their eyes, twisting ice and magnificent light sparking up all around. As they stepped foot upon the thick ice, mismatched gaze searched for whoever might have called out a short while ago. As they strode easily across the ice, their eyes found a smaller form among the curved spires of crystal ice. "Pardom me," they called out softly, heavy accent roughening their voice. "was it you who howled just now? It was quite a song." "speech" JUST A FULL TANK AWAY FROM FREEDOM

Her song still fading away into echoes, she was watching the swirling lights once again when a soft voice drew her attention away. She turned her head silently to watch the wolf who approached. A ghostly-pale thing with pink skin, young but tall, as tall as Raesa had been. After a moment Alfrun smiled, realizing that the girl's coloring was nearly the opposite of her own. Where she was her mother's gray and black with a splash of white covering eye, a starburst of blue engulfing much of the mercury of the eye that would have otherwise matched her other one, the female was pale all over but for a splash of gray over one silver eye while her other was the rose-pink of an albino. Her accent was thick, similar to Alfrun's family but not the same. She bore the leaf-green aura of a healer, but there was... something more. Something in the way the gold smoke played with the green swirling around her. "It was," she said finally, her voice a dreamy hum. "I sang to the gods a message of love."

ooc. left ya hanging for a month, I'm mad sorry! When the smaller wolf turned to face them, she had a far off look to her. The youth couldn't help but notice the way that she moved, as though swaying on invisible breezes that carried her. There was little time to contemplate her nature, her voice drew away any thoughts in the young wolf's mind. "It was," she said softly, her voice as faraway as her gaze. "I sang to the gods a message of love." This, somehow, was foreign to the young shaman. Brow would quirk, not rudely, but simply curious. This was not something that Olya did, as far as they could tell. Though the lilt in this female's voice was similar to their mother's side, it wasn't quite.. right. "You sing to your gods?" They questioned, crown tilting to one side. "Is that how you pray?" They continued along that vein, unable to stop themself. After all, this was new. It was interesting. They wanted to know more. But first.. manners. "I don't mean to pry, but I'm a shaman in my clan, and I'm curious to see how others interact with their gods. I've never thought to sing to them before." "speech" JUST A FULL TANK AWAY FROM FREEDOM

Alfrun blinked at the stranger as she spoke, then tilted her head in a delicate, birdlike gesture. "I suppose," she mused aloud dreamily. "I suppose it is, one way of many. Surely the elder kin appreciate music in their name as much as we do." She bobbed her head, let her gaze drift unfocused over the lights that flickered beneath their paws at every movement. "There are places where it seems the gods walk more closely beside us. I have always felt the north to be such a place, but this one even more so." She bestowed a dreamy, disfigured smile on the lights, and on the columns of ice that rose around them. "They have given me this - it seems only right to give to them as well." She did not comment on the woman's claim to be a shaman, or the insinuation that there were other gods. Certainly there could be other gods - where not the Vanir such a group, before the Aesir met them in war? But other gods were beneath her notice, and she blithely ignored them in favor of her own.