Gilded Bay and draws strength

i'm hoping for a wild @Miwa; but all welcome!

the late morn is chilly; wind more harsh and unforgiving, especially where it roils off the sea carrying the sharp tang of salt and tiny pellets of sand. it is cold and unforgiving terrain that the hale tundrian was born and bred for. unperturbed, he pushes past the western border of the sentinels where the hunting grounds of ironclan will end and into the gilded bay that was never before of much interest to him.

it still wasn't; not really. but it is not a territory he's ever found himself in before and curiosity steals him away from his task of herd tracking. the spires that rise into the air of the bay are short and thick; the l(s)and underpaw littered with rocks: some polished smooth by the ebbing flow of the tide while others retained their jagged and uneven nature like monster teeth spit from the abyss upon the high tide.

wintersbane's pace slows now to a stop, shifting thru the rocks with a broad paw; polar gaze studying a seapolished opal colored stone whose iridescent sheen catches the light of the sun and draws his eye. he's never had a magpie nature, never taken an interest in collecting things as his father ( specifically as witchdoctor ) before him; but cannot deny that he's tempted to scoop it up and take it back to stavanger bay with him all the same.

The child had been relying on the viking twins, their strange nature seemed to call to her since the day she met them. Their comps y is all she could ask for, an easy silence seemed to always pass between them and she liked that. Ah, but now there were additions to their little band and the nightingale grew restless. Maybe that's why she had found herself in an unfamiliar place, wandering on her own to see how far she could travel before she grew uncomfortable and returned to their sides.

She found herself by the sea once more, her eyes draw to the violent waves and gentle sound. They had come to a pack near here and found that this was not her home but she still felt the pull.  This might have not been her home but she still felt comfort here, the sound of shifting rocks caused her to stop looking out at the receding tide. Silently she searched her for the sound, curious to what it could mean.

There, a rather large man that has similar markings to her and her sightless brother. How curious. Slowly she moved closer, she had not given a sign of her presence but maybe her scent gave her away. Pale eyes watched him, catching the shifting colors of an opal-like rock and she was transfixed.

the very first thing wintersbane notices about the girl on the beach; opal clasped lightly betwixt his jaws forgotten about as he blinks polar gaze at her: is that she looks uncannily like quellcrist. there were subtle differences, surely, but she looks too much like his known daughter ...and by proxy, too much like him. the same blueishly tinted in certain lights grey and the same light frosty grey markings. the same eyes. his eyes.

his steps slow to a halt as he does the mental math quickly in his head. he knows quellcrist is too young to have bore this girl across the way from him ...but she is about the right age to be one of the cubs to come from one of his several dalliances during last season. he doesn't even know for sure that she's his daughter but the physical similarities to him and the daughter he does know about are too close to ignore.

thawing, he blinks as if resurfacing from under icy water and he lowers his head to deposit the opal at his paws. hello, he calls to her in a low chuff. i'm wintersbane. he offers his name, unsure if it would mean anything to her. had he shared his name with any of the women he bed last season? he couldn't say he really remember — not to mention, he had a habit of withholding it anyway for no particular reason. what's your name? he asks, whisky steeped voice low, thick with some emotion he cannot place.

word count: 256