Corbie had stayed overnight at the border of Tornach's family's pack to give herself some time to plan her trip. She'd chosen deliberately to stay in the estuary side of Valhalla's borders, because as a lifelong hunter she'd learned a very important fact.

Songbirds were loud, annoying, and when you bundled flocks of them in with flocks of waterfowl, you were going to be up with the sun.

When the racket of this natural alarm clock penetrated the shroud of sleep, Corbie sighed and stretched, blinking minty eyes open to view the winter sun's rays glittering on the cold waters of the estuary. She was traveling light for speed, so she had nothing to pack as she rose for the morning. The movement startled a duck and sent him quacking for the water, and started an even louder ruckus amongst the birds as they took alarm.

Ignoring them, she began picking her way across the marshy lands, edging close to the border to follow it back around to firmer, drier land.

Trespassers are to be met with fang. Curious wolves with words. Torben had sighed the other wolf and lumbered toward her best he could, aware of the sun's rays and feeling unnaturally sluggish due to them. Tired but determined to greet the other, he moved at a very obvious pace and directly at them. He wasn't one to sneak around anyway. She smelt of Valhalla's border and that was concerning. Especially since she seemed to be following it. "Lo there" he rumbled to her, lifting a pale brow as he neared. The Avian was not part of their territory, even if it was close. It would be rude to ask if she had business with Valhalla, even if he had a cause to be... concerned. This was not their land. She seemed to be scouting it though. Maybe he should report this to Ardyn afterward. Or perhaps, there was more than met the eye with this one. SPEECH HERE

Corbie glanced up to see a veritable giant lumbering towards her through the swampy land, every inch as big as Ardyn but pale, pink skinned and red eyed to the Valhallan alpha's black and fiery colors. Corbie watched him with quiet curiosity as he rumbled out to her. "Hello," she said in return. A twitch of her nose brought the Valhallan scent to her, sharper and fresher than the borders. "You are one of Valhalla's wolves - patrolling beyond the borders?" There was no hint of accusation in her tone, or suspicion, just curiosity and interest. She had never been part of a pack before, and she had no metric of what to expect from them, so everything she learned about them was new and intriguing to her.

"Aye, that I am. And aye, I am of Valhalla." He slowed his pace along the scent line here, noting her curiosity about the packs. Not particularly Valhalla either. Interesting. He resisted pointing out that a vagabond along the pack's border was cause for suspicion. She didn't seem to be a threat, merely asking questions and being curious as stated. "Torben" he introduced himself with a fleeting smile. The last time he got close to another wolf, she had up and left. Maybe it was easier to just be there for folks when they needed you and expect nothing in return... "ye haven't seen a white-black woman have ye?" Voodoo said she had fun, so he expected her to seek him out. But nobody came. He was disappointed. He hoped he hadn't done anything untoward, under the influence of drugs. Maybe he should seek her out. They were friends, right? "Me friend" he continued as an explanation "haven't seen her in a few days. Wondered if she's okay." SPEECH HERE

The male admitted both to being Valhalla, and to patrolling beyond the border. Corbie was intrigued, as he didn't seem to think there was anything odd about that but she had always assumed that pack borders were there specifically to mark the patrolled area, and that they wouldn't need to be concerned about what happened outside them. The idea that they did made her reconsider that assumption and potentially put new value on the idea of patrolling out further than the borders. "Corbie. It's a pleasure," she gave her new in return. His question made her blink and glance down at her white-and-black body, them back up at him with a wry smile and a chuckle. "You mean other than myself, I imagine?" But she shook her head. "I'm afraid I haven't, sorry. Is that why you are patrolling out here instead of the border?" she added curiously.

"Other than ye, aye" he couldn't help but chuckle "she's more white on the front, black on t' back" he added, but Corbie didn't seem to have seen her. He bit back a sigh and continued on with their conversation "that and fer something to do" he admitted with a shrug of his shoulders "got bit of 'me' time today." And he didn't know what to do about it, honestly. He felt like an outsider in Valhalla still. So where was Voodoo? Maybe he shouldn't crowd her. Seemed a free spirit, he just worried about his friends. "Spring'll make this place a ruckus" he commented about the Avian Estuary "gonna enjoy the peace while I can" He chuckled deeply. Maybe he'd be woken up by the annoying call of birds in spring? It was very close to Valhalla's borders. It would make for good hunting, though. He should think about making a pack hunt sometime. SPEECH HERE

Torben seemed quite disappointed that she hadn't seen his friend, and Corbie swallowed a knowing grin. She might not have a lot of experience with people - and next to none with love - but she didn't think that someone looked like that for someone who was just a friend. But she didn't want to embarrass him, so instead of grinning she kept a serious expression as she nodded. "I hope you find her," she said. "It's good to have friends around you."

She tilted her head to the side, looking around at the estuary around them. "Yes, it will be an interesting place to visit again when there are more birds. I used the ducks to wake myself this morning, and that was quite loud enough for that." She gave a little chuckle.

Was he, daresay, hung up on Voodoo? She was a pretty young thing, had a sparkling personality... But he knew better. They were friends, and nothing more. Even if he couldn't remember the night they shared that well, he hadn't expected anything from it but friendship and someone to speak to sometimes. Valhalla was a bit lonely right now. Everyone knew each other, and he found it difficult to slip into their familiarity. So perhaps he clung to Voodoo's memory because she had been kind to him. "It is" he agreed with Corbie "and ye, it will" he added about the location "ducks, aye?" Torben hummed thoughtfully "then it's closer t' spring than I thought" The birds didn't stick around in winter unless they were hurrying back north "forgive me for askin', Corbie" he dipped his head apologetically "ye seem to know of Valhalla. Were ye... a former member? Or ye have family here?" He wanted to know more about other wolves, even strangers. It helped to have friends, she said so herself. Would they become friends, or was this just two ships... passing by? "Ye don't have to tell me true" Torben added. SPEECH HERE

Corbie nodded. "They stop here on their way up to the north, so they come by sooner. Spring comes sooner in the west than some other places. Too arid for the air to stay cold as long I suppose. It can sneak up on you of you aren't used to it.." She only had vague memories of life before Tornach had found her, and they were colored by a pup's poor perception of time, so she didn't know for herself whether that was true. A lot of her knowledge of life away from her home came from Tornach and Tam - she had never lived anywhere but the west as far as she could accurately remember.

Torben's gentle interrogation made her smile. "Oh I don't mind questions. I was orphaned when I was a young pup. The male who rescued and raised me was Tornach Adravendi, Aurielle's uncle. So I am... A friend of the family, I suppose." Tornach had never formally adopted her, just acted as her guardian, so she didn't really consider the Adravendi to be family but they were a link to Tornach,, and it was nice to visit with those who remembered him as fondly as she did.

She knew about birds. More than he did. Was Corbie a hunter, following the trail of migration like a second nature? He resisted asking about her skills, finding it to be rude. She did name-drop Aurielle and a man he didn't know. Torben pondered, recalling he had heard the surname before. Caelia was one of the family. "I see" he remarked, finding he really had no questions at the moment regarding her past. It was a sad thought to be orphaned. "I don't rightly have a family; blood family anyway" he confessed, knowing Valhalla was close-lipped about pack business though not personally. He could say his piece without bad things happening "washed ashore up north bout a month ago" he added "m' folks... m' community. All taken by a bandit raid" He shook his head "if any live, I ain't the knowledge for it." SPEECH HERE

"I'm so sorry to hear that," she said, her expression crumpling in concern for him. "That's terrible." Stranger or no, the brief tale roused her empathy. Nothing she could do or say would make it better, though, so she didn't quite know how to express that empathy. She hesitated, then said tentatively, "I am glad that you were able to find a home in Valhalla when you needed it. I don't know them well, but from what I learned from Tornach they're good people. They'll take care of you best they can." Tornach always had, for her. He'd never stopped caring about others, even though what he'd been through could have made him bitter and angry.

"Thank ye." More out of the conversation, polite or brooding, he responded. Torben had come to terms with the raid and the death. He had accepted it as fact; there was no use to dwell on it in the presence of others. Not when he could do that in private, alone in his den at Valhalla. He dipped his head to Corbie, appreciative of her sympathy. "If ye don't mind" he added "what was Tornach like? Can ye tell me?" Corbie had used 'was' instead of 'is' so he assumed Tornach had passed on. He waited for her to answer or decline to answer. Either way, he was just curious about former members of the pack. If they moved on, died... He would drink one in their honor. SPEECH HERE

Perhaps he just wanted to change the subject, or maybe he really just did want to know, but no one had every really asked her about Tornach before. Most everyone she knew had known him longer even than she had. She blinked, surprised, and gave it a moment of thought. "Tornach was... he was the kind of person who cared, very deeply, about what was right. It gave him a lot of trouble, I guess. He didn't like packs - thought that they were inherently flawed and insular ways to live and that that they would inevitably corrupt those in power." She hesitated, wondering for a moment at that. Clearly leadership didn't inevitably corrupt others just because they led packs, or there wouldn't be good packs at all. They were all just doing their best, which was all anyone could ever do. It was sad that he'd never been able to get over his trauma enough to let that go. She didn't share his belief, but wondered if he'd have disapproved of her interest in packs. Well, even parents could not dictate how different their offspring's beliefs were, and it was up to her to decide that for herself. She shook off the thought, and looked back to Torben. "Despite that he was very driven to help others when he could. He had a tendency to collect strays," she added with a self-deprecating smile. "From what I understand that drive to help those who need it, no matter what, kind of runs in his family."

"He sounded like a good man." Torben didn't like to dwell on things. Especially his own trauma. He felt there was little need to do such a thing, considering he could not change what happened. If he could, surely, he would be able to dwell and try to shift what could be changed. He understood Tornach's views on packs too, for what it was worth. "I haven't ever been in a pack before now" he told Corbie "me folks made up a community of people, and we existed in harmony. A little settlement with various families" He didn't bother trying to add in the whole mountain-dwelling folks or the wolves in the woods. That would confuse her. "we didn't even have a name for t' word 'pack'." But he knew wolves, from stories and tales, lived in them. Beyond the land, he had come to once call home, lay a burned community. "Folks travelin' would encounter packs" he uttered "but they were small and... mostly infightin'." SPEECH HERE

Corbie listened with fascination as Torben began to open up a little, telling her about the sort of community he'd grown up in. It sounded so... ideal. It sounded like the kind of place Tornach would have genuinely loved.

She nodded when he described how the packs travelers in his past had been. Though the packs here didn't do much fighting within themselves, the politics seemed tense and complex. The day before she had spoken with Ardyn, and the political climate he'd described to her had seemed... well, tense, and complex.

"That sounds like a wonderful way to live," she said wistfully. "A community of people and families who come together to live peacefully. Working together instead of struggling separately."

That. That was what she wanted for herself someday. Not a nomadic band, not a traditional pack, but... that. A community.

Focusing back on Tornach she smiled apologetically for her attention drifting. "It sounds like a very different sort of life than here. How are you adjusting?"

He nodded, looking pained at the moment and almost wistful. "It's an adjustment, t' be sure" he admitted to Corbie "we ain't ever had a king" Keeping in mind before, the settlers had been under the banner of one before breaking off "callin' anyone one is... tricky." Gods before mortal kings, as they had said upon a time. But he didn't say anything bad about Ardyn. Just that he didn't like calling a mortal anything other than their gender and name. Perhaps he wasn't suited to pack life. Perhaps he should move on. Maybe... "What about ye?" he asked the woman "yer a vagabond" he didn't say it accusingly though "do ye wish to settle down?" Or did she... Want to wander a bit more? SPEECH HERE