OOC: While their final destination will be the Aspen Dam, Val will wait at the Bifrost for her pack mates to join her. Posting order will be informal, and if you wish your character to track them down and join them later on feel free! No due date, post at your leisure, but I'd like to see some interest from our less active members! Word had traveled quickly up from the coast that the land was acting out. Sea levels came and went, swept into a tizzy by the storms, and then at the end of it all the bridge had risen from the sea as if constructed by the gods themselves. Where it led, what lay ahead, Valeriya could not know. But she meant to find out. She had let loose one howl from the epicenter of her territory, calling out to her followers, letting them know that adventure was afoot. If they chose to follow her into the unknown so be it, just as she would not compel them if they wished to stay within the safety of their homeland and protect their claim back in the north. For now, Valeriya was on the move. Lox had seemed as excited as the Queen she had chosen to follow, and Val had slowed her pace to allow for the wolverine to follow. It was several days journey to the southern coast of the mainland, a place she had never been to before. Val had seen the ocean on multiple shores, but never this one. She stood before the land bridge, taken in the scent of it all, and sat. For all that she wished to plunge headlong into this journey, she knew it would be more prudent to wait. Safer, perhaps, and with more eyes there would be more to learn. But it was more than that now. She did not want to experience this alone, she wanted her family there with her, and her friends. She wanted to lead her kin through whatever they met, see the look on their faces and the excitement in their eyes as they took in all she herself would marvel at. Even so far from their homelands, Valeriya wanted them at her side. It was a strange feeling, one she might have thought a year ago she would never experience. It stayed her paws, even if it could not curb her excitement. The auburn queen turned her back to the unknown below her and waited to see who among Ebony had answered her call. Lox settled in at her side, curious as well. "Talk" "You" Think

Ullr bounded after Valeriya, tail wagging and tongue lolling as he went about sticking his nose into just about everything they came across. His ankle still hurt but the swelling was at last going down and the male had become so acquainted to functioning while in pain he didn't give it much thought anyway. As long as he could move that was all that mattered. The hellish storms had passed and a new world opened up for the wolves. The young male paused for a minute, silver and sky blue gaze turning to his friend. He hadn't had the chance to ask yet. The call rang out, catching Ullr's focus long enough to send him in a beeline toward the female.


"Hey Val! How are you?" He sat before her, fidgeting for a bit before going suddenly calm and still. "Valkyrie? I was wondering?. could I join your pack? I'm good at tracking! And hunting! And I can kind of fight? if I have to."


"Speech"

During the first few days and weeks that he had spent in Alacritis he had spent a large part of his time simply exploring. Most of the time it was because of his obsessive need to keep moving and not stay in one place just on the off chance that someone might be hunting him, but he really did enjoy the act of getting to know his new home. Because of that he felt fairly well acquainted with the layout of these lands. Of course he had been doing much less exploring as of late since he had been settling into pack life again and held captive by the storms. When he heard Valeriya's call he rose and trotted off to follow her, curious as to where she might be leading them. When his eyes landed on the land bridge that stretched out across the ocean they widened with surprise. This was new. He came to stand near Val, equally as eager as she seemed to be to explore this new land. He glanced at the pale colored boy that had been speaking with his queen when he arrived, but really payed him no mind. Turning his attention by to the newly unearthed lands, he waited for any others to arrive so they could set off. ""

Solas probably would have gotten lost all on his own in this place. He just turned two with the coming of fall, and his sister still hidden within the den left him with nearly no sense of direction. He wasn't exactly the most approachable back in the Ebony lands. He rarely showed emotion at all, and his distrust for others was in high regards still. Yet this new life was bringing very new adventures for him. The only one he knew was Val, and that was only for the brief moments he spoke at the borders to her for him and his sister. The man stopped as Val did but still stuck close.
These stranger lands meant more to claim, more food, but also new dangers. All sorts of creatures they didn't know about could lurk here. His tail flicked for a moment as he gave a scoff. He didn't speak much either, so most of the Ebony members didn't even know who he was. He had always been like that though, he wasn't about to change for them. His concerns were on drifting Ada for some reason.

Galahad . . . The stormy summer left him a bit more isolated from the pack than Galahad would have liked, but as Fendar had said; there was no attacks or anything upon them. He still worried for Odette, planning a trip to check on her, but for now it was time to strengthen the bonds with his packmates and keep it from fading out all together. He had sought a home, friends, a family... it was his duty now to not neglect any of that. So when Valeriya and some of the other Ebony members left their lands he would follow them, his green orbs bright. Where they stopped was a land yet fully explored, and they would only be heading in deeper. It was strange, beautiful, and Galahad felt a bit of excitement at the thought of learning these new lands. Gaze would fall on the gray, white, and brown marked male and Galahad would move closer to him, deciding to strike up conversation with at least someone while they waited for others to arrive. "Greetings. I'm afraid that we've yet to meet. Are you related to the Xanilov family?" It was his face that had him wondering. "Speech."

Ullr was the first to appear, and this struck Valeriya as both surprising and expected. He was a bit timid at times, she'd wondered if such a venture would appeal to him, but he also seemed to want to be by her side. She smiled at the sigh of her friend. "Ullr," she said, tail lifting and smile on her lips. "You came!" He addressed her as Valkyrie, as he had during their flight from the storm, and she knew that now would be the time to correct him even as the rest of the question thrilled her. "Just Val is fine, Ullr. My full name is actually Valeriya, Valkyrie is more of a nickname. But hey, whatever suits you. I've been called worse regardless! You'll have to stick with one or the other though, if you're staying around. Of course you can join us! Will your sister be staying as well?" She hoped he would not see the discrepancy as deception. To think that she would be able to go on more such ventures with Ullr was a wonderful possibility, and she shuffled her feet to vent the excitement building within her. Lox looked up at her friend with a mixture of confusion and wry amusement. Where was the leader she had seen during the calamity? This young woman seemed no more than a pup at times, and the shifts always happened rapidly enough to leave Lox in the dust. Next came Nikolai. The Lord looked in fine form, and she was pleased to see that he had not been injured in the previous season's hardships. His pale coat seemed well in order, and his eyes bright as he came to join her. She leaped in before he could say anything. "Lord Nikolai! You are coming along on this venture as well? Excellent, I'll be glad for your company." In the presence of another wolf of Old Ebony, Valeriya's speech would change to the more proper cant she had been taught. It was not a conscious decision on her part, but it happened all the same. She was about to open her mouth and ask him how the season had been treating him so far when yet another member of Ebony appeared. The silent knight would come next. Val had seen little of his sister since their joining, but she was pleased to see that it didn't mean Solas would be disappearing as well. He would not speak, and Val would respect his wish to remain on the silent side by giving him a warn nod only, welcoming him with her eyes. A fourth member would follow in his footsteps. She had not spent much time at all with this male, so she was more than happy to see him appear now. It was her duty to know them all, right? And you could not love a leader you were not acquainted with. But all the same, she remembered him from Katja's leaving, and addressed him with a courteous nod of the head and a beaming smile. "Sir Galahad! You'll make five on this venture if you mean to join us. I can't imagine we'll run into more than this number can handle." Mischievous light twinkled in her cerulean eyes, lending her youthful frame a bounce and jounce that spoke of possibility. Nothing thrilled the young queen quite like exploration, like something new. And here she was, setting off into the unknown with friends and loved ones and she decided then and there that nothing in the world could be better than that. Val set off down the land bridge at a trot, paws carrying her over the soft sand, while he senses captured everything there was to see. -TRAVEL BREAK: Several days / Mild weather with occasional storms / One dangerous run-in with a bull moose- This land was marvelous. It's features were that which Val had never seen, never deemed imaginable. It spoke of ancient occupation, of an oldness she could not fathom. The sweeping hills, vast forests, spires of stone and plethora of prey could only mean to her that this rich land had been birthed long before their own. The terras she led her band through were all as diverse as they were bountiful, in both resource and beauty. Each new location was harder to tear herself away from. She often found herself lookiing over her shoulder, left and right, at the wolves that surrounded her with exuberant awe. When they came to the vale of Aspen trees and rolling plains, with the bulging, winding river she stopped in her tracks. Far in the distance a masive herd of elk was making its way down the distant slopes, grazing as it went. A brisk wind tousled the golden ocean of grasses and brought forth scents strong of harvest and fading summer and prey. Val could only sit down and stare in wonder. What sort of eden had they stumbled upon? "Talk" "You" Think

Ullr's head tilted to the side as he took in her name. Valeriya?. it would be a bit hard for him to make the change but Val would be easy enough. He smiled and nodded. "Ok, Val!" Ullr's tail began to wag violently back and forth as she granted him acceptance into the pack. A pack! A pack! A really pack! A pack where the wolves took care of each other and the leader was smart and pretty and nice! And? the wagging slowed as he glanced toward Dyani. Oh? right, he hadn't asked her had he? Ullr whined softly. "I don't know but?. but?. I don't want us to always be alone. Always two. I want to meet other wolves! I know there are nice wolves and nice wolves can scare away the Rath. It doesn't like you either." He nodded. The two of them were barely scrapping by. They needed to be with their pack. Wolves were pack animals. Surely Dyani would understand?


------------------------travel break, lol--------------------------


Ullr was the happiest he'd been in quite some time if ever! Skipping along, taking in the sights and sounds. This was what being a wolf was all about, the exploration, travel! He was enjoying it all. Even the run in with a hormonal moose had been exciting as much as it had been terrifying. Tongue lolling out the young male trotted along beside Valeriya. Suddenly he turned to her grinning. "Can we live here instead Val?"


"Speech"

Kass had heard his sister's call and traced it to a land bridge at the southern-most tip of the continent, but his sister and the pack members whose scents still clung to the sands had already left... somewhere. He wasn't doing a very good job as Val's older brother lately, withdrawing even more after his panic attack during one of the summer storms. Now he was ashamed of his retreat from pack life, knowing that Val needed his support, and he was determined to make up for his lapse. So, he set off to find them. -travel break- The scent trail had guided him along his sister's route, always out of sight and hearing but the trail was hot and he was confident of finding them. And now, just as the trail was unexpectedly dissipated by a dammed up creak, he could actually hear a voice say his sister's name, and his white-tipped ears pricked. He trotted toward the sound, emerging to see his sister and several of their pack members. "Val!" he greeted her. His eyes kept trying to stray to the other pack members, embarrassed and worried about what they must think of him going into hiding for so long, but he forced his gaze to stay on his sister's, no matter how much it wavered, and he forced his ears and tail up in the appearance of confidence. "What are you doing all the way down here?" "Talk" "You" Think

Ullr's voice echoed her own thoughts, and she wondered absently if it were possible. Somehow she didn't think she could just up and uproot everyone in Ebony, forsake the lands her mother had worked so hard to claim and just leave but... gods, was it tempting. The aspen trees were alight with a golden brilliance, mimicked in the grass sea and cast in sharp contrast with the blue of the autumn sky. The far off cry of a bull elk sent shivers down her spine. "If only," she sighed wistfully. The young girl turned to Ullr and eyed him with something like admiration. He seemed to be growing into a new spirit, already so different from when she had first met him. He was blooming, ever so slowly, into a risk taker and a dreamer and an explorer. He was the sort she'd choose to be around, if she had a choice in the matter. She had planned to say all this as well, but a new voice called out and called her away. Turning, the familiar voice was paired with a familiar face. "Kassander?" she questioned. Forget about her, what on earth was her brother doing all the way down here! She realized he must have been tracking them, and wondered if something was wrong. Alarm trilled through her, but she forced herself to calm down at once. Her sibling did not look panicked or alarmed or desperate or any of that. That he might have followed them for giggles didn't exactly make sense either but oh well. "Exploring, of course! Just having a look around. This land is beautiful Kass!" The grin that lit up her face was matched with the light in her eyes. This was what she was made for and damn it all if wasn't making her lust after her short term as a rogue. She turned her head, trying to see where the others had gotten off to. "Talk" "You" Think

So it seemed to be five on the exploration team, and no more would join them before they set out. Gala would give a gentle nod to Valeriya, flashing her a smile. ?Yes indeed, miss. I plan to come along and keep this lovely group some company. It?s about time I get a bit more active with our affairs I believe.? His green eyes were shining. It was time to march into the unknown among the members of his pack, and see what it was that they could discover. ---Travel Break--- The journey had been rather intriguing. Beautiful scenery, mild storms... even a bit of danger to keep their blood pumping. He would move along with the others, gaze shifting over the dam. Gods above this place was amazing. Hearing Ullr?s comment he couldn?t help but chuckle. It would be intriguing to do so. He?d take a few steps away from the group, ears swiveling to hear the arrival of another. Seemed even though they had set off early another would come join them. ?I wonder how much land there is to cover down here? This land seems so large... It?s amazing to think it?s been undiscovered before now.? "Speech" Think