The Bifröst
Fall, Year 17
Early afternoon

Zephyrus had been growing at an incredible rate since he'd found the young raptor a couple short weeks ago. Day by day, Artorias watched his ward roam and explore the castle, learning with a voracious curiosity that never seemed sated, all the while sprouting inches at a time like they were nothing. He was shocked and impressed; there was little doubt that whatever Zephyr was, he would grow to be massive! Pretty soon, the castle wouldn't be enough for the adventurous avian, who seemed to possess a similar spark of wanderlust that the Aegis himself had. He could remember his days as a puppy, aching to go running out past the pack border to see the wide, wide world beyond! So Art decided the best way to handle that adventurous spirit was to foster it, encourage it, nurture it until Zeph could go exploring himself. And what better way to do that than with a bit of a field trip?

Artorias had shown Zephyr some of Auster from the top of the castle tower, the expansive view in all directions giving the young fledgling raptor an idea of just how big the world around him was. This time, however, Art was going to show him something that he expected would blow the bird's mind away. After collecting Zeph and letting his ward mount his back like he were a steed (something Artorias had grown to love from a paternal sort of aspect), the wolf headed north past the borders of the Starlit Plains and through the dense grove of berry trees and bushes. When they reached the northwestern shore of Auster, Artorias gazed out at the strip of sandbar that made up the Bifröst—and silhouetted in the distance, hazy from how far away it was, sat Boreas.

"We're here!" declared Artorias while he walked carefully down from the grassy terrain onto the pebbly sandbar. On either side of the wolf and raptor, white foamy waves lapped gently at the silty shore. "Can you guess why I brought you here, Zeph?" Perhaps Zephyr would notice the other continent in the distance. Perhaps he would be too distracted by how close they were to the water now, or by the waves of the gently roiling sea. Or maybe the cries of the gulls overhead would hold his attention, wondering what sort of birds they were. Either way, this would be a great learning experience for the young bird.

"Artorias Carpathius"

Zephyr was excited beyond words at the prospect of leaving the castle for the first time. As a ward of the Hallows he was free to go where he pleased (and, he assumed, free to explore to his heart's content outside it) but his flightless wings and unsteady talons made any true adventure illogical. Even if the bird somehow waddled his way out from Hallows' land without starving himself in the process, he had no way to defend himself if a larger predator decided to make him the meal. This trip was spent on Artorias' back, an activity Zephyr truly enjoyed and the closest to flight he could so far experience. The Aegis was by far Zephyr's favorite wolf to scale and ride, his extra layer of fur being much easier to grasp and crawl around on than shorter furred wolves coats were.

The world changed rapidly as they left the castle, passing through the now-familiar courtyard and heading north into the unknown. The terrain changed drastically from the well-tended gardens to a flat and empty expanse of plains, to a grove of towering trees and berry bushes. Still, the pair continued (Zephyr's head on a swivel as the wolf walked) until they'd reached sand - sand, and a never-ending expanse of water. His body shrunk in against the wolf's as they neared the small strip of land, the water looming on them in a way that felt almost dangerous.

At Artorias' declaration that this was their destination, the bird moved to dismount. Zeph's every movement was careful and controlled as he repelled his way down, his beak and talons grasping tight to various dense tufts of fur on Artorias' side. He reached out with a talon toward the ground for a tentative touch when suddenly his claws sank much deeper than he was expecting. He recoiled from the sand instantly, hung from Artorias' fur for a moment, and then scurried back up the Aegis' back. "It's going to eat me!" Zephyr insisted once he was safe again upon his guardian. "It's going to eat me and then drag me into the water and then the water will eat me!"

"Zephyr"

Artorias watched while his avian ward went to dismount as soon as he announced they had arrived, then saw the panic on Zephyr's face the moment his talons hit and sank into the soft sand an inch. The baby raptor hung from his dense fur for a moment in fright, then hurriedly scrambled back up him, declaring in a panic that the ground was going to eat him and then the water was going to eat him. Artorias couldn't help the laugh at Zephyrus' innocent mind. Everything was terrifying to the young bird until explained otherwise. Art began to silently wonder if this was how parents had to teach their pups how to navigate and interact with the world; had he been like this at Zephyr's age? "It's all right, Zeph! It's not going to eat you. See?" Artorias demonstrated by hopping up and down on the sand a few times, his paws sinking just a smidge into the soft earth each time, but never rising above them. "This is sand. It's like the dirt we walk on, but it's made softer and more pliable thanks to the ocean. It feels weird at first and is kinda squishy, but it's totally safe." As for the ocean itself... Artorias gazed out over the western sea to their left.

"The water won't eat you either, but it does need to be treated with respect. This big water is called an ocean. It goes on for as far as we know, and can be very dangerous if you can't swim. So you can go near it, but don't go in it, okay?" With his warning given, Artorias turned his head to smile back at the argentavis clinging to his back fur. "If you'd like to try walking again, I promise I won't let anything hurt you. Or you're more than welcome to stay on my back for now, and I'll keep you safe up there." Once Zeph had made his decision, Artorias began a slow walk along the isthmus, crunching the soft sand beneath his toes. "This place is called the Bifröst. It's a long bridge of land that links our home of Auster with another land to the north, called Boreas." Lifting an azure paw, Art pointed to the hazy land far off in the distance. "Do you see it all the way over there? That's Boreas. A lot of our friends live over there. It's also where I was born before my family moved here." Artorias permitted Zephyrus to explore the land or ask questions as his little feather heart desired. He wanted to be a good teacher, guardian, and mentor to the fledgling, so he gave Zeph quite a lot of freedom to grow and explore.

"Artorias Carpathius"

Artorias' rich laugh shook the raptor gently from his perch upon the wolf's broad spine. The sand wasn't going to eat him? Zephyr directed an uncertain, suspicious glare to his guardian, but Artorias had never lied to him before and Zeph doubted he'd start now. He clacked his beak a few times as he gathered the courage, and then maneuvered down once more hurriedly before he had the chance to change his mind. His talons sunk into the warm sand, its tiny granules rising in between his toes and covering the tips of his claws.

Like Artorias before him, Zephyr gave a few timid hops upon the unsteady ground. "It isn't eating me!" He breathed, wonder and relief clear in his tone. Without the feeling of impending doom, the Bifrost's beauty became all the more enticing. He waddled carefully across the sand alongside Artorias, curved beak tipping this way and that way as the wolf explained the sights.

Following Artorias' paw out into the big water Zephyr swore he could see birds, both flying overhead and ducking down beneath the waves. He absorbed their movements awhile before turning back to his guardian. "I can't swim?" He asked, trying not to sound overly disappointed. The raptor had had a brief interaction with water in the Hallow's baths and had swiftly decided he hated the concept of it, but now that he was told he couldn't go into it, the prospect of swimming seemed more intriguing. "There are birds out there like me, why can they swim?" The longer he spoke, the more his question became a pout. "... can you swim?"

The little bird's heart warred between the prospect of swimming the vast oceans and visiting the adjoining continent in the foggy distance. If they had friends out there, why were they on this little strip of sand and not visiting? "Can we go to Boreas now?" He asked, tipping his beak up and giving the wolf an innocent and excited wiggle of anticipation. "I want to see your birth-castle, and our friends!" Zephyrus adored the wolves who'd taken him in, loving them with his whole heart even before he knew there were others out there to meet. More friendly wolves would only improve his quality of life, surely. "Why don't they come live in our castle and then we have all our friends and family together forever?"



"Zephyr"

Despite the suspicious look Zephyrus shot his way, the young raptor clicked his beak and began to descend from Artorias' back again. Art was grateful for the thicker fur he possessed, as it not only provided a handy way for Zeph to maneuver about him, but it also prevented the avian's talons from clawing or scratching him up. Once Zephyr had made it back down to the sand, he watched while his ward gave a few experimental hops of his own, and when the ground failed to consume him, Zephyr seemed to brighten up and relax once more. "Nope, sure isn't!" replied a highly amused Artorias, who craned his neck down to nuzzle the top of his ward's head with a tender affection. "I'd never let anything eat you." Not that he imagined he would need to be Zephyrus' guardian for terribly long. The boy was growing at an exponential rate with every week, and Gwyn hypothesized he'd be as big as Art by the time he reached maturity, if not even bigger! Artorias had never seen a bird that large before, yet here Zephyrus was, proving that point with his mere existence.

While he explained the ocean to his ward, Artorias was caught briefly off guard by Zephyr's question. He opened his mouth—then hesitated. He supposed he didn't know whether Zephyrus would be able to swim or not in time, especially since he didn't know exactly what kind of bird he even was! "Ah, good point, Zeph. Let me rephrase: we don't know if you can swim yet. You might be like some of those gulls out there," he said, gesturing to the gliding seagulls just off the coast, fishing in the deep ocean waters. "Some birds can swim. Others tend to avoid going in deep water." Zephyr asked if he could swim, and Artorias smiled and nodded. "Yes, I can. I love to swim, actually! If you'd like, we can practice together back at the Hallows in some safer shallow water. I'd be happy to teach you." Artorias figured Zephyrus would likely be a buoyant bird, or at the very least able to dive for fish, so why not teach the lad when he was young and eager?

Artorias was so amused and delighted by the fledgling raptor's enthusiasm and spirit for adventure! Zephyrus reminded him of himself when he was a wee pup, not much older than the bird was now. All he wanted to do was go roaming and exploring, so the Aegis could empathize with the wanderlust. "Maybe someday soon, but not today. Briar would be very upset if I took you on a special trip without her," he replied, reaching a careful paw up to go and pat Zeph's back gently, reassuringly. "When you're a little bigger and Briar can come too, we'll both take you to visit her family. You've already met her father, Sirius. We can go see the Armada together, and I'll show you where I was born." Artorias left out the fact that he had been born in a den and not in a castle like Zeph suspected; that would be a lesson for another day. The Hallows was incredibly unique in their circumstances to live in a castle. Zephyrus would learn swiftly that every pack lived a little differently.

Then Zephyrus asked a profound question. Why didn't all their friends and family come live with them in their castle? It was a good question; an astute question. "Because as big as our home is, we couldn't house all of our friends, Zeph. We have a lot of friends and family, you see. Briar especially! The Fatalis family is a very large, very old noble house. We also have friends in the Abraxas family, and there are easily dozens and dozens of Abraxas wolves all over Boreas and Auster. We'd run out of room!" He sat back on the warm sands and watched Zeph while he allowed the chick to wander and waddle about as his heart desired, keeping an eye on him without keeping his ward on a proverbial leash. "Plus, your grandpa Sirius has to lead his own pack, and our other friends need to lead theirs as well. Everyone can live their lives the way they want, just like we live ours the way we want. That's what it means to be free, Zephyr. We can choose and decide what we want for ourselves."

"Artorias Carpathius"

Artorias' gentle touch brought a happy wiggle to Zephyr's growing tail feathers. His early life before he'd met the wolves was a blur in his young memory, remnants of his mother owl and the harpy eagle who'd killed her fading more as each new day passed. What luck that his egg had been hatched in the castle walls surrounded by such unlikely would-be-friends and family instead of somewhere like the Bifrost, where the ocean or its predators surely would have taken him. He shrunk a bit at the thought, stepping closer to the Aegis so his wing touched the wolf's leg as they crossed the warm sand.

His question had Artorias rephrasing his lesson and Zephyr's head swung round to listen attentively to the amendment. So it was possible he could swim. The chick looked down at his talons, remembering Gwyn's companion's insistence that a raptor was only as good as his talons. Were those gulls raptors too? Did he want to be a raptor or a gull? As Artorias finished speaking his beak turned back to the water with renewed interest, squinting out into the distance where the birds played on the waves.

The offer of a lesson piqued his attention once more, his beak falling open in enthusiasm. "Oh yes, I want to learn to swim!" His talons alternated carrying his weight as he marched in place excitedly upon the sand. Was swimming more like walking, or more like flying? Worse case, Zeph supposed, he could simply ride upon Artorias' back while he swam. If the Bifrost hadn't been tempting him with it's newness, he might have requested they leave now to get back to the Hallows ASAP for his first lesson.

At the mention of Briar and potentially making her upset, Zephyr gave a solemn nod. The antlered female was as treasured a family member as Artorias or Lia was, and if going on the adventure without her would make her feel left out then it was out of the question for the chick. Having been abandoned himself, Zephyr knew he'd never be able to forgive himself for instilling that feeling into someone he cared about. "Okay, we can wait until I'm bigger." He agreed. "And when I can fly, I can visit Sirius and Basilisk and everyone else anytime I want, right?" Already his stubby wings were pumping at the mention as if one day miraculously he'd simply beat hard with his wings and lift off into the air. The day couldn't come fast enough, not with the knowledge that he had so many friends out in the world that they couldn't all fit in their castle.

Artorias took a seat upon the sand and Zephyr looked back at him, momentarily confused until he realized that, right, they weren't crossing the land bridge today. He gazed out toward the blurry continent in the distance with longing but refocused quickly with Briar in his thoughts. It would be a worthwhile adventure for them all, and he could wait... hopefully.

Entertaining himself and exerting his 'freedom', Zephyr plopped his rear into the sand. It was not entirely comfortable on his tail feathers, but they were still mostly soft, fluffy, and malleable down, and somehow managed to find a form beneath his bum. Pushing his legs straight out through the grains, the young raptor proceeded to bury his talons, pull them free and then bury them once more. Another of Artorias' words caught his ears and he contorted himself around - half-buried in the sand - to question it. "Artorias, what's Grandpa?" It was not an especially foreign word but Basilisk called Sirius grandpa. "Is it like how people call you Aegis?"

"Zephyr"

While they walked together, Artorias gazed down at the tottering baby bird of prey with what could only be described as paternal affection. The way Zephyrus kept a little stubby, downy wing touching his leg while they walked so they could maintain contact melted his heart. The thought that had he been a minute slower on the day, this sweet and innocent life would have been snuffed out in his own castle without his knowledge incensed a protective anger in his heart. Was this what being a parent felt like? A willingness to fight the world tooth and nail to keep your child safe from harm? Zephyrus might not have been his blood child, but he had been adopted into the family as if he had been. Much like his relationship with Avantika and Grimshaw, Artorias saw Zephyr in only the way that mattered: he was his ward, his son in some regards, and his responsibility to care for and raise. He vowed he would never let the young raptor down.

The offer to teach Zephyr how to swim was met with wild enthusiasm and excitement. Artorias laughed softly and flashed a toothy grin to his ward. "Then we'll make the finest swimmer out of you!" he declared, already thinking about how they would go about getting started. The creek south of the Hallows, or perhaps their own baths would be a good place for the fledgling raptor to learn how to keep himself buoyant until they could learn proper techniques like strokes and dives. He followed the raptor's eyes back out to the gulls over the ocean. Art had little doubt that with some practice, Zeph would be a swimming bird. Fortunately, despite his eagerness, Zephyrus was content to tamp down his desire to run off on a Boreal adventure right away, understanding in his youthful mind that they wouldn't want to leave Briar out of any major journeys together as a family. "I don't see why not," replied Art when he was questioned if Zeph could visit the Armada wolves when he could fly. "The Armada wolves are very close friends of ours, and the Fatalises are our family as well. So long as you mind your manners and respect Sirius and his rules, I think it would be fine. And you let me or Briar know where you're going." He had almost said "me or your mother", but didn't want to put words where he didn't know if they belonged. Did Zephyrus see them as his parents? His guardians? His caretakers?

While the two rested on the sandbar, the Aegis watched his young ward kick his talons through the sand, exploring the terrain. Artorias simultaneously flexed his toes, raking sharp claws through the sand to leave little trenches in their wake. For a few peaceful moments, Art just listened to the sound of the waves all around them, breathed in the salty sea breeze, observed the gulls swooping about on the wind and the way the water lapped at the shore around them. Then Zephyr asked what "Grandpa" was and caught the older wolf by surprise. "'Grandpa' is a name for a family member. He's the father of your father or mother," he explained. "Sirius is the father of Azure, who is the father of Basilisk, making him Basilisk's grandfather, or 'Grandpa'." A thought passed through the Aegis' head and made him chuckle, then laugh the more he dwelled on it. "Sirius is also Briar's father, so I suppose in a way that makes him your grandpa too." It was really amusing for the wolf to think about: the Warlord, feared alpha of the infamous Armada, one of the greatest warriors of lupine history, grandfather to a fluffy, downy bird.

"Artorias Carpathius"