OOC: this was meant to happen at the beginning of winter. Whoops! Just gonna file this one under liquid time. Due date is 5/31!

Her wolves had been venturing far and wide as of late so after settling down at the base of a huge and ancient tree, Valkyrie lifted her voice to the edge of its abilities. Her call echoed through the trees and boomed across the neighboring territories. If her wolves were nearby they would hear her. She had made a deal that she thought would benefit the band greatly. If things went according to plan they would weather the winter with ease and emerge in the spring fat, sassy and ready for the warmer weather raids.

It was possible some would not like the deal she'd struck, but Valkyrie was more than happy to explain her reasoning to any who had misgivings. This was a good play. They would see and if they did not, if there was one who thought he or she knew better, Valkyrie would entertain their challenge with a glad heart. That was just how things were done. She would not be satisfied until everyone was on board - either with her plan or someone else's.

Éldi finished dragging the deer toward their temporary den site. Eyrún was still in his thoughts even though he wasn't sure how compatible they were. Even if their relationship didn't bud into romance he still enjoyed her company immensely. She was fun and wild and he looked forward to hanging out with her again.

He finished storing the kill as he heard Valkyries call for the band. Just in time. Éldi licked the blood from his maw and arrived quickly at the meeting, settling down and giving a nod of greeting to Valkyrie.

Eisleif had indeed been wandering far and wide, and the elder viking could say that her time was well spent. Mostly she had been hunting to bolster her stores as well as that of the band. When she wasn’t working the woman was spending time with Hymn. The old man had wormed his way into her icy heart and if she could have placed a word to describe it would be love. The emotion had been so foreign that she hardly recognized it, but she cared for him deeply.

She was just returning to her camp when she heard Valkyrie’s voice ring through the lands, and the tailless warrioress was quick to answer. Quietly she made her presence known and sat tall before her fearless leader, curious as to the reasoning of her call.

Eyrún was as anxious as the rest of Hjarrandi to hear what Valkyrie had in store for them. Though some might not be too troubled at a life of relative inactivity, she wasn't one of those wolves, and she was eager to get to work - not that she wasn't always keeping himself busy in her own ways. She didn't delay in heading toward their leader's call, arriving as quickly as her nimble legs would carry her. Unfortunately only Éldi and Eisleif had arrived, besides Valkyrie herself. Unfortunate. Regardless, she herself was here and that was what mattered. She wore a grin as she strode toward the small group, her gaze lingering on Éldi unabashedly for a moment before finding Eisleif, and then finally resting on Valkyrie herself as she settled near the others and waited - hoping that others would soon arrive.

Alfrun carefully slipped the drilled-out rock over the shaft of one of Tanken's shed feathers to join the others she'd already placed on there until it clinked against the next. They couldn't slide further, stopped there by a hardened ball of resin that she had heated and stuck there so that as it cooled and rehardened it kept them from going up more. The shallow rock "bowl" next to the small fire that warmed it was filled with melted pine resin, and it was quick work to simply scoop a globule onto the feather shaft after the last bead, leaving enough room so that the beads would be able to bounce and chime against each other with movement. She used one claw to separate and drag towards her a long thin horsehair braid and - pinning it down with a claw from her other paw to hold one end against the end of the feather - wrapped it around and around where the hot glob of resin clung and pulled it tight. Once this resin cooled the braid would be stuck there as well and could be tied onto something or someone as a decoration.

The timing was perfect. Tanken lifted his head from his perched and cawed a heartbeat before Valkyrie's voice rose over the misty forest to call them together. She hummed thoughtfully to herself, head tilted to one side in contemplation as she set the feather aside and scooped wet earth over the small fire to put it out. She would have to rebuild it painstakingly once again when she next needed a fire, but she had so few reasons to have one that keeping it going constantly would be a waste of time and resources, so she took care to put it out after each use. When she was certain it was fully extinguished, she rose from her nomadic shelter and meandered towards her niece's call.

Once she arrived, her odd-eyed gaze swept dreamily over the small group, noting those who'd arrived before her, before she settled herself on her haunches apart from them, to watch them as well as her leader-niece. As she settled, Tanken swooped down with a soft caw to land on her shoulders, hulkingly large in comparison to her slight body, and cocked his own head at the band.