There was no telling quite how deep they'd gone into the Mines, but Erik doesn't mind it. Seemed like if they went deep enough, they'd come out on the other side. Was the trust blind? Maybe. Didn't mean he couldn't rely on his wits, on his senses, on sheer wit. That, and the fact that two heads were probably better than one. Come up and come up they did, though they may have been a bit lost. Erik blinked hard in the afternoon sunlight, letting himself adjust. Absently, he reached to wipe an errant cobweb from Ursa's ear.

Were they lost? Maybe a bit. Erik took a few long steps, pausing to look. Pausing to listen. Over a rise to the east, he could hear running water. That had to be a good sign. Looking over his shoulder and giving a little hmm, the boy forged forward. Peering at the water, and then upstream some. Maybe he was a bit disoriented as to exactly which way he was facing, but he's pretty sure he knows which water this is. Following it with his eyes, Erik couldn't quite tell which fork in the river this was. "'s th'Rapids." His voice as garbled and rocky as ever, though it's already begun to deepen. Squinting, the boy's orange eyes try to trace their exact orientation. Sure, he knows east from west, but which way was north?

North meant home... but they probably weren't lost yet. Erik knew the river marked a boundary, but they'd need to be stupid to think they could just claim a river. For a moment, he catches himself looking at Ursa. Maybe too long. He'd pretend he's just making sure she's alright after their adventure in the Mines.

"Speech"

It's safe to say that Ursa was putting all of her trust into Erik. As they wandered and explored the mines, she tried to tell herself they were not lost. He knew where they were going, right? RIGHT? She wasn't going to deny or hide the slight shake that she felt in her legs as they neared the exit of a tunnel. Had long had they been walking the mines? Where were they even? It was terrifying every time she thought about it so instead she focused on the bright exit ahead and the boy beside her.

When they broke from the mines, she too squinted against the harsh light. Her lips scrunch up as she ducks her head to avoid being blinded. In the process, she feels Erik's paw swipe at her ear. Slightly startled, Ursa takes a step away as her head lifts up to look at him. When her eyes focus, she sees the cobweb he had so nicely removed from her fur. Feeling embarrassed for shying away, she smiles at him, her cheeks flushing with warmth.

Grateful that the moment passes quickly as she too hears the rushing river nearby, Ursa looks to the dividing boundary of the pack lands. The Rapids? The name sounds familiar. Had Sirius mentioned something about this land to her at one point? Her father maybe? Her brow scrunches as she follows Erik to the river. Whether it was a pack's lands or not, she was thirsty and there was no harm in slaking her thirst, was there?

Leaning down to sip from the ice cold river, she lifts her muzzle moments later with droplets falling from her lips. It is then that she realizes what she had been told before. "Oh, Kotori leads a pack here!" Ursa says, her voice a mixture of uncertainty and excitement. "I'm sure it would be okay if we explore a bit," her tail wags as she looks to Erik. Looking left and right, her brow furrows again. "Which way?" She asks, her lavender eyes training back on the boy, once again relying on him to lead the way.

Ursa shied. Erik felt like an idiot for a heartbeat, a little tug. Right, she's not any of the others that were always around. She's not family, or sorta-family, something he's grateful for. He can't be annoying like tha-- oh no, she was smiling now. Phew. Maybe he could be at least a little annoying like that. He's grateful for the inky darkness of his coat and maybe even his resting bitch face... one that breaks as he offers a little smile as well. Shoot, can't look... soft.

He takes it all in-- the smell of the air, damp and soggy. The way the earth beneath his paws feels. It's different here, silty. Not like the rocky soil of the mountain, not the deep and well-drained soil that the bamboo liked. This is different, though the lush greenery speaks volumes. The land here was good, as far as Erik could tell. He'd picked up enough things, especially with the amount that dad had been talking about good land. Erik doesn't understand his father's desire to have good land beneath his feet. Maybe he would, in time.

Kotori? Erik's head cocked to the side. "Da'says's Aslatiel. Monument Rapids." The boy's brow knit, furrowed. He sniffed at the sandy earth for a moment, trying to sort out quite which way they were going. With Ursa looking at him for a sense of leadership, the boy had to make a choice. In a direction that was decidedly not east and not west, he tossed his head. Forward. They were going forward, and he could only hope forward was north. With the river on their left side, Erik began to lead the way forward, gaze bright on the world around them.

"Speech"

Ursa's face scrunches for a moment. Aslatiel? Was that Kotori's wife? Did Kotori have a wife? Maybe he had found someone since the last time her grandfather had seen him. Things changed, she knew that and wouldn't question it. From what little Erik had mentioned, his father lived far closer to this land than the Armada did so it only made sense that Erik would be more up to date on the going ons around here. Shrugging her shoulders, Ursa puts it away for information to remember for later. Ask her grandfather about the situation if she really cared to be nosy.

When Erik finally makes a decision, she is glad that he is willing to be the leader. Though she wished he would speak more, she knows from the sound of his scratchy voice that it hurts. She can sometimes see the pain in his eyes when he does speak. So she doesn't push him. Instead, she will be the leader of the conversation. That she can do.

"This place is really pretty. We don't have a river by the woods or the col. We have a cove though. The water there is salty, not like the river," Ursa chatters away as her pale lavender eyes roam over the scenery. It was pretty here. Far prettier than the pine forest she lived in. There was a lot more grass and brush and it smelled pleasant. Almost sweet as if there were fruit trees somewhere. "You think your father will expand to somewhere like this? Or take more of the mountain?" She tries to prod him for information but is okay if he doesn't want to give her any information. She was from another pack after all.

Taking in the rolling landscape with his keen gaze, Erik can see why a pack would like it so much. It probably didn't get as cold as the Maw did. Heck, it didn't even seem humid, like back home in Auster. The weather in Monument Rapids, especially today, seemed to be pretty nice. With the Steppe so near, he guessed this was what dad talked about when it came to good dirt too. Er, good land? Something like that. There was something else about the good land being good for the livestock, and his father did seem to be pretty concerned with the sheep lately.

"Cove's pretty too," Erik wagged his tail lightly at his haunches. He and his siblings had been around when Ursa and hers were born. The early days playing on the beach, splashing around... it was nice. Nice, like the breeze that lifted and played in his inky coat. Nice, like the way her voice sounded as they walked along the shallows, exploring in the afternoon sunlight. Though Erik would need to return home, home-home, to Auster soon... he was trying to forget that part. Instead, he would walk beside Ursa, splashing in the shallows of the river, gaze keen as they wandered north.

"M'stepma wanted th'mountain so..." Erik gave a chuckle, lifted his eyebrows. Hell, he'd figured out dad's next move probably before he had. Though the boy felt weird about the whole thing, Tenshi had been good to him. She was a healer, not unlike his mother, and had a nice way about her. She was hard to dislike, not that Erik had tried all that hard to dislike her. At the next rise in the land, Erik paused to take another bearing. In the not-so-distant distance, he could see the familiar shapes of the stones within the Steppe. Back the way they'd come, and even farther back, he could see the more dangerous parts of the Rapids. To his right, Valta's lands. To his left, his father's. What an interesting vantage point. He finds himself drawn into it, and Erik stood to take it all in for a long moment.

"Ursa..." he trails off, trying to figure out if he's got the right words. "Morg'n'me're goin' back't Tojo soon." He shifts his weight, over his paws, maybe more emotion than he would have owned up to in his words. Winter had melted away, which meant that Auster would have the better climate for both of their conditions. But then... all of his friends were here. Why did Erik's chest feel funny when he thought about leaving them?

"Speech"

They wander north. Paws splashing through the shallows, droplets traveling further up her legs. She doesn't mind it. With the warm spring wind brushing against her face, she enjoys the relief of the water they wade through. Walking beside Erik is nice. His presence is comforting. Now that they've spent some time together, Ursa feels a connection to him. She enjoys his time and being around him. Honestly, she can't hide the little smile that lines her lips. Especially when he assures her that the cove is pretty and wags his tail. Her own wags in response and she nods softly, a little hum in her throat of approval.

When the steppe comes into view and Erik comes to a stop, Ursa looks to where the jagged stone rises to the sky. Is that the place he had mentioned was his father's? From here, she can tell it is hauntingly beautiful. Content to stand there in companionable silence, she is surprised when he says her name. Tilting her chin to look up at him, Ursa studies his face. The way he looks some what awkward as if he doesn't want to say what he's about to say. When did she become so perceptive?

And then he says it and Ursa doesn't realize how sad she would be with this admittance. Erik was leaving back to Auster. Frankly, she doesn't know how to respond. She's happy for him to go back home to see family, but she doesn't want him to leave. She wants to keep spending time with him. Shifting her weight, she looks away and toward the river they stand in. She had to be happy for him, had to be. She couldn't keep him here. That was selfish. But she... she wanted him to stay.

"Will you be back?" Ursa asks softly as she refuses to look back at Erik.