It was not the first nor the last time that Audra would set eyes upon the bridge that crossed between Auster and Boreas. Normally she would not find any hesitation in moving over the sandy bridge to go explore the depths of Boreas. This time she did. With a pup in tow, Audra did not feel comfortable yet taking the young one all the way across. While it was summer here in Auster, she knew that winter would rage across that of Boreas. Unsure how bad their winter was this year, Audra would stay on this side. Her objective today was to show Thorn the Bifrost and let him explore the glimmering white sands.

Turning to the blue youngster that looked awfully like his father, Audra smiled. "Th-this is c-called the Bifrost," Audra's voice is warm and excited as she stepped to the side so he could get a good look. Not that it would be hard as the growing boy was already nearly larger than herself. "L-lots of wolves c-come here to f-fish and d-dig for clams," she turned to point a paw at the little spouts of water shooting up from the sand. "C-can you t-tell me anything else about th-this place?" Audra asks as she moves to walk along the beach of Auster's shore. Enjoying the warm and balmy ocean breeze, she smiles and lets her one good eye close for a moment.

A U D R A

Thorn was excited at a chance to go somewhere new.  He had wanted to see the land beyond the wildberry grove and now he had the chance.  The land bridge somehow seemed fitting to how he felt about exploring.  There was a whole world he had yet to see and it was as if this bridge told him to keep traveling forward that there would be excitement the further he went.  Thorn proudly carried his wooden sword in his mouth, it was exceedingly rare if the sword wasn’t with him.  It was a far cry from the quality of the wooden training swords but the boy had made this one by himself and with pride.

Really, that could be said ahead or behind though and surely the bridge eventually ended and widened out as it did in auster. “I know this separates us from another land called Boreas.  The wind is probably stronger here most of the time, cause there is nothing to block its path.” The boy lowered his sword to the sand so he could answer Audra’s question excited to show the bit he knew.  

Thorn picked up the sword and jogged a short way onto the land bridge, glancing at Audra, putting the weapon down again, “I won’t run off on you.  Let’s explore it! Pleeeeease?” His gaze flicked down to the water spitting from in the sand. “What’s making that happen?  I didn’t see that on the other shoreline.” That didn’t mean it didn’t happen on the shore behind the castle but he hadn’t noticed them.

The boy put two paws in the ocean water but in case Audra was worried he didn’t go further.  “I do know how to swim, aunt Bowen taught me how to swim really well.  Since the land area is so small and the sand is packed densely the bridge likely gets swallowed up from any real storm.” His gaze looked from the waters in front of his gaze and back to Audra.  Next to smaller wolves, he could really feel his growth toward adulthood.  Someday he could travel father all on his own and with a real sword and a real sheath for it.

"Thorn Carpathius"

Her one eye focuses on the distant shore ahead of them. From their position on the Auster side, it was hard to imagine that a whole other continent was over there. "B-Boreas is n-nearly twice the size of A-Auster," she comments to Thorn after he responds to her question. "I w-would not w-want to be stranded here d-during a storm," her lips turn up in a smile as she watches him move along the bridge. "Yes, we c-can explore it," Audra answers. It was hard to tell one of Artorias' pups no. How could she? They were all brilliant, strong, and capable youngsters that she had no doubt would succeed as they got older.

Following him at a distance, her gaze shifted toward the little spouts that popped up when the water washed away. She dives quickly toward one as it pops up and scoops the sand until a small shelled creature is in her grasp. "C-clams. You h-have to be fast be-before they dig away," Audra holds it out to Thorn so he can get a closer look at it. "Th-they like the slightly c-colder waters between the b-bridge," she adds as she continues to follow Thorn along the bridge. "Your aunt B-Bowen is quite th-the sweetheart," Audra comments while she keeps an eye on Thorn and the water on either side of them. "It's n-not often b-but it can disappear d-during a storm," she confirms before looking back at their trail of paw prints for a second. As long as they had time to make it back before dark, she didn't mind him making his way across the bridge.

A U D R A

Audra gave the alright to explore and Thorn charged forward, farther up the sandy path.  He paused, glancing back as Audra seemed to play with the sand.  She grabbed a clam out from the earth and Thorn's eyes widened.  “I’ve seen them before sometimes, but I think the ones I saw were dead.  They didn’t squirt any water at me.”  Jogging back to Audra he looks at the clam, brow knitting as his curious mind absorbs a new fact.

That was a strange creature indeed! Thorn made a zig-zag pattern along the bridge, peering into the water on one end, sniffing the sand along the middle, and then looking in the water on the other side.  He didn’t want to miss anything as he explored the spot.  “Aunt Bowen is amazing.  She told me some great stories about ships and being out actually on the ocean!  Can you imagine?  Being surrounded by water all around you?” For a kid who desired to see the world, such a notion had a high appeal to it.

“It’s weird isn’t it?” Thorn went on to point out, “how just this one bit of land stretches from one end to the other.  Why would just this little point have managed to get up high enough, or not sink as much as all the rest of the land?  Why be here at all?  Is fate a thing? Like, it was meant to be here for us to use to get from one land to another?” Endless questions seemed to come to his mind.  The pup paused partway in the sand, digging frantically when he saw a water squirt, feeling satisfaction as a clam flew out with some of the dirt.  Turning to look at it Thorn watched as it was trying to get back under the sand.

"Thorn Carpathius"

Audra stayed a few feet away from Thorn so he could have the freedom to explore at his own pace. Her one good eye watched as he darted back and forth to see both sides of the water and the sand. It was as if the pup wanted to see it all at once. Amusing as it was, Audra was happy to get to spend time with Artorias' offspring. It was the least she could do after everything the Aegis had done for her. Smiling in a humorous manner at the boy, her ears flicked forward as he began to rattle off a bunch of questions.

Her own gaze glanced out to the horizon where the water glittered beneath the sun. A vessel that could take them all the way out there? Furrowing her brow, Audra lets out a hum. Part of her finds it amazing. The other part of her finds it terrifying. As Thorn wondered if the land bridge separating the two continents is fate, Audra chuckles. "F-fate has all t-to do with love, n-not nature," she responds as she watches him watch the clam. "J-just as the t-tide washes away, the m-mountains w-will move and the t-trees will grow. You j-just can't see it," Audra winks at him as she turns her muzzle to point at the faraway peaks of Boreas that barely rose over the forests. "I-in a th-thousand years, n-none of this w-will look the same," she adds as she raises a paw to sweep around them.

A U D R A

Thorn continued his traipsing up and down the Bifrost, pausing as Audra offered up her insight into fate.  The topic rolled about young Thorn’s mind s he tried to decide how to respond.  Was there no fate in how a land was created or how one tree found itself next to the other one?  “Well,” Thorn’s brow furrowed a bit as he tried to find explanations for his concept.  “I think maybe fate has a part in it.” He decided not to cave in on the subject but defend it! Whether or not he was right was a whole other matter but fate seemed a fun idea.

“See, the tide brings in the animals that come to this beach right?  The wind could blow a seed for ages or maybe a bird or something else scoops it up instead and it never gets to grow.  Couldn’t there be some fate in what does and doesn’t get to land and be planted?  Or, well,” the problem with his argument was how did a land crossing come to be exactly?  “I mean, something has to be a bit chaotic in choosing where the land moves also, right?”  His early life had included the craziness of the statues and ghosts along with fake seasons.  Such things brought a lot of questions into the deeper scope of life.  Like the vision he’d had before and the fun tarot card thing.

Thorn took another look at where the water met the land, barred from passing beyond a set point.  Turning his head he looked to where the water lay just a short distance away on his other side.  Life was a pretty amazing thing if such a grand bridge could come about by nature just doing, well, whatever nature did.

"Thorn Carpathius"