Erik's father had summoned him, and doggedly, the boy would go. Sure, the why was still a bit of an unknown to him-- why did he answer Víðarr? The father who'd barely raised him, who'd been so derelict in his duties that Hattori had even taken some of his siblings on as charges. Somehow, in all this, Erik still feels like he needs to.

It's a long walk north, the weather getting cooler as he moves north through Auster. The ever-present humidity is oppressive, leaving him feeling far more worn than usual as he nears the northern edge of the continent. Dusk beginning to settle around Erik's shoulders, he draws nearer to the castle. While he hadn't warned Ember he was coming, maybe it'll be a nice surprise. Drawing to the border, a red sunset on full display, Erik sends his cat to find someone to call.
"Speech"

Overhead, the dark form of a raven swooped through the evening sky, following the movement of the cat down below as it departed from its master's side. Nocturne dove down to intercept Erik's cat, communicating to the animal with low croaks and caws. The message was relayed, and the corvid took the message back to his master in turn. Meanwhile, soft notes and chords of piano music flowed through the halls of Hearthstone. Seated at the bench, the Carpathian princess quietly danced her paws across the keys, creating a light and mellifluous song that flowed into the approaching summer night. Mid-melody, Ember heard the flutter of wings as her raven came to alight on the piano bench beside her. She glanced down at her companion, paws still tickling the ivories uninterrupted.

"Erik Archer is here to see you, Lady Ember."

Ember nodded her head to the raven, letting her song drift off to an end before sliding off the bench to her paws and making her way out of the castle. Dusk had fully claimed the land by now, the last fading remnants of sunlight sinking below the western sea with golden rays of orange light splaying out in all directions. Overhead, stars and the auroras began to take shape in the darkening sky. It was shaping up to be another warm and muggy evening, but the cool coastal breeze helped alleviate some of the humidity. Still, she could feel the stickiness clinging to her fur as she crossed the plains to find her tall friend waiting for her, his dark form almost blending into the evening. Ordinarily, Ember would've rushed to greet him, but the princess was feeling a little bit scorned by the bastard prince who hadn't shown his face around for half a year. She wasn't truly mad at him, but she was definitely going to make him squirm a bit.

Nearing the brute, the first thing Ember noticed was how much bigger he had gotten. At his full height and filled out with rippling muscles, Erik very much looked adult and manly. She had grown up as well now, no longer just a lanky thing, but a blossoming young woman, her body a combination of lithe planes of muscle beneath silky smooth fur, supple curves developing in all the womanly places, and her tail done up in a neat braid. She eyed her friend over, blue eyes alight as they held his smoldering orange gaze. "I thought maybe you'd died when you stopped coming around. It was a more bearable thought than believing you were avoiding me," she teased Erik, even her voice much more refined and mellifluous, just like the rest of her. "Hello, Erik."

"Ember Carpathius"

He shifted his weight, waiting for the girl to appear. It's true, he's been wrapped up in family business. Hell, even the last time they'd been to the Hallows, Erik hadn't been able to spend time with her. Keeping his father stable, keeping the man on a short leash, making sure that he didn't do anything too out of pocket. Is it his job? The bastard prince actually... yeah, he assumed it was now.

After a few moments of sweating, a few moments of worrying she didn't want to see him, Ember comes to meet him. She'd filled out in all the right places-- hey, him too. A rakish grin washes over his rough features, tail twitching at his haunches. Erik has the good graces to at least look sheepish about having left her for so long. "Family's kept me busy, y'know how they are." His tone is gentle, near wistful. Between his mother's departure and his father's requests, the last six months had been a lot.

"I brought y'something that might make up for it?" Tilting the satchel slung across his chest to reveal the top of a bottle of sake, a little smile playing across his lips. "'m movin' north, Em." Tone a bit quieter, a bit more somber. He'd grown up significantly in the time they'd been apart, even if he didn't want to admit it. Taking a step toward her, testing the waters. Hopeful, but he won't press.

"Erik"

Erik gave her that debonair smile of his, lopsided and charming and so quintessentially him, and gods dammit it made Ember so sickeningly happy to see him again! She tried to remain impassive and act like she was still mad at him, but she couldn’t help the subtle wag of her tail behind her betraying her innermost thoughts and feelings. Erik was special to her. He was her viking prince, rough around the edges and damaged by cruel fate, but he was hers to fix someway somehow. Em gave him a dramatic leer complete with squinted eyes and everything, wanting him to squirm a little and think that she might actually be mad at him. This couldn't be farther from the truth of course, and after only a moment, the young fae's facade broke with a slowly growing smile that matched the to and fro of her braided tail. She understood his family had been going through rough times and he'd been busy acting as the glue that held them together. She couldn't say she wouldn't have been the same way with her own family; she understood.

Ember gave a dramatic exhale and rolled her eyes for show, fixing him with a lopsided smile. "Weeeeeell, I guess that absolves you of any fault. And seeing as how my pack did thrash yours in the raid, I suppose we can call it even." She shot a teasing grin up at the tall brute, just happy to be near him again. Had he always been this tall? Or this built? Or have all those rugged features? Cool eyes holding the smoldering fiery ones of her bastard prince, Ember quirked a curious brow when he mentioned an apology gift. He produced a bottle of something, and judging by the roguish smile on his lips Em guessed it wasn't something her parents would approve of her drinking. That just made it all the more enticing to the teenager in the midst of her rebellious phase! "I hope that's to share," she teased him, motioning with a tilt of her head for him to follow. She might not be able to sneak him into the castle right now, but she knew a couple quiet places they could hide out to drink some beverages of the alcoholic variety. Nothing could ruin this moment!

That is, until Erik said the words that stopped Ember like a scratch on a record. Ember paused, paw lifted mid-stride and looked back at him, her smile gone. "What...?" He was moving north? Back to Heiðinn? That wasn't unusual. He'd mentioned going back and forth between Heiðinn and Tojo-kai, but this... this felt different. More final. More absolute. "You don't mean for the summer, do you...?" she asked, her voice trailing off. She didn't move away when he took a step closer, her attention fully locked on his face, his words, him. She didn't ask the question aloud, but the look in her eyes did it for her. You're moving away for good.

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"

Was she angry? Erik hoped it wasn't the case, though he held his breath. Watching carefully as her expression melted into something more familiar, her tail wagging at her haunches. Letting go of a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding, Erik relaxes by degrees. "Rematch sometime?" A little mischief dancing in his gaze, brows lifting. The smile that plays on his face is genuine, a rarity. He'd be able to raid with them, soon enough. As soon as they were settled and sorted, and as soon as he could get the pack back up and moving. There's no telling exactly what it's become, as his father's been indisposed. Things he's not ready to share with the world yet, keeping them tucked close to his chest. Forgive him.

A little nod, they'd be able to sit and drink and just... be. It's not lost on Erik, he's savoring the last dregs of freedom as he makes his way north. There are more expectations for him there, head swirling with the unknown. Trying not to dwell on the things that worry him, fighting to let himself exist in the moment. The bottle of plum sake tucked carefully back and away, perhaps for fear that they'd be cut off by a real adult on the way in.

Ember's sudden stop leaves Erik stepping into her, a sheepish smile as he takes a step back. Not just for the summer, shaking his head with solemn finality. "Can't call th'bastard an heir, but 'e call him to step up'n the meantime." A humorless laugh rattles through his lungs, punctuated by a hard cough. Erik can taste blood on his lips. Pushing the bitterness back down as best he can, though he doesn't feel the need to mask it quite so hard around Ember.

Tossing his head, trying to shake some of the bad feelings away. Erik shifted a little closer to the girl, a sigh hanging heavily in his chest. "Enough'a my shit. 's been months, how're you?" Gaze careful on her face, hoping for some normalcy. Whatever normal princess business was, even if Erik didn't know exactly what normal was supposed to look like.

"Erik"

Erik smiled at her, a sheepish little grin that begged her not to shoot the messenger. Ember was not happy with this development, especially not when Erik framed it in the reality that it was. His father was leaning on his son to keep the ship sailing when he couldn't, but he was not being made heir, not named the alpha of Heidinn. That made her mad. It was an injustice to her friend that just because Vidarr had decided to dick down a fae that he wasn't mated to Erik was prohibited from being made heir of his own family's pack. Erik gave a sardonic laugh that was swiftly punctuated with a guttural coughing fit. It sounded painful, and though Em was used to Erik's condition, it still hurt her heart to see her friend suffer so. Oceanic blue eyes dipped from his ruggedly handsome face down to the flame-toned crystals jutting from his throat, almost scowling at them for hurting him so. She was going to find a cure for him.

"C'mon, you. We're drinking that whole bottle tonight," Ember directed Erik across the border, not caring if this was technically trespassing or not. She was going to drink that sake with him and enjoy the evening with her friend while he was still here. And then tomorrow... well, she'd figure things out one step at a time. But she refused to let Erik just walk out of her life like that. As the Carpathian fae led her viking around the plains, she covertly diverted their path away from the castle and the prying eyes within, guiding him down to where the soft grasses of the plains met the shimmering sands of the coast. It was private down here, secluded and down a bit of a gulley where they could be alone to talk and drink and just be themselves.

As they walked, Erik asked about her, and Ember released a dramatic sigh. "Well, my family got mixed up in some shit with some nasty wolves from the north. My dad did fuck all to stop them, so some guardian of those in need he is..." Ember didn't go into detail, but it was clear from her tone that her and Artorias were not on good terms at the moment. Fathers... Directing him down the dipping turf to a little alcove at the beach head set into a slope, Ember glanced over her shoulder at Erik with a playful smirk and smacked his chest with her braided tail, stepping across the soft sands into the grassy alcove. She settled down on the grass and sand, her toes splaying in the soft earth while she looked up expectantly at Erik to come join her with his bottle of sake. She was dying to try the special drink he'd nicked for her.

"I've been getting better with my sword," she said, casually picking up their conversation while they got settled in. "Maybe I'll show you some of my moves firsthand at the rematch—assuming I actually get to go paws-on with you this time." Em shot Erik a playful grin. She knew he'd been watching the raid. Had he seen her in action taking down that bigger viking chick? What kind of opponent would Erik be? She couldn't wait to get a chance to spar with him. "So you're going to go help rule Heiðinn, hmm? Finally get to be the prince I always told you you were?" Another playful grin, teasing him. She'd called him the mountain prince before when they were pups. Turned out she had been more right than she knew.

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"