Mount Apikuni I still wonder if I ever felt the pain

Vague woo.

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Tryphon was in the valley between the vale and - well, he wasn't sure. There was a peak rising up before him, shining with the dying of the light. The sky had started to shift through so many different colors, it was breathtaking. Something about it called to him — urging him onwards, upwards, as if climbing the mountain would give him answers to questions left unspoken.

The hours ticked by and his body ached, but Tryphon couldn't stop. He bound through snow and crashed his way between frozen ferns, winding a path through a copse of snow-heavy pines, and finally came to a halt on a ridge with a clear view of the sky. He had been running all-out, and upon stopping his breath pealed out of him as great clouds. As soon as the sky was in view, he was watching it. His twin-moon gaze was unblinking and with rapt attention, Tryphon silently implored the stars for guidance.

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<3

The girl chased the stars.

They shone bright tonight, roused to life through the fading hues of sunset. Brilliant, and ever watching. Nanook traced the familiar patterns, and found comfort in their presence. They were constant and faithful - but these were not the stars she chased.

Nanook had spent a long time scaling the mountainside, testing the ridges and finding none that satisfied. Their vantage couldn't be compared to the summits in the south, but the star she followed was a runner, and it wouldn't wait for her. She twisted around a bend and paused momentarily to rove her gaze to the slivered moon, before she tracked her eyes to the bright star just below it. Nanook pressed on.

When she rounded another bend, she stopped again, but not to look to the heavens. Her gaze latched onto the silvery form of another, with rapt attention on the sky. She wondered briefly if he sensed her there. If he had, that didn't matter. She quickly gave him no other option. "Do you know where that star came from? The one below the moon?" Maybe he had seen it more years than her. Maybe he chased it, too.

I'm assuming she's chasing the north star, correct me if I'm wrong!

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Standing beneath the star-filled sky reminded him sorely of Duskvale, and of his conversation with Saena. He pondered the implications of that singular conversation; his desire to roam was clear then, but now, with nothing to tie him down, he found it hard to navigate the world. Tryphon had spoken of remembering his origins, but currently the boy wanted to hold on to the present. The dissolution of Duskvale happened too soon — he needed more time.

And the stars, they would be there tomorrow. With his eyes glued heavenwards nonetheless, Tryphon didn't notice the approach of the yearling. Not until she was a little closer, and the clatter of her claws upon the rough-hewn stone alerted him. He pivoted an ear to listen, and then her voice came to him. It was soft, and filled with curiosity. Another wolf might've taken the opportunity to go for his throat (as it was exposed, his head canted back as if to sing to the stars). She seemed far more passive, so Tryphon wasn't so nervous. His thoughts dominated either way.

Below the moon..? He parroted, and turned to regard the gleaming sphere, then directed his eyes to the area beneath it in the sky. There was a star there. It sat glimmering brightly against a backdrop of darkness and similar light. Polaris, he murmured softly, the name popping in to his head seemingly out of nowhere. He couldn't recall ever being taught of the stars, but Tryphon had spent most of his lift staring up at them — perhaps somewhere in his past someone had given him lessons and he'd repressed them, like so many other things. He looked away from the specified star and regarded the girl next — It's the north star, used to navigate the world. At least that was what he'd always used the stars for.

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She nodded, and touched her gaze upon his face as the man turned to trace the scope of the heavens. He settled on the space she followed, and his words, soft and reflective, hummed in her ears. Polaris. Nanook's breath caught in her throat, and with a sharp flick, the sylph turned her gaze upon the sky, just as the man turned his twin moons upon her.

"Polaris." She breathed the name. No. Impossible. How could she have named herself after a star she hadn't known? Had papa told her? Had mama? Was the star important to them - was that why she was so drawn to follow it? Nanook could not pull her attention away from the glimmering sphere, a beacon of light in the canopy above. The north star, to navigate the world.

"How?" She averted her eyes to perceive the man again, a fire of curiosity in her copper gaze. Intrigue sparked over the fellow star-gazer. He knew things about the sky she did not, things she desired to know, and her body spoke of this interest. "How does it work? How do you use it to navigate the world?"

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Her questions were things he couldn't really answer, because Tryphon had never actively studied the stars for the purpose of travel. He watched them every night when he was alone, danced under them with Saghani, and had found comfort in their presence when he was among the wolves of Duskvale — but their role in his travel was minimal. Of course, he also somehow developed an understanding of some of them. Perhaps this would be of use to the flabbergasted female with which he now shared company?

Uh, well, he fumbled for a few minutes, trying to remember the things gleaned through his many months of wandering.

You can see that star most frequently in the winter months. It doesn't seem to move through the sky - everything moves around it instead. I think... I think the closer it is to the center of the sky... The further north you are. I could be wrong, I mean.. I never really thought about it. But now that he did, wracking his brain for memories of the sky throughout the days, it seemed to click. You can even see it glowing in the day, if its clear. Have you... uh, been following it? I mean, for long? It was a good place to start if someone wanted to make a bee-line in one direction or another; if you kept Polaris in front of you (and were mindful of its relation to the horizon) then you couldn't possibly get lost.


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His knowledge enthralled her, and she crawled closer to the yellow-faced man as he spoke of these mysteries - of Polaris, the unmoving one, who toiled night and day without rest from her labours. Nanook kept her gaze trained on her alias who stood sentry above. The star gazed back at her, unblinking, and Nanook felt exposed beneath her reciprocated stare. She shivered, and silence enveloped her. Faintly, she heard the man's question, but her tongue took a moment to catch up, and left a pause long enough to err on uncomfortable.

"Yes." Nanook said, and turned to look at the man again. "But not for long." Her curiosity remained with the sky, but an air of mystery clung to the knowing one, and filled her with a perplexing desire to question him in return. Where had he come from, and where was he going now? She had never felt such a keenness to know, and the sensation frightened her. A slight buzz caught in her chest, and she hesitated, though she knew she had no reason to fear. Finally she mustered the courage to ask, "Are you following her too?"