The Armada Warlord had taken one of his pupils out of the Armada territory on a day journey. A chance to stretch both their legs, and fight in territory that was not familiar to either of them. The Armada hadn’t been hit too badly with snow, the beach especially seemed to keep the cold at bay. Redbud Nook was not so lucky, and a decent layer of the stuff covered the territory beneath them. It was going to make for an interesting match. He had Tamsyn running drills, repeating moves, and getting accustomed to the feel of her body in battle. The wind had begun to pick up, and it tossed about some of the more loose snow around their feet. He ignored it, as he did most things that he felt did not concern him. When the wind picked up a little more, the snow that was being thrown around made visibility a little harder. He debated keeping them going, but in the end decided against it. They weren’t in the Armada territory, and he didn’t want to get stuck out here. He relaxed his stance, and was just about to order them back to the Armada, when the storm suddenly kicked up in earnest, and visibility was lost. He pressed himself closer to Tamsyn, shielding her as much as he could from the twirling snow. He turned his head to her. “Don’t panic, stay beside me!” he ordered over the wind. "Speech"

Tamsyn had jumped at the chance to train with Sirius again when he offered to take her out to train somewhere outside of the Armada territory. It was many of her favorite things - practicing and training and getting to do a bit of traveling with the added benefit of doing it with a wolf she considered a mentor. The snow added a whole new element to the usual drills, making it slightly more difficult to move and freezing her paw pads so it was harder to feel her feet on the ground. It was stuff she worked through the longer they were out here, but it did take her a while to really adapt to it. She was too focused on her training to really pay much attention to the wind as it began to kick up snow around them. If Sirius wasn't concerned then neither was she. She finished one set of drills and was about to ask what was next when she realized how badly the storm had snuck up on them. She blinked and squinted as she tried to look through the flurry of snow, but it was impossible. Their visibility was minimal and getting worse by the second. She was glad for Sirius' larger form as she huddled next to him, her ears flicking back as she kept close to him. She certainly wasn't one to disobey his orders normally, but now certainly wasn't a time to start. "There's got to be some cover around here somewhere!" she called back, still trying to see anything though the blizzard.

Sirius tried to run through his mental imagery of the Redbud nook - but the whole point of it was a territory new to the both of them. He silently cursed himself for not scouting it out more carefully before setting up his match for them. He knew the treeline, he knew the path of flat that they stood in now, and little else. They could attempt to make their way back towards the Armada, but couldn’t be guided by scent or sight. They could just as likely find themselves at the base of the volcano. “Let’s move, stay with me” he was not going to let the smaller wolf drop away from him in this mess. He would never forgive himself if anything happened to her. She was his charge, and he would see her home in one piece. They couldn’t stay here, the snow was building up around them, and he thought he could at least get them to the treeline. Perhaps the Redbuds could offer them some protection, and at least keep them from getting buried alive. He began to move carefully, slowly, towards where he suspected them to be. He kept his steps short, but always moved his forpaws before her, trying to stomp down the snow so she didn’t fall through any drifts. She was the single spot of warmth against the cold world raging around them. He had never been in a snowstorm before, all he could do was keep moving and try to keep them alive. "Speech"

Tamsyn shuffled through the snow, keeping as close to Sirius' side as she could so she wouldn't loose track of him in this blizzard. She had never really experienced weather like this. Even when she had been exploring the northern parts of Boreas the weather had been fairly mild and her old home before she came here had very light winters. The sudden blizzard caught her off guard and the only thing she felt like she could do was keep close to Sirius and hope it passed soon or at least eased up so that they could see which way they should go to get home. Eventually a thin, dark form appeared in her view and as they continued to shuffle closer she realized it was one of the sparsely placed trees of the Redbud Nook. It wasn't much cover, but it was something solid in the sea of snow that otherwise felt endless. It gave her some kind of sense that they were making progress as they walked past that tree and eventually came across another and another. She remembered then that she had passed through the nook at one point on her way to investigate the volcanic mountain and wondered to herself if there was any caves near the bottom of the mountain that they could find refuge in. "We might have better luck finding cover if we can get closer to the mountains!" she yelled over the wind, still sticking close to his side. Maybe they hadn't gone as far as she thought they had, but she thought that if they had been heading back toward the Armada and Ashen lands they would have at least come across the hot springs by now so they must be moving toward the mountains.

At that point, Sirius was up to here for any suggestions. They made it to the treeline, but the tall, thin things offered little to no cover. At least it was a marking point, something other than bleak white and whistling wind. He had hoped for better than this, but they scarcely seemed to stop the wind. “It’s worth a try!” He agreed, turning his head towards her for a moment, putting it between the place between their two coats, and breathing in deeply. He felt like he was choking on snow, and it was hard to get a good breath. He steeled himself, checking over Tamsyn with his eyes, to ensure she didn’t look fatigued, and continued onwards. Once more he carved a path for her through the rising snow, holding tightly to her side, and doing his best to look ahead, to find something better than this horrible storm. Each step was starting to get harder, pushing through the soft, deep snow began to feel more like wadding. Just as he was working up frustration, he saw something moving ahead of them. He paused, tensing, and the figure moved closer. It was upright, waddling on two legs, with a thick coat, layered with white snow. It waved a paw at them, and he thought surely he had to be hallucinating. “You see that?” he confirmed with Tamsyn. It appeared to be some sort of baby… or miniature bear waddling towards them. "Speech"

The longer they waded through this snow and blizzard the harder it got. It didn't help that she was already pretty worn out by the hard training she had just been doing. She did her best to hide it and just focus on getting through this. Worrying about how sore her muscles were certainly wasn't going to help either of them. The snow hindering their sight and breathing was a much bigger issue. She appreciated that he was helping to clear a path for her since her legs were not nearly as long as his, but she knew they couldn't go on like this for too much farther. She didn't notice the figure ahead of them until she realized Sirius had stopped and she glanced from him and then to their path. She squinted though the flurry of snow, wondering for a moment if maybe she had just been seeing things until Sirius asked if she had seen it as well. "Yeah," she agreed uncertainly. It seemed like a bear of some kind, but much smaller than the ones she had seen. "We might as well follow it!" she finally decided, wondering if they had any other choice at this point. If it could somehow get them to some kind of cover then she couldn't turn that down.

Sirius frowned, on edge, and unwilling to trust it wasn’t a trap. He tensed, considering leading them away, but instead his eyes found Tamsyn, and he would see the heavy breathing of her side, the tiredness in her body. He let out a soft, frustrated sigh. He had led her into this, he had a responsibility to lead her out. With no better option before them, he took her advice, and trusted she had a better of read of people then he did. She had to fill in for Zee for his sense of right and wrong. His own instinct was to trust everything in a bad situation meant harm to them. With a frustrated sigh, he continued onwards, following the slowly moving figure of what he was quite certain was a bear, as it lead them further through the trees. Some time later- time being rather a difficult thing to follow when every step was laborious, and the air itself seemed to be against them. - they would finally see the shape of rocks against the white. The bear stopped at a hole in the rocky wall, and vanished inside. Sirius gently pushed Tamsyn up against the wall before the entrance. “Stay here” he ordered, before slipping inside himself. His hackles were raised, and he was prepared for the worst. Instead, the tiny bear curled up on something soft in a far corner from them, and the rest of the small cave was empty. “It’s safe!” he called, keeping himself between the bear and his wolf. "Speech"

She could tell Sirius was hesitant at best about following the bear, if that indeed what it was, but it seemed like the only good option at this point. They could keep trying to move though it on their own, but that ran the risk of them not finding the end of it before they worse themselves out. Sirius seemed to accept her advice and continued to trudge forward, the shape of the bear staying just in view. Soon enough a rock facing appeared in front of them though the snow and she felt a very small victory in knowing the territory well enough to be able to guess where things were. She had been working on her ability to navigate for a while and it finally came in handy. Tamsyn gave a small nod when he nudged her to stay outside of the cave for a moment as he ducked inside, the full force of the wind hitting her without him at her side. Luckily, she didn't have to wait long and she soon heard him calling out that it was safe for her to go in. She gratefully ducked into the shelter with a heavy sigh. She didn't care how odd it was that a bear had led them here - she was just grateful to be out of that storm. She tried to shake off some of the snow that was clinging to her fur, but there was still plenty that had frozen onto the hairs and hung in clumps around her form, especially around her legs. Tam sat back on her haunches, feeling her muscles ache and tremble from the exertion of making it this far. Her mint gaze lifted from her icy limbs to look at the bear that had rescued them. It really was a tiny bear, at least in comparison to what she was used to, but she didn't get the sense that it was a cub. It seemed like an adult, just much smaller or perhaps a different breed. "Um... Thank you," she said without really knowing if it would be able to understand her. She knew lots of wolves had companions, Resin included, but she wasn't sure if they had been able to speak the same language as them from the start or if that was something they had to be taught.

He glanced at the figure, knowing she was awake, and curious about them, just as he was of her. What he didn’t understand, was why the creature lay on its furs, and let them have the run of her den. It was all a very strange situation. But, now that he was safe, he stomped the snow from his coat, and shook it out near the entrance. He was glad to be out of the cold, and there was an almost warmth to the den around them. Perhaps it was kept warm from something in the volcano. He could only guess.

He was also impressed that Tamsyn had guessed the mountains might be their safety point, and that was now exactly where they were. ”I’m lucky I had along a navigator” he murmured quietly to his friend. Keeping his voice soft, and his eyes on the miniature bear.

When he did turn his gaze to Tam, he would find her sitting on her haunches, clumps of snow frozen to her coat. She, unlike the Warlord, would thank the bear. Just as he had if Zee was with them, he left pleasantries to her. Instead, he moved closer to Tamsyn, pulling her closer. “Stick close to me, i’ll keep you warm” he promised. If she obeyed, he would curl around her, and begin to groom the snow from her coat.
The bear would rise, and he turned his attention to it, with a threatening growl.

Tamsyn smiled a little when Sirius mentioned how he had been lucky to have a navigator with him. Her exploring had come purely from enjoying the act of it and enjoying learning more about this new place she had chosen for her home, but it had turned out to be extremely helpful in this instance. Perhaps she should put a bit more time into those studies as well once she felt more confident with her fighting abilities. "I'm just glad my guess was right," she replied with a bashful grin. Taking compliments wasn't exactly her strong suit. When he instructed to stick closely to him to keep warm she didn't second guess it, instead shifting closer greatly while she continued to thaw from being out in the terrible winter weather. She picked a few of the larger clumps of snow and ice from his shoulder and scruff as well while he was grooming her coat. She was content to do this for a few moments until she noticed him growling. She turned her eyes up to the bear again, seeing that it had stood and was facing them. It had incredibly interesting markings and coloring for a bear and her ears flicked guiltily from Sirius growling at her. "No, don't growl," she pleaded, giving the Warlord a glance as she hoped maybe to calm down her protective friend a bit. "I think it's friendly. After all, it did lead us here though a snow storm." She kept her voice soft, just for his ears until she looked at the fluffy bear again with a small smile. "Hello," she began, still uncertain of how or if she could communicate with it. "Can you understand me?"

The Warlord, very clearly - to himself, at least - was using Tamsyn as his moral compass. He was on edge, and knew the threat from the storm could kill them if they were forced out into it once more. This cave was the only shelter they had, and he could not understand the intentions of the bear. Had it intended to lead them here? Was it a trap? He wasn’t finding it easy to relax, and tending to his wolf was the only thing keeping him from turning the growls into something worse.

When she gently chastised him for his growling, he fell silent, flicking an ear in acknowledgment to Tamsyn. If that bear made one threatening move to Tamsyn however, it was going down.

The bear, standing on two back legs, waved a paw at Tamsyn, offering a friendly smile to her strange maw, and shrugging. It was clear she did not understand them, but enjoyed the sound of the wolves voices regardless. She didn’t even seem that stressed about the Warlords previous growl, or his immense size.

It waddled a little closer on its back legs, and Sirius moved a little more between Tamsyn and it, but didn’t start to growl once more. “I don’t like it, Tam. Why would it lead us here?” he muttered softly.

Logically, she knew Sirius had a right to be concerned about being trapped by the storm in a cave with a predator, but... she was just so cute. Tamsyn grinned when the small bear gave her a wave while standing on her back legs, looking absolutely adorable with its fluffy ivory and dark gray fur. She chuckled softly and lifted a paw to wave back to her, deciding from the shrug she was given that she couldn't understand what they were saying. She still seemed incredibly friendly all the same and it made Tamsyn relax even though Sirius seemed to be doing the exact opposite. Tamsyn pouted a little when the Warlord started to put himself between her and the bear when it began to waddle a bit closer. "I think she was just trying to help," she replied with a frown. At least in her mind, if the bear had wanted to hurt them she probably would have by now or would have at least shown some kind of aggression toward them. Instead she was being incredibly cute with those waddling steps on her back legs. Tam was sure she could still be as dangerous as a normal bear despite her smaller size, but she didn't show the same kind of aggressiveness she had seen from other bears. She leaned around Sirius so that she could give their host another warm smile, lifting a forepaw to give her another wave. She got an idea, but she wasn't sure how in to it Sirius would be given how apprehensive he was around the bear at this point. "You know... She might be a good partner for you if she likes us as much as she seems to," she suggested, giving him a curious glance to see what he thought about having a small bear as a companion.

Tamsyn seemed determined to trust the bear, and relax in the almost-warm cave out of the storm. He glared at the bear, but backed down fully. The threat would have to be in his eyes, the last thing he wanted to do was upset the smaller warrior he had dragged into this. Besides, the day Sirius couldn’t wipe the floor with a baby bear, was the day he hung up his crown and resigned from his position as Warlord. Settling down, and making no threatening motion to the bear only encouraged her. She came closer, coming down to all fours near the two wolves. She paused, and then sad down on her bum, and slid her weight forward to her for legs, until she was lying on her belly, an inch from Tam’s face, and Seer’s paw. She looked at the two wolves, grinned, and then closed her eyes. Her breathing instantly smoothed out, and it was clear she intended to sleep. Sirius shook his head, bewildered, and a little amused. She was certainly crazy, ignoring all of his earlier signs of aggression. Allowing them into her cave, and trusting them enough to sleep so close to them. Crazy. “Bears.” he muttered softly, as through it was a curse. "Speech"

Tamsyn watched with a delighted grin as their new bear friend, or at least as she saw her, moved even closer and slid down to the floor of the cave, coming incredibly close to her. Her tail wagged happily behind her while she watched the bear begin to drift off to sleep as if she didn't have a care in the world and Tam couldn't help but giggle at the Warlord's grumbling. The sudden and potentially deadly winter storm was nearly forgotten as she enjoyed the rare and utterly adorable interaction they had with this little bear. She was very tempted to cuddle up to the little bear since she was sure that she would be very warm and nice to snuggle with, but Tam resisted for now. She was sure Sirius probably thought she was insane as it was so she wouldn't push her luck. "We can bring her back with us when the storm calms down, right?" she asked, looking back up at Sirius with a huge grin - looking like a kid that had just brought home a stray puppy to their parents and was asking to keep it. She kept her voice pretty soft, not wanting to disturb the now peacefully sleeping bear. "You should definitely keep her as one of your companions! She's so cute!" Maybe that wasn't the top qualifications of being a companion, but she certainly didn't care. Tamsyn was nearly determined to figure out a way to bring the bear back with her whether Sirius agreed or not. She looked back at the sleeping bear with a slight tilt to her head. "What would you name her?" she asked, knowing now much harder it would be to leave the bear behind if they gave her a name.

Sirius, who had settled his head into his paws, raised it again, to give Tamsyn an incredulous expression. “Bring her back?” he asked, surely he had misheard her. As they spoke, the bear's little tuffy tail began to wag, though she didn’t open her eyes. He didn’t say anything else for a moment, but Tam wasn’t finished with him yet. She pointed out she would be a good companion, and Sirius did consider that for a moment. Bast had finished her training, and was a successful fighter, he supposed he could take on the job of training another. The bear did look young, but he could also tell that wasn’t the reason for her size. Tam seemed to be already considering it a done deal, and asked what he would name her. He snorted softly in amusement, shaking his head at crazy wolves and bears. “Alright, after the storm lets up, we’ll see if she’ll follow without a fuss. No point naming her before then” he didn’t want Tam to get attached, and he wasn’t dragging an unwilling bear all the way home. "Speech"

Tamsyn smirked a little at Sirius' attempts to dampen her enthusiasm even though she was already certain it was a done deal. Fine, she replied teasingly with a soft chuckle. She looked back at the bear enviously, a bit jealous of how she seemed to be able to just doze off without a care. As tired as she was from the training they had been doing and from the track through the storm to get here, she still didn't think she could sleep as easily as this bear could. Sleep had started coming more easily since she got settled in the Armada and met Resin, but there was many years of her life when sleep was a scarce and uneasy thing. She smiled a little at how innocent their new bear friend seemed as it snoozed near them and wondered what that must be like. Turning her mint eyes toward the entrance of the cave, she looked out at the flurry of snow that continued to fall outside. The wind at least seemed to be calming down a bit, but it was snowing fairly heavily still. It made her wonder how deep the snow would be when they finally got out of here. "Thank you for training with me again, by the way," she commented, looking back to Sirius with a smile. "I think I might just get the hang of this fighting thing after all." She chuckled softly and glanced down toward the floor of the cave thoughtfully. If someone had told her even just a few months ago that she would be learning how to fight and actually be enjoying it she would have told them they were crazy. Now that she was actually getting some more experience under her belt she was actually beginning to believe that she might be able to defend herself and be useful to the pack she had stumbled into.