After having departed Incendium's territories without a successful conversation with whoever their alpha was, Artorias and Ulric started making the trek around the northern tundras to loop around the mountain ranges bound for Fireside's territories. Artorias took the lead, charting their course. After watching Ulric struggle with navigating the mountains near Abaven's lands, he decided the less they traveled sloped terrain, the better. But as they wandered past the northern shores, Artorias caught something quite peculiar out of the corner of his eye. A double take to confirm, and yep, there was a massive strip of ice running across the ocean as far as the eye could see. The dark-furred boy slowed his pace until he had come to a stop, gazing at the bridge made of ice with curiosity. Had this always existed here? Never before had he heard of such a thing, yet here it was, clear as day.

"Ulric, look," said Artorias, motioning to his Aegis towards the ice bridge. Amber eyes narrowed as he peered and scrutinized it from a distance. "Has this always been here? Where do you suppose it goes to?" Ulric was far more seasoned and worldly than he was. Maybe the older wolf would have an inkling as to what they were looking at.

"Artorias Carpathius"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
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Ulric had no qualms with letting Artorias lead. Navigating had never been his strong suit and the boy seemed to take after his mother in a natural talent for the subject so he was more than willing to default to Artorias' lead. He'd chime in whenever he recognized a route he had once taken, but otherwise he just tried to get through the north as quickly as possible. He didn't remember being this sensitive to the cold the last time he was up north and he couldn't tell if their time living in Auster had made him more sensitive or if it was just part of getting older, but either way, he wasn't thrilled about being in the ice and snow. Plus, on top of it, the Incindium alpha hadn't even answered their call so the trip up here felt useless.

As they were moving through the northern lands, he noticed Artorias slow and stare off into the distance for a moment, causing him to do the same. His silver gaze landed on the path that stretched out into the ocean, seemingly made of ice. He shook his head to the question of it being there before, saying, "No, this is the first time I've seen it. It looks like the bifrost that goes down to Auster, but... ice." He waved a paw toward the strange landscape, adding, "Do you want to go check it out? We're not in a hurry."

Ulric Adravendi

The moment Ulric stated that he had never seen the strange ice bridge before, then of course Artorias had wanted to go check it out! He loved seeing strange, new things in the world, and this was as strange as they came! He nodded to Ulric's question, but already his paws were leading the two of them down towards the rocky northern shore. Getting closer to the water, the wind seemed to pick up a bit, bitter coastal gales whipping around the bridge and tousling his fur. Artorias studied the ice as they came closer, paws crunching over small pebbles and stones until he reached the edge of the bridge. He gazed at it curiously, taking a tentative sniff, though why he had no idea. It was ice, of course it smelled like nothing.

Turning back to Ulric with a daring look in his eyes, Artorias lifted one paw and set it on the bridge. The ice was frigid against his paw pads, but still he pressed on. Moving slow to avoid slipping, which he almost did twice on his way up and narrowly avoided ending up facedown, the young wolf navigated the ice with cautious claws and steady motions. He made it a few steps over the ice, gazing down the length of the seemingly endless bridge. It just stretched into the horizon forever with no end in sight. Had the strange creatures they'd encountered this past season come to Boreas this way? If so, where had they come from? A strong whip of wind from down the ice bridge made Artorias flinch and recoil against the buffeting wind. There was definitely no way they could brave it enough to get to the other side, even if they had wanted to go.

Stepping backwards and trying not to slip, Artorias returned to the rocky shore, still gazing at the bridge with curiosity and wonder. "Ulric, are there lands beyond Boreas and Auster?" he asked, still looking out to the horizon beyond the ocean. His wanderlust in his spirit was coming out in full force, and the young Carpathius wolf was already trying to imagine how many other worlds existed beyond their knowledge. What would they look like? What sorts of creatures lived there?

"Artorias Carpathius"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
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He chuckled at the adventurous boy as he moved down toward the bridge before he even finished answering his question. He followed down behind him, careful paws carrying him over snow down a slope that brought them to the ocean's edge. As they drew closer to this mysterious ice bridge the wind grew stronger and stronger till it was buffeting and blowing his fur even just standing on the frozen shore. Ulric caught Art's daring glance and he remained at the start of the bridge, ready to jump in after the boy to pull him out of the water if need be. Luckily that wasn't necessary, but that didn't keep him from worrying about the boy all the same. Artorias might not be his child, but he cared about him as if he was.

The short excursion onto the bridge clearly told Artorias all he needed to know and soon enough the blue-marked boy came backing out onto the rocky shore beside him again. His gaze shifted from the curious ice bridge to his Baron when he questioned if there were other lands besides Boreas and Auster, giving a soft, thoughtful hum in response. "There definitely are. Whether there is any on the other side of this strip of ice isn't something I can say for sure, but I've been to lands beyond Boreas and Auster before." His time caring for his mother had largely been outside of these lands, but he realized that this was all the boy had ever known.

Ulric Adravendi

Ulric told him that there were other lands definitely outside Boreas and Auster and that he had been to some of those lands before. Already the wanderlust in Artorias was making him yearn to go see some of those lands and meet those wolves. Of course, with all his responsibilities and duties to his pack, that would just be a pipe dream. But the boy could dream... "Maybe someday I'll get to see some of the world..." he said, murmuring mostly to himself while he gazed out over the sea and across he endless ice bridge. Tearing his distant gaze from the horizon, Artorias found Ulric with his fiery eyes and motioned back towards the rest of Boreas with his head. "All right, I think we've detoured enough. Let's keep moving." Artorias led the charge back up the hill southbound for Fireside, eager to continue on their diplomatic ventures and meet some new wolves and see new lands.

"Artorias Carpathius"

One big happy family

Artorias has two ravens named Corbin and Eira and a fox named Argent. Assume they are within calling distance at all times.
As his mate, Briar may enter Artorias' threads unless marked Private.
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Ulric chuckled softly at Artorias day dreaming about seeing the lands beyond the ones in Auster and Boreas. He had never been much of an explorer himself, mostly just driven into these other lands by necessity to help his mother avoid the places that hurt her with the memories they carried, but he wasn't about to ruin Artorias' adventurous spirit. He looked out at the ice bridge one last time before nodding in agreement when Art mentioned that they should keep moving. "Yeah, lets get going... The quicker we get out of the north the better." As if to punctuate his point a strong gust of cold wind blew through and he shivered as he turned away from the shove and started moving inland, more than happy to be getting back to warmer lands.

Ulric Adravendi