Mercury had decided to take Junior up on her advice — to a degree, at any rate. Despite his better judgment, and the fact that his father slightly terrified him (or perhaps it was the knowledge that he would be the forever disgraced and hated son that terrified Mercury the absolute most) Mercury decided that it was not a debonaire move to sneak out of the Bay when Ragnar was away on an outrider mission. Ragnar was a demon that Mercury would have to face and the brunt of disappointment that was sure to follow would be Mercury's to bear, even if he was hoping to avoid it all, even if it was a cheap shot or below the belt. Damn it all for his foster sister encouraging him to be a better person than he wanted to be.

Mercury had decided to give the borders a patrol, deciding that someone needed to pick up the absence of Ragnar and deciding that together Gunnar and him conquering their father's usual patrol about amounted to his father's usual patrols. It was during such a time that a foreign, yet slightly familiar scent, assuaged his leathery nostrils which flared in accordance to allow Mercury to test the air. Soon enough, the smoky black Lodbrok came into view of the wolf who was near the Bay's borders. Drawing in a breath he let out a low chuff to announce his presence so that he did not alarm the male. The closer, albeit with controlled caution, that Mercury went to the other male, the more his scent tickled at the recesses of the boy's mind. It was familiar because he'd scented it on Nerian's pelt for a while, definitely the scent of another pack though which pack Mercury hadn't cared enough to pester his father's mistress.

“You're awfully close to our borders, stranger.” Mercury observed, pausing when he was within adequate speaking range of the other, leaving quite a bit of distance between them, for safety measures.

Mercury and his siblings though he remained the tallest out of them, was finally eye level with his mother who, granted, was a fairly small wolf. He had never realized it until he was able to look her in the eyes and tell her that he wanted to leave the Bay. He wasn't yet his adult size and his youthful features, too big paws and awkward movements painted him for what he was: a pre-teen. Child was too insulting to consider himself considering he was about a month or so away form reaching his six month milestone in which he would be free of the 'puppy' title and would be considered, at length, a useful addition to the pack. When the foreigner spoke to Mercury, the smoky black colored boy had to, literally, bite back the urge to let the sardonic words that burned the tip of his tongue off of his lips, despite that the urge was rather strong. He saw no ties between Stavanger Bay and where ever it was the man was from, but decided that coming from him at his current age the sass wouldn't be appreciated and instead would make him be labeled as even more of a child. As to which Mercury would not have appreciated on any sort of level.

While the scent was familiar to the Lodbrok boy he did not have a name to place with it which left a vast amount of possibilities before him. Mercury knew well of Blacktail Deer Plateau and was able to determine rather quickly that it wasn't where this male stemmed from and so that knowledge was basically, more or less, useless to him. “Stavanger Bay doesn't have alliances,” Mercury warned the other, having heard Ragnar speak it enough times that it was a reflex reaction to say it. Ragnar's advice on how to handle those outside of the borders wasn't lost upon the eldest traitor son. “If that was what you came here seeking.” Mercury didn't know, for sure, only went off of the limited assumptions he'd been able to make based off of the other male's words.

The agouti colored man spoke that he wasn't looking for an alliance, and went on to explain that Stavanger Bay and The Sunspire should acknowledge each others existence, and stated that he didn't even know that anyone lived here. Imperial green eyes focused upon the other male broken only by a slow blink, deciding how the best way to respond should have been. Everything within Mercury wanted to be cynical and state that, obviously it was intentional. Stavanger Bay stuck to themselves, didn't pry in the business of others and likewise enjoyed it that way. Someone had to tell this guy that and since Ragnar wasn't around to do it himself it looked like that job rested upon the shoulders of the eldest son. “Ironic since I know of The Sunspire's existence,” Mercury didn't see why it had to be their fault that this stranger didn't know of them. “I know our Jarl has been there at least once or twice, presumably has spoken to one of your leaders.” Perhaps you should get better Outriders, but for the sake of not wanting to instigate something that he wasn't prepared for Mercury kept that to himself. “Well what do you want to know?” Mercury didn't know how much information he was or was not allowed to disclose — Ragnar and him were too busy fighting with one another these days to actually talk about serious business things but Mercury considered that his own judgment should be enough.