He’d accepted Aurielle’s offer for him to essentially infiltrate the prey herds of Valhalla. He accepted the task without rancor or displeasure. He was part of the pack, now. She hadn’t required him to actively hunt his fellow prey creatures, merely to observe them as only another prey animal could. He could get within touching and sniffing distance of the animals, and they wouldn’t bolt in fright. He was doing as such today, examining the herds, studying each animal, not only for lamenesses or illnesses, but for a certain something in their eye. A docile nature that might be less terrified of the possibility of domestication. The wolves wished to build animal structures eventually. Oddly, it didn’t trouble him. The deer and bison, elk and moose were not of the higher thinking kind, like he and Acacia, Kamilah or Acacia’s friend Canyon—though that colt he’d never met. What had happened to those horses? It helped that they weren’t planning on capturing the simple horses, either. Perhaps out of some respect for his mother’s name and past with the pack, Aurielle had never once considered hunting horses in all her life, apparently. He wouldn’t have held it against them hadthey hunted equines. It was part of life. His tail flicked over his haunches, sending glowing hairs floating away. He was still very much a shaggy beast, but winter was drawing nearer to its rest and spring would be upon Valhalla in just a few more moons. Perhaps less. Of course, with how harsh the winter had been, he wouldn’t be surprised if it clung stubbornly before spring finally pried it free. He marked out several animals that looked worse for wear, some that looked to be possible prospects for taming, and made his way toward the wall for a patrol. Isolde, having completed her aerial patrol, dropped to soar over his ears, and the stallion snorted softly at her, before he settled onto the wolf-track that now bore some of his own hoof prints. He didn’t mark the same way as the wolves, instead leaving stud piles just outside the wall along the border as stallions were wont to do. He paused, head high and scanning the plains beyond the wall with a keen squint as Isolde clicked above him. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

high in the halls of the kings who are gone
the priestess would dance with her ghosts

At first, Karine thought she'd been hallucinating. She wouldn't have doubted the possibility, especially not after what she'd seen already in her relatively short life thus far...or how long she'd been traveling. Anyone, she figured, could have gone mad under such stress, and sometimes--glowing light in the distance or not--she wondered if she'd already started to succumb to such a fate.

Yet, no matter how many times she blinked, how many times she turned her head, or how stubbornly she tried to refocus her attention, the light didn't go away. Karine eventually resigned herself to investigating it, wondering if once she found the most likely source of the alleged light, the vision would go away and she'd see the world normally again. But what she found was far from what she expected.

He was huge, not unlike other prey animals she'd seen, but then, that wasn't what puzzled--or relieved--her the most. As it turned out, she was far from mad, proven by the beast's tapered horn upon his skull and the soft glow that radiated off his hide. Karine continued to observe him from a safe distance, tilting her head as she also picked up on a rather curious scent. Had she approached a pack border? What sort of place had she found, and why was there a horse patrolling its border?

Eventually, Karine's curiosity got the better of her, and she approached the beast at a slow lope. Her stance showed no indication of a present hunting drive; quite the contrary, her steps were fluid as ever, sending her nearly floating over the snowy ground until she was close enough to know she'd be heard by the stranger when she finally presented herself with a cordial, albeit slightly puzzled, "Pardon me." She waited a moment before continuing, adding to her presence a warm smile to further emphasize her harmless intentions so close to obviously claimed lands. "I apologize, but I...couldn't help noticing you from afar. Might such a magnificent creature have a name?" And might he be able to tell her about the settlement she'd found?

"

the ones she had lost and the ones she had found
and the ones who had loved her the most

table by Lowin art/character concept by Electra song by G.R.R.M.

The wolf was based in black and white, and as he spotted her watching from a distance, his ears pricked, head nodding upward as his eyes focused on her. She seemed as curious as a raven, and, in time, she seemed to give in and came in at a lope. For a moment the stallion’s neck arched, chest puffing briefly in fair warning until she slowed and he recognized the body language and relaxed with a flick of his tail, horned head cocking slightly. She was polite, and a faint whicker of amusement flickered his nostrils, teal eyes softening as he dipped his head in a nod. “Taliesyn, Trystan Tempestien, a Valor of Valhalla. And you, Lady?” She was scarred in the face, and he idly wondered what had happened to leave them there. Isolde clicked her beak again and he flicked an ear, sending the hawk on to patrol ahead. Wangui settled herself more firmly on his back, tugging a fawn pelt cloak over her head and shoulders. The lemur, after all, had been born in a much warmer clime than this, and, much like the other lemurs and monkeys in the pack, much preferred summer to winter. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think

high in the halls of the kings who are gone
the priestess would dance with her ghosts

So, she was right. She'd found a pack--Valhalla, he called it. But neither the name nor his personal title explained to Karine why a horse was patrolling its border. The priestess wouldn't challenge his status, as she'd made her own fair share of choices as a queen back in the day, but quietly she would ponder where he'd come from and how he'd ended up shoulder-to-shoulder with her kind. Not to mention the circumstances behind his radiant pelt or the horn on his head, of which she'd seen some...but not many.

She reciprocated his nod with one of her own, though she held fast to where she stood in case this man, many times larger than herself, decided he wasn't comfortable with her nosing around his territory. "It's a pleasure Taliesyn, Valor of Valhalla." Karine tucked his name away into her memory to join his pack's name, Valhalla, for future reference. "My name is Karine...traveler." She had to remind herself that this beast likely knew nothing of her former crown; there was no need to waste breath on dead titles, and she wasn't sure she had the strength to voice her surname. She was simply on the move as Karine, and that was all anybody needed to know for now. Until she knew who she could trust around here.

Something clicked, then, in her senses, a potential reason for how she'd ended up here. Was this, potentially, where her acquaintance Paladin's home? It surely would explain why she felt so at ease. Karine was inwardly grateful for having discovered somewhere else beyond her den that at least seemed safe and harmless. What better opportunity than this to find her bearings and find out some information about this place? This new place that she was supposed to make into...home? "I'm afraid I've only just arrived here. Would you happen to have any useful information for a wanderer, sir?"

"

the ones she had lost and the ones she had found
and the ones who had loved her the most

table by Lowin art/character concept by Electra song by G.R.R.M.

The stallion’s head dipped in a friendly bow as the woman, Karine, introduced herself. It was clear she was of a sharp, curious mind, and his ears flicked forward to catch her query, hind hooves shifting to rest as he considered the wolf. Did she mean the continent, or the pack? After a beat he chose to answer with both. Nodding to the lands behind him, he rumbled, “The lands behind this wall are claimed by a pack called Valhalla, as I’ve said. They’re generally friendly, and honorable, and our Spirit – or Queen – and her family are deeply rooted in this land’s history. To be honest, I could think of no other place I would want to call a permanent home.” His tone was honest, not a trace of doubt in the inflections or voice. Aurielle could have laughed her head off when he’d come, wishing to try his hoof at joining a wolf pack, as a horse. Instead, she’d welcomed him, seen the potential in his horn and hooves, and the proof of his strengths in the offering he’d brought. And the pack had treated him with respect, even if the initial response had been surprise at seeing a huge horse that glowed much like their alpha, and bore a horn. “There’s a pack north of here, or there was one, called Lirim. Far north, from what I’ve learned, there is a pack called Winterfell, but we haven’t heard from them in the time since I joined Valhalla. There’s a neighboring pack on our eastern border here called Aerie. From what I’ve been told, they are mercenaries of sorts.” His horned head tipped slightly in thought as he considered the expanse of the continent from his travels. Though he’d been nomadic until coming to the pack, he’d not explored too deeply. “Does that help?” His teal eyes crinkled in faint humor as he regarded the woman, tail flicking lazily over one hip. Walk ---- "Speak" ---- "Hear" ---- Think