Bronze had taken to wandering just beyond Incendium's borders, testing the slightly relaxed freedoms that he and his siblings had earned as they grew older. He hadn't ever gone this far south before though. The landscape shifted slightly, pines growing sparse all around him as another forest cropped up. These trees were different than the tall pine trees he was used to though. They were quite large but seemed thicker than the sort he was used to, with lots of branches too, some almost low enough for him to climb. He wasn't really the sort to test his luck with things like climbing, though so Bronze decided against it. He wanted to grow strong and protect his family, and accidentally breaking a limb from falling didn't sound ideal to him, not at all. Frowning a bit, the blue-furred boy continued on, occasionally pausing to get a better look at one of the trees before pressing on. His movements were slow and deliberate, taking care to sniff out his surroundings. Bronze didn't like surprises and he hoped he didn't stumble into anything completely unexpected out here.

Mortis had travelled to the North on a whim, perhaps a part of him wanting to find the very thing that had drawn his mother out this way. To find what she had not, and finish what she had started. The problem was, he really wasn’t much of a navigator. He found his way into the woods where his grandmother had once taken him to train him in hunting, and got turned around. He had thought he found the clearing they had hunted from, but the day the two had been out here it had been snowing heavily, and everything looked different.

A slow, sad smile turned up his lip as he imagined that old scarred wolf beside him. The shadow of her ghost in the darkening dusk. When he turned his head, his imagination failed him, and he knew she was not there. A slow ache blossomed in his chest, and he picked up his pace, running from the feelings. From his loss. He always ran from the things he should face.

The evening moved on, and the darkness grew until he knew he would have to camp for the night. Instead of trying to find somewhere dry and warm beneath the trees, he began to climb. He had always been a good climber, and the cluster of limbs made for plenty of foot holds as he made his way into a nock, and curled up. Letting sleep take him.

He woke sometime late into the day with the sound of something moving about beneath him. He yawned, cracking open an eye and shaking out his stiff coat, wiggling out of the space he had curled into it. As he moved along the limb of a tree, he locked down and saw a small, young pup wandering about in the woods. “Hello” he called down “Are you lost?” Mortis sure was.

"Mortis Fatalis"

Bronze wasn't sure he entirely understood the concept of freedom. All he knew was life within Incendium and under the watchful eye of his parents. Only now was he beginning to experience what it felt like to be on his own, exploring the world and doing whatever he wanted... well, sort of. The truth was that he quite liked his home and being around his family. He wasn't sure straying far from that was all that appealing, but he remembered his dream of his great-grandmother - or whatever she'd been to him - and wondered if he could someday travel the world like she had once. He couldn't shake the feeling that her visit to him had been more than just a dream; how could he make up something like that, anyway?

The least he could do for now was explore this forest and its unique trees, even if only from the ground. They certainly were interesting and he wondered if he might someday be agile enough to climb; he could certainly see Pyrite being skillful enough, but he wasn't sure he was meant to climb trees. Better save that for the squirrels, he thought to himself. For a long while he found himself trailing after various scents and weaving lazily between the tree trunks, only pausing when he heard a voice from above. He nearly jumped out of his skin, glancing up. Wait, was that a wolf? He'd been daydreaming of climbing trees but he hadn't expected to see a wolf up there! His nose wrinkled as he tilted his head up and tried to examine the stranger from this distance. "Oh.. hi," he started cautiously. He'd only spoken to one wolf outside his pack and she'd been a pup, so it'd been less strange. This was a full grown adult, and Bronze wasn't sure what he was supposed to say. "No, not lost. Just exploring. You?" He hoped his voice sounded half as confident as he wanted it to. Truthfully he was feeling a bit aimless but he knew he could make his way back home, if he didn't get disoriented on his way back.

He rested his chest more firmly on the branch, and dangled his paws as he looked at the blue wolf below him. At his question, the other wolf pipped up, explaining that they were exploring. It was hard to get scents from this vantage point, but Mortis thought he might be a pack wolf.

How old was the boy anyway? He looked gangly and long limbed, the kind of look that meant he had a lot of growing yet to do. Likely he was quite young - but Mortis found the idea almost strange. He still considered himself as young. Someone who hadn’t figured out yet what it meant to be an adult.

Mortis grinned as the question was turned back to him. “Oh, lost. Definitely lost. I haven’t been in these woods for a while, and it all looks so different…”


"Mortis Fatalis"

Wait, he didn't look entirely like a wolf at all. Were those... wings? It certainly looked like it, hanging down on each side of him, but it was hard to tell from his position beneath him. Bronze squinted and tilted his head, looking quite puzzled as he drew closer. Finally he paused and stood tall, neck arched to try to see as much of Mortis as he could - which admittedly wasn't all that much from this position. Why was he up there, anyway? He admitted that he was lost and Bronze wondered maybe if he was climbing higher to figure out how to get back where he was going, but he was pretty sure it was just trees for miles and miles.. though he hadn't explored all that much of these woods yet. "You've been here before?" He asked cautiously, after a moment of thought. "Do you live near here?" Perhaps he was a neighbor. Bronze wasn't used to talking to wolves outside his pack and really wasn't sure what to expect from him, but he had to admit that he was quite curious.

The winged heir grinned as the younger wolf tilted his head and squinted in puzzlement. Mortis could guess what had gotten his attention - his wings had often garnered some strange looks. The winged wolf pushed his belly against the branch he was on, and began to cautiously pull himself down the sloped trunk. Holding on with his cat like claws for extra traction.

“I live much further South then this” he explained as he worked his way down the branch. His wings occasionally flaring for weight support. “I came here once as a yearling with my Grandmother on a hunting expedition. I haven’t really been back this way. But… she passed and I guess I wanted to see if it still looked the same as I remember.” He missed her, and he missed his mother. He pushed aside the heavy weight on his heart. Not wanting to display that sadness too keenly to the young stranger. Instead , he hopped the last way down, and opened his wings lightly, giving the other a chance to examine them. “What about you, do you live here?”

"Mortis Fatalis"

Bronze had never seen anyone who looked like Mortis, but for the sheltered boy that really wasn't saying much at all. Most of his inner circle was either his family, or some of the red kids in the pack - he'd certainly never seen anyone that looked like this guy. "Oh, I'm Bronze, by the way," he added a bit absently. Even if he lived further south, as he'd explained, and Bronze probably would never run into him again, introductions seemed important. His parents had always taught him to be wary around strangers, but giving his name seemed harmless enough to him.

His eyes fixed carefully on Mortis as he moved down toward the ground, eventually opening his wings. Bronze couldn't help the way his eyes widened dramatically at the sight. "Woah," he breathed, before managing to pick his jaw up off the floor and regain his composure. "Sorry, I've never seen anyone with those." A million questions swirled through his head. Could he fly? Had he been born like that, or had they grown? He wasn't the most open of wolves though and so the questions never quite reached his tongue. "Yeah, I live close. Just east of here." He gestured vaguely toward the pine forest to the east, which didn't look too different than this place besides the different kind of trees that grew there.