While she was spending time up in Boreas, Ember decided to make a little side trip out from Hemlock’s mountains down to her extended family in the Armada. It had been some time since Ember had last been to visit the northern pack—the last time only being a young pup herself—and it would be good to check in on the Hallows’ oldest and strongest ally. It also meant Em could make use of the Armada’s sprawling marketplace, which was the real reason for her visit.

Although traders of all kinds often visited the Hallows, the vastness of the Armada’s market was second to none. There was also specific things Ember was coming to purchase, things that were a rarity outside of the Firestorm Grotto that lay in the Armadan mountains. Wandering by the stalls, Em scanned each of the merchants’ wares looking for those precious fiery gemstones. She moved on to the next store, one run by a young fae about her age with dark fur and deep blue eyes. She offered the woman a smile and a polite "Hello," while she continued to browse, furrowing her brows while she sought for the treasures she sought.

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"

After making a few sales and meeting a whole slew of new wolves the day before, Wynter made sure she carved out time to reopen her stall the next day during the market's peak hours. She still needed to work on refining her armor before the raid, but she believed she would be able to finish it with a couple more hours of work so that left plenty of time to man her stall in the market square. It wasn't quite as busy as it had been the day before, but there was still a good number of visitors milling around the market, moving from one stall to the next. She had just finished selling one of her carvings to one wolf and was saying her farewells to him when another young woman about her age walked up to the table with a simple hello. "Hello there," she greeted in return with a smile.

She immediately noticed the obvious scent of The Hallows from the other woman and suddenly she realized she had seen her before at the Hallows bonfire festival. The deep, midnight blue of her coat and the turquoise markings that mirrored her aunt's gave away that she was one of her cousins easily, but she hadn't had a ton of interactions with that part of her family yet so she wasn't confident about her name. "You were at the bonfire, right?" she asked curiously, hoping that her memory was right. "You're one of Uncle Art and Aunt Briar's kids?" Once she confirmed that was the case, Wynter grinned and added, "I thought so! I'm Wynter, one of Mortis' daughters. It's nice to meet you."

"Wynter Fatalis"

Ember had truly been content to simply browse on her own for her time in the market, but when the merchant wolf running the stall did a double take and mentioned her family's bonfire the season prior, the Carpathian princess' attention was fully up on the other wolf. Curiosity colored her eyes as she looked over the other fae—really looking at her—and realized she looked quite a lot like her grandfather Sirius Fatalis. "Yes, I was," she replied to confirm the stranger's suspicions, and when she went farther to emphasize that she was one of Art and Briar's kids, Ember's face lit up with recognition. "Yeah, Artorias and Briar are my parents! I'm Ember." The young woman introduced herself as Wynter, the daughter of her uncle Mortis and her cousin.

"Hey, I thought you looked familiar! Everyone here smells like Armada wolves though, it's kinda hard to tell." Em laughed it off and smiled at Wynter more genuinely now that she knew they were family, even if this was their first time really meeting. "It's very nice to meet you, Wynter." Now knowing that this was no ordinary merchant peddling her wares, Em was much more invested in making a purchase with her. Perhaps Wynter could help her too. "I'm up in the area for a while and wanted to stop by and see the Armada market for myself. It's really something!" She lifted her dainty paw and shuffled through a few of the semiprecious stones Wynter had laid out on the countertop. "I was hoping to find some of the fire-colored stones I've heard you pull from the Col. My family loves those stones, for obvious reasons. I thought maybe I'd bring some back home with me. You wouldn't happen to have any on hand, would you?" Ember knew how tricky those fire opals and sapphires were to mine. She wouldn't have been surprised if the Armada kept them under lock and key and away from the general marketplace.

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"

Wynter chuckled and nodded with understanding when Ember mentioned how everyone here had that similar Armada scent so it was hard to tell who was family and who wasn't. She certainly didn't hold it against her to not immediately guess they were related or to even be paying attention for that kind of thing. It was a busy market, after all. "It's nice to meet you too, Ember," she replied, her tail wagging gently behind her. She listened with interest as Ember explained how she was here visiting the area and wanted to stop by to see the market. Wynter smiled proudly and dipped her head to the compliment Ember gave it. "Thank you! We're all pretty proud of it," she said as she glanced around the space. She didn't know of anything else quite like this in Boreas or Auster so she felt like that made their market very unique.

Refocusing her sapphire gaze on Ember, she listened as her cousin explained that she was hoping to find some of the fire-colored stones that she had heard came from parts of the Col. Wynter immediately knew what Ember was referring to and when she asked if she had any on hand Wynter was glad that she was able to nod enthusiastically in response. "I do, actually!" she replied as she dipped behind the stall for a moment to pull out a lidded box where she was keeping some of the more rare and precious gemstones tucked away. It seemed like a bad idea to have them all laying out on display with so many wolves milling about. She opened the box and began to pull out a few various gems that might fit the bill, some larger than others and some in slightly varying shades of fire-like colors. She sat them out in front of Ember so she could get a good look at them, hoping some of them might be what she was looking for.

"Wynter Fatalis"

When Wynter nodded emphatically and declared that she did, in fact, have some of those fire stones she was looking for, Ember was elated! Her Fatalis cousin dipped out of sight for a few minutes and then returned with a sealed box. Em watched while she produced a small array of fire opals and orange sapphires of varying sizes, all uncut and rough stones pulled straight from the earth. Ember marveled at the beauty of the stones, picking up each one at a time and inspecting them in the sunlight for any obvious flaws or mars. They all seemed to be of high quality which matched the stories her mother had told her about her trips up here, and Ember was not disappointed in the quality of the stones.

"Oh, these are beautiful! They're exactly what I'm looking for!" exclaimed Ember with zeal, gathering up the opals and sapphires into a small pile as she counted them out. "I'll take them all. Would you take some finished jewelry in exchange for the raw stones?" Ember produced a small pouch that had been tied around her neck and dropped it on the counter. Inside were several pieces of jewelry made in the Hallows—gold and steel rings set with various precious and semiprecious stones, a gold pendant on a thin chain with a vibrant ruby set in the center, and a couple all-metal bangles made from gold, silver, and steel. Examples of what she planned to use the unfinished stones for, and more goods Wynter could sell to other wolves looking for fine accessories.

"Ember Carpathius" | "Carpathian"

Without hesitation Ember began to examine and hold the stones to the light and Wynter could tell from how she lit up at the sight of them that this was just what she was looking for. She was quickly realizing that she not only liked running this market stall to meet new wolves, but being able to match up wolves with the items they had been hunting for was it's own kind of joy. Eventually Ember declared that they were exactly what she was looking for and Wynter grinned proudly. "Great! I'm glad we had what you needed," she replied. Before she could begin to mention what she was asking for the stones, Ember made her own offer of finished jewelry in exchange, putting a pouch on the counter that clinked when it hit the surface. Curious, Wynter opened up the pouch and slid out the collection of bangles, rings, and a gold necklace with an impressive ruby pendant. Wynter examined the pieces curiously and with a bit of awe. They were much finer pieces than she had seen them make here in the Armada so she knew they'd at least be amazing pieces to add to her wares. "You have yourself a deal," she replied with a chuckle. She swapped out the jewelry pieces for the stones, putting the jewelry in the lock box and putting the gemstones in Ember's pouch before handing it back to her. "Don't be a stranger, okay? If you're going to be around for a while I'd love to spend some time with you when I'm not on the job." She didn't get to spend much time with her distant family, though that might change now that she was old enough to have a bit of freedom!

"Wynter Fatalis"