Cerulean Cape there's something the dead are keeping back

For @Ragna. Dio can cameo or post as desired. Anyone else welcome too!

There had been no other reason to visit the coast other than the fact she could. They'd already come this far to inspect the lack of wolves claiming to be Seadogs and it wasn't much farther that the ocean resided. While the sea lives in Thuringwethil, she'd make it a point to visit when close enough. The roaring in her restless heart is not often settled but she'd had a trip with Toxochelys not too long ago and she may have been satiated for a while but why miss the opportunity?

Once they'd made the trek out of the ravine and through the fields, she and @Dio reach sandy ground and the welcoming crash of waves.

The sense of belonging Ragna found in having a pack-in having the Malkaria- liberated her. Her survival was not solely dependent on her, as it was when she was a lone wolf. She had support, now, in her packmates. She was content in the Copse, tending to its borders and its caches. And now that she knew where her brothers were, she had little reason to leave. Slowly the fire of anger at her ancestral home being inhabited by another pack was burning out.

Yet her heart was still a compass to the sea, and she missed the sting of brine. She set out early one morning to pay visit to the ocean, swinging wide around Stavanger Bay and passing even the river's mouth. The moment her paws sunk into sand, she was entirely content, bolstered by the sound of the tide. In the distance she saw another and, since it wasn't so far from Saltwinter's borders, she wondered if the wolf belonged to Jorunn- Kjallar's- pack. Ragna barked to catch the woman's attention, hoping the sound would carry over the wind and waves.

Underfoot it shifts towards sand, and it's a rush of familiar scent that greets him soon after. He's always had a mixed relationship towards the coast, although it is the brief visits like these that he has learned to favor above the rest -- their purpose, and ensuring the safety of the commander, give him a better train of thought here. The memories of the frozen coastline in the dead of winter and him, ailing lone through the seasalt in his fur and the feel of smoke in his lungs, are something he's more than happy to put greater distance away from.

By now, he's satisfied in the lack of the Seadogs, and finding little of Larksong interest bodes well too. Since sights are good here at the beach, and he's definitely not worried that Heda needs him within immediate reach constantly, he starts to fan out over the sands when he spies the white-coated female. Dio pauses in the distant, tensing slightly, to watch her and namely, how his commander receives the company. The winds do not yet play greatly in his favor, not with the seasalt so strong, and he tries to angle around them better. But overall, his goal is to stay in sight, in mind as a visage of strength to guard the Dragon leader.

There are times she thinks about uprooting Drageda again to put them back on the ocean, where they belonged, but something always holds her back. Whether it’s the children Gyda had birthed or the fact everyone is relatively happy on the mountain, Thuringwethil knows she’s satisfied enough with their home that picking up and moving again without reason will be selfish. Instead, she enjoys the sounds of the waves heating the sandy shores with Dio off in the distance. She soaks up the salty air and misty wind, not sure when she’ll be out here next.

Her head turns when there’s a glimpse of someone in her peripheral vision. The chuff happens at about the same time and she moves the rest of her body to match the intention of the other. Thuringwethil glances back, once, to make sure her guard is nearby, and then proceeds to take a step or two toward the stranger that called her attention.

The woman approached, her companion hovering near. It set Ragna on edge and fueled her curiosity in the same breath. Did these wolves plan to gang up on her? Had they positioned themselves to arrest the progress of any traveler? To set upon the unwary? Ragna would not be caught by surprise.

Are you a wolf of Saltwinter? she asked, a hard bitterness in her voice. Sourly, she thought of Kjallar (the very thought of the name inflamed her. Even in her thoughts it was pronounced with mockery.) With the sea scent all around them, it was impossible to determine by scent if this was a sea-wolf. She was a tall wolf with intense eyes and a noble bearing.

Ragna looked to the wolf's companion, still in watchful silence. Who is he?

“No,” she answers. There isn’t much she knows about Saltwinter except what she’d learned earlier with the male she’d met from there. Information she will use on her own time, whatever purpose the other woman has for asking. Thuringwethil isn’t able to piece together a group scent from her, either, with the wind blowing against her favor and the salt taking up most of what she’s able to detect. There isn’t anyone else with her, either, as far as she can tell, and Dio hasn’t mentioned anything he’s picked up either.

The stranger asks about her companion and Thuringwethil looks back, for only a second, to see where Dio stands in relation to her. A distance behind them, but present enough to be counted.

“Dio, my guard. I am Thuringwethil, commander of Sleeping Dragon,” she explains. “Who are you?”

The confirmation that these were not Saltwinter wolves came as something of a comfort to Ragna. She had not expected Kjallar to send wolves after her, but it was still a small fear that she had held. She did not know Jorunn anymore, and did not count him as one of her brothers. There was no trust there anymore. Still, that meant that they could be rogues, here to set upon unwary travelers. Well, let them! It had been long enough since she had had a fight. She would not start one, though, only defend herself.

In truth they were wolves of a pack, some Sleeping Dragon with which she was unfamiliar. Ragna, son of Ragnar. Shieldmaiden of the Malkaria, she announced, her head held high with pride. Though her brother was forsaken, she was still a child of Ragnar, a sibling of the Malkaria. There was much for her to be proud of. It dawned on her that Thuringwethil was an important wolf, since only important wolves had guards.

His ears tipped forward questioningly. Saltwinter? He was the subject of inquiry not long after, so he waved his tail and sneered subtly as Heda does all the talking necessary. Of course, he is sure to remain ever steadfast and dutiful, but he has high trust in the dark commander. He doesn't have to stare blankly at her back, just waiting for something to go wrong. Once he settles on a good enough scope of the pale-coated stranger -- evidently the shieldmaiden, no less, he sniffs around on the shore to check out this swatch of beach in the meantime. His ears stay trained so not to miss anything, though, and he doesn't go far.

The female introduces herself in a way Gyda once had when they first met. Wolves proud of their heritage, their parents, their position. It had been why she and Gyda had gotten along so well even with their differences. It was what fused Sleeping Dragon together into what it is today. While Drageda has claimed the volcano for themselves, the vikings have their hand in it. Their presence will remain in generations to come, proven by the children the shield-maiden of Drageda had produced.

"Ragna," she repeats, cupping her ears forward eagerly. It is not the first time she's run into a family member not far from this area and she begins to wonder what the odds of it happening again will be. "There is a woman that lives in my claim, Gyda. Ragnarsdottir. From the bay," she says with a little struggling of the foreign word. There are few words Heda knows of her friend's own language but her tongue struggles to produce the same sounds every once in awhile.

The commander's guard hovered still, clearly listening in on their conversation. Ragna did as Thuringwethil did and ignored him, for the most part. Every so often her eyes darted to find him. This she did shrewdly, she would not be so quick to trust these two when she was alone and far from help. Still, most of her attention was on Thuringwethil, with whom she was actually conversing.

The woman repeated her name, then went on to name Gyda. She had lived in Odinn's Cove for a time with her half-sister, but had not spent much time with her. Heavy was the crown, and heavier the head that wore it. Half-sister, she said by way of explanation. Immediately Thuringwethil had earned a modicum of trust, for any wolf that was fit to lead Gyda was one to respect. Where is your claim? Should Ragna feel inclined, she wanted to know where to find her half-sister.

Ragna confirms the suspicion she had on Gyda and the possible relation. She thinks briefly of Kjalarr but does not speak up about it. She’d offered him a chance to visit both Wildfire and Gyda, as well as Floki a chance to visit Gyda (which leaves her a little uncertain with information she’d learned from Wildfire recently, but she brushes it off for now) and considers the next question. Why not offer the half-sister a chance to see her family when she had offered the others? Shrugging it off for now, she looks back the way they’d came to consider the best way to explain.

“East of here, across a moraine and river. Sleeping Dragon, a mountain with the river at its base,” she explains.

Above all else, Ragna valued family. Not just her family by birth, but by choice as well. This was why she stayed with the Malkaria rather than join her blood. She had thrown her lot in with the Malkaria, and their was the blood of the covenant. She would not be so quick to abandon them. Still, she liked to know where her brothers and sisters by birth were, so that she could maintain a relationship with them. So she listened attentively to Thuringwethil's directions, sparse though they were. Should the need arise, Ragna thought that the directions would serve well enough.

Now she only needed to procure an invitation. Far be it from her to arrive announced and unwanted. Might I visit someday?

His ears remained trained forward, and with a new curiosity when the pale stranger's details came into the light. A half sibling to Gyda was unexpected out here on this beach, yet brought with it all the more reason to ensure that her first impression go well. However he was not sure what the sterling viking's relationship was with her extended family outside the Dragon. However, despite his relative indifference towards the entire notion of familial matters, Dio was glad to hear of this. He could now know to look out for her should she come to their borderlands for her proposed visit on his watch.

Thuringwethil is a little surprised when Ragna makes the requests but she isn't entirely sure why. Gyda had never mentioned her sister, or the other family she'd come across while in the teekon, and she briefly wonders if she knew. The woman in front of her seemed to know of her, but perhaps her legacy reached farther than she anticipated. While her own has yet to implant into this area, however growing ever greater, she feels a hint of envy that Gyda is far more well known. Leaving the thought behind, she shakes her mind free and nods her head once.

"You might," she offers with a quirk of her brow. "Should you visit, you will call for me. When I return I will speak to Gyda about you but I don't foresee any problems. I look forward to the visit."

Despite the great value Ragna put on her family, she was not very good at keeping track of them. She had yet to go see Charon, despite their proximity. At least she knew where he, Floki, and Jorunn were. And, now, Gyda. Even when living in the same pack as Gyda, Ragna had not been close to her, though this was born from shyness and nothing else. Thank you, she said graciously, not underestimating the value of the invitation. She began to look forward to this visit, not just for the visit with her elder sister, but to learn more of this mysterious woman that stood before her. I will not hold you up, she said shyly, for surely the woman and her guard were headed somewhere.

The woman accepts the position and is not long to stay in their way. While there isn’t much for them to do that Ragna cannot linger, Thuringwethil nods and lets her turn to go. Their trip from the ravine to here had simply been for an enjoyment to see the sea as she longs for the waves crashing against the shore. She takes a step back as the other does the same and turns to meet with Dio in the distance, where they begin their trek back home.