THE WOLVES WILL CHASE YOU IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT Drunk and driven by a devil's hunger... Holey holes in a tree!  The Red Forest had some big ass trees.  Hárekr stood at the border of a pack territory, mouth slightly open as he gaped upward at the massive redwoods.  He'd never seen anything like these before.  A grizzly bear could live in one of these things with plenty of room to spare.  He shivered lightly, momentarily wondering if he'd wandered into some sort of mystical realm.  Could one of these trees be part of Yggdrasil? Hárekr sniffed lightly at the border.  Of course some pack would have to claim this land…. he fidgeted for a moment then flopped on his back, rolling from side to side.  It wasn't fffaaaaiiiirrrrrr…..  boo!  Tongue flicked out between ivory teeth as he leaned delicately across the border to gnaw on some of the tree bark.  Hmmmm…. hmmmmm…. maybe if he asked they'd let him explore?  Or maybe…. Mismatched eyes tipped skyward to peer at the full moon that was shining down so brightly, it's lightly mostly obscured by the thick cover, only a few stray beams speckling the forest floor.  Was this where he was meant to go?  Is this where his inner voice had been leading him?  Expression sobered and Hárekr shook the snow from his pelt before letting out a howl and waiting to see if anyone would answer.

The glow of the moon lent an eerie air to the forest, long shadows surrounding the forest floor in mystery and a subtle menace. Through the brush Katja trotted her border without hesitation, sliding from shadow to shadow, her shadow-on-shadow coat rendering her nearly invisible outside of the moonbeams. This was her environment. This was her Zen. This was home.

The call sounded nearly upon her, for the wind had been blowing crosswise and could not carry scent either ahead of or behind her so she had almost come upon the stranger completely unaware. The brush parted before her in near silence, as she stalked her caller. "Who could be seeking Yfir in the middle of the night beneath a full moon?" she mused aloud, gazing coolly at the male who hovered on Yfir's border. One did not lightly chase away those who appeared on borders, for Odin had more than once walked disguised among mortals to test their hospitality and it would not do to offend the all-father, but danger lay over all the world, and not even Odin was always beneficent.

THE WOLVES WILL CHASE YOU IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT Drunk and driven by a devil's hunger... Hárekr did not have to wait long for his call to be answered.  Out of the shadows stepped a femme with eyes glinting like a finely sharpened blade, gaze as cool as steel.  A woman not to be trifled with.  The male turned and dipped his head in greeting before righting himself to stand tall and proud.  "One who seeks a worthy cause too which he can apply his mettle and his fangs.  One who's flitted about solitude for too long and looks to find a band that would share his ambitions." Háre allowed a small smile to twist his lips. "Hail good woman, I am Hárekr Kaltharsis.  My lineage and past are as knotted as the roots of Yggdrasil.  Who might you be?  And what can you tell me of this Yfir as well as the fascinating landscape you call home?"

Her pulse quickened at the stranger's words, a rapid thrumming drumbeat as he spoke of Yggdrasil, of ambitions and a worthy cause. Máni, the year-counter, the hastener, smiled upon the meeting from the heavens even as he fled Mánagarmr's slavering jaws across the night sky. "Heil og sæl, Hárekr Kaltharsis. I am Katja Finnvi, daughter of Anvarr who was son of Geirthor, and I am Dróttin of Yfir." She remained poised with a certain wariness, a certain... fascination with the pale beast. There was a wildness within the air, a crackling like the electricity that often preceded a storm, and she was not yet certain that this stranger was not the cause. That he was not Odinn, or Loki, striding in wolf form among the mortals they shared kinship with. "Yfir holds to the old ways, to the ways of honor and glory and viking. The ways the Gods demand of us. We hold to them gladly, and we will go to our deaths in blood and frenzy with their names upon our tongues." She tilted her head to stare at him. "And what of you, Hárekr? How will you die?" "" ""

THE WOLVES WILL CHASE YOU IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT Drunk and driven by a devil's hunger... How curious it was to meet someone steeped in the older traditions out in this foreign land. She was surely more knowledgeable than he. With his stints on and off as a captive his own connection to his birth culture was something frayed… and perhaps something that became even more precious in the prescience of someone who could rekindle that flame. The woman introduced herself as Katja Finnvi, the Dróttin of Yfir. A woman leader? Well, this was a day of curiosities indeed but she held herself in a way that earned his respect. A mysterious woman, draped in a subtle mysticism that caused his fur to stand on end. He could sense the workings of the gods in this meeting and new without a doubt that it was destiny they meet and that the path of his future lay on this route. She asked a question she really didn't need to. As soon as the words hard parted from her lips he answered with an eager grin on his face. "In battle! I would have it no other way! Dróttin, I am a lone wanderer. A studier of the stars and the weather and I am a fighter who can hold his own with even the most brutish of warriors. Would you give purpose to one such as I?"

Silvered light shone in the youth's eyes with a fanatic furor that Katja could approve of... could direct. She dipped her head and took a step closer to him, moon-silver gaze locked to his. "Then come, Hárekr. Join with Yfir. Follow the old ways with us and meet your end in blood and glory so that you may feast in Valhalla until Ragnarok takes us all." He would be tested, as they all would be, forged in blood and fire until they were nought but the purest of steel fashioned into a creature of death and glory and honor. He would add his strength and his cunning to Yfir and leave it greater than it was before. As the silver of the moon rippled on her star-ticked pelt, she curved her body back onto the lands of Yfir, coaxing, demanding, that he follow. Follow to glory. "" ""

THE WOLVES WILL CHASE YOU IN THE PALE MOONLIGHT Drunk and driven by a devil's hunger... Hárekr felt as if his destiny rested on the blade of a knife and he waited hungrily for the woman's words.  Let her meter out his fate, he was prepared!  She spoke and his heart leapt, excitement shivering down his frame as he was welcomed into Yfir, a pack of warriors devoted to the old ways. "So be it!  I thank you Drottning and look forward to the day my fangs will be tested for the glory of Yfir!"  She twisted away from him, fading back into the forest like smoke leaving him to have wonder if he had been visited by one of the norn's.  Was she truly a creature of this earth?  Paws would move across the border and he would switfly follow, eyes alight and taking in his new home.