Drashiel had taken to wandering farther and farther from the den site each passing day. He was growing stronger, he could feel it in the strength of his limbs. What once were wobbly and uncertain puppy steps were becoming more confident and sure-footed. Each paw was placed on the ground with purpose. His breath slipped from his maw in a puffy of vapor and he kept along at his steady pace to the west. He was slipping from the main terra into the farther-reaching ones and it made his heart race with excitement. As the sun began to set it cast a soft golden glow on the territories of Glaciem and while the air was cooling quickly Drashiel wasn't the least bit worried. His pack meant safety and security and whenever he'd been in trouble there'd always been someone there to help him? mostly. Drashiel slowed to a stop as he looked out over the horizon. He longed for the day when he could defend himself, he supposed he'd already done a decent enough job taking care of himself. The young brute wasn't overly fond of charity but he wasn't stupid either. The other femmes of the pack had taken care of him well enough. All the same, he longed for the self-sufficiency of adult hood. However? wolves were not really meant to be loners, at least as Drashiel understood. Wolves were always part of a group, part of a pack. How separate from the pack was to far and how much was not enough? Drashiel started moving again, anxious to leave those thoughts behind. It was one thing he hated about being alone. The thoughts, the thoughts, always the thoughts that would mob his mind and grow and feed on each other until they became something he couldn't control, something that willing seeped into the dark recesses in his mind. The light was shimmering up ahead in strange ways that immediately screamed unnatural to Drashiel and he quickly slowed. The boy wasn't sure he believed in spirits or the like but he wasn't fool enough to count out the possiblity. Taking a few ginger steps forward he found himself at the edge of a massive riverbed. Bands of rock in various shades of white and grey swirled and twisted together like the northern lights frozen in stone form. Intertwined within were bands of gold that caught the fading light of the shine and reflected it on the bed walls and the surrounding territory. Carefully?slowly? deliberately... Drashiel reached out a paw to touch the strange surface that didn't seem as if it could be real.

Isardis Armada

The new land they had laid claim to was everything and more he could have hoped for; as he dropped away into the lowing valleys beyond Sparse Pines, the magnificent aura of marble would lift itself with colours and glows virtually unimaginable. Gold?s and creams would sway and flirt in a mystifying glow, magnificent beneath the weak beams of an overcast sky. The Wash was vast, huge, flawless, polished by the waters that may have once run here, but he was not alone; for dotted so delicately beneath the brewing skies, a familiar boy, tan and silver, would meander nearby. Isardis would smirk lightly, waltzing closer with seamless arrogance and pride, however his guard slightly lowered by the presence of his blood, ?An abode no less than suitable for a family the likes of ours,? the reference was cast to the boys curiosity in the marble, coming to sit upon his haunches behind Drashiel.

This is the grace that only we can bestow.

original code by kia

Warm paw touched cool stone and sent a shiver through Drashiel's body as the rest of his feet followed and he found himself bathed in the light of the setting sun as reflected through a river of stone. Dimly he heard paw steps but felt nothing unsettling, no drop of stomach no sudden silence and so he didn't respond til he heard words. Drashiel froze midstep as his numb mind slowly analyzed the voice, one he'd been wanting to hear for so long now and one he was almost scared to. "I-Isardis?" The boy swallowed as he turned to face his father. So many thoughts were racing through his mind that he didn't hardly know what to start with. Did Isardis know his mother was gone? Did Isardis know where his sister was? Would the pale royal teach him to fight, to hunt? What was his purpose in all of this? What was Glaciem? "Yes, it's very beautiful." The reply was quaint and calm. Drashiel gazed back across the wash before turning back to Isardis. "F? Father? I was wondering, why did you start Glaciem? And? what is the likes of our family?" He held back asking about his sister, at least for the time being. Some part of him feared the answer as much as the other part longed for it.