Stavanger Bay ah, just burn it up

Still operating in a circuit that kept him close to the security of Stavanger Bay, Antares spent each day a lot like the last: hunting, prowling the woods, and eventually beach-combing here now beneath the last light--anything and everything to stay busy, while simultaneously not thinking too hard. If he mostly looked at the ocean, he couldn't feel the mountain so badly.

His furs were still soaked when he finally had enough of the sands and started to make for the grassy spaces nearest. Already, he had recognized this growing sense of familiarity that had started to come in. Not an attachment necessarily, but an earnest respect as the land sometimes challenged him--not like the Spear's heights did exactly, or inspired by the raw sentiment of the Glen, but in new odd ways sometimes as he learned some nuances of the coastal reach. What mattered most was the pleasant ache in his muscles after a day well spent, even in the sunshine.

He supposed it was probably doing him some good, maybe even more than he truly realized, but it also made him wonder if that meant it was time for him to move along soon.

His thoughts had drifted and his paws eased to a stop long enough for him to search the cloudy skies for glimpse of the stars beyond. Nostalgia threatened to give rise when he found one with a squint, so he moved on across the pasture; it was getting darker, chillier too, and he carried his head high as he went searching on a long-legged trot.

for @Vallkyrie

The last time she had been at this beautiful bay, Belharra was saying her goodbyes to her and they had spent the remainder of the day being their old, playful and carefree selves. Often Vallkyrie felt like the woman brought out the best (or worse in some eyes) in her. A wilder woman, stronger, happier.

She took in a deep breath of the salty air with a smile as nostalgic thoughts took over her. Quite a few times groups had attempted to capture this little slice of paradise since Kyr had been in this region. All had failed. It was as free and untamed as Vallkyrie had found herself now, but she lacked the pride and confidence she once had these days.

And this day soon came to night and the huntress found herself settled where the grasses grew out of the sands before the open beach. She looked out to it, her icy pale eyes hard and focused on the crashing waves before her. Still she was trapped between times, past and future, unknowing where to place herself next as she pushed herself nearer to her third year of life.

Her head turns slowly, almost mechanically, but life is restored into her at the sight of Antares moving down her path. She woofs to him, her ice eyes seeking his of deep waters. He was her only consistent connection now, which also brought back memories of she and Belharra. A time when it was just they two, roaming and exploring the lands as a loner pair. Life was simple then, easy. Vallkyrie wondered if her drive to settle in a pack, to have politics, heriarchy and stability had all been a horrible mistake.

Content enough to drift, a vague intention to search good enough motivation to warm him, he was still relieved to blink and realize he was not quite alone. Somehow, finding the dark Archer in his periphery had become almost normal, and he never found he minded her knowing where he went as both of them came and went themselves--even with him meant to be misplaced to here on the beach. He moved on closer to her without an ounce of hesitation.

He trotted lightly, and gently tossed his head in greeting. Damp and windswept, he was feeling more airy than he had in some time. A pointed deflection of the last of his hurts in some great and horrible way, but all washed out by the seaside and its breeze, he could still wear it as an improvement of where he had been once: crumbling at the foothills of Moonspear's end. Thanks to this, he could search the ice of her look with a bit more confidence before he stepped half into a pivot, joining her side parallel. It's pretty nice here, he noted with a soft chuff, and a distant look towards the horizon. After everything hung after, unsaid.

It was nice, and life was easy here for this short stint. He wondered what Vallkyrie saw in it, if anything.

He comes to her. Not an ounce of hesitation, not a moment question of how they'd come to find one another again so easily. Perhaps tethered by an invisible rope, bounding their souls together by the hurt and loss they so shared. They would find their way though one another again.

Trotting into her direction now down the beach, the huntress pulls herself up from the sandy earth and into a sit again, her side quickly occupied by the company of her traveling companion as they now both looked out toward the open water.

His scent has changed since being here. Musty earth replaced with salt and yet still holding that rocky tinge of the born mountain dweller. It is... She took in a deep breath, a small smile. This place here reminds me of a spot in Torbine I really liked... A pause and then, side glancing to him she clarifies. My family's land. The first and likely largest of many different branches, she thought.

He simply refused to put too much thought into whatever it was that maintained the closest thing to a routine he had, and instead be content to still have anything... and it was as simple as striding easily into Vallkyrie's similar company. Antares didn't understand why, even here to today after all else, but at least he mostly understood how it had come to be.

Ears pricked, he drew a slow breath as he listened on. Torbine. He peered her way when her pause, and glance, drew him there. Does it? Tell me more about there..? he aimed to suggest, interested enough in hearing more of places far flung from here. It seemed to be his business in collecting bits and pieces from others about that lately as he further tried to map his world beyond the Teekons. Or Torbine, he added, because he knew little already, and could chance it not being too delicate of a subject. Antares thought the name sounded unfamiliar on his tongue but he still tried to do it some measure of justice.

With a thoughtful furrow on his expression, he sighed through his nose, mostly. This was where my grandfather was born, supposedly. When a pack claimed this bay years ago.. the dark scout offered for a fact in return, having assumed he had the right place though everything matched; this had to be Stavanger Bay, and it was some piece of history of theirs once. Now, to him, a safe place to continue to mend his wearied mind and soul more than anything.

An interest, he wants to hear more. Vallkyrie didn't fancy herself much of a storyteller, though the idea of being able to speak to someone interested enough to learn a bit of her birth home brought a sense of nostalgia to her.

He spoke of his grandfather being born here long ago when these lands were claimed. Supposedly, he had said,  suggesting he likely did not know the man on any personal level. As it were for Kyr, she knew much of her family back home but still likely many she had not. Torbime was teaming with Archers- they were everywhere and it had extended in places beyond her knowledge from all those whom had dispursed over the years from the 'Motherland'.

Not a bad spot. Plenty of fishing opportunities, plus the sea lion shore and forest on either side and open plains inland... The huntress assessed the lands, thinking that having good shelter from the elements might be the worst of their issues.

Torbine actually had a lot of beaches. Some incredibly beautiful, some, not so much. She spoke with a smile and wrinkling of her nose, even sticking her tongue out like 'ew'. The whole land was surrounded by seas on every side besides one. She did not know the term 'peninsula'. Which stretched from end to end with a chain of tall, dangerous mountains. We called it, The Wall. She offers another side glance, to gadge his interest based on his expression. Beyond our wall, we called, the Badlands. Needless to say, wolves which came to our land did not come without meaning.

As he hoped, Vallkyrie went on to paint him a better picture of Torbine, and he's willingly captured by the thought in its ups and downs. It was easier to imagine places faraway, especially ones of rich history, and of absolutely no consequence to him. Given what he has seen of the shoreline in his most recent weeks here, it did all seem to add up, though it was difficult to fathom that much coast--surrounded on all sides, with mountains separating the rest of the world. Which really.. he fancied that piece most, the strategic use of the peaks, and the so-called Badlands (whatever those were, exactly, since a name like that didn't inspire anything kind to him). A plentiful place protected away, it seemed.

Even in his cobbled together imaginary view of these lands, he could see the value in it. So, no wonder it seemed to be the root of quite a history--a good ancestral home to a name to last, he supposed despite all of his further wonderings on the matter. While she told him plenty, there was always more to question. Sounds secure, he mused. Do you eventually get tired of that much seaside all around? he asked with a soft chuff, considering he was still charmed by the coast--new enough to it up close and personal yet. What was the Badlands? he pressed, eager enough to continue mapping this place somewhere far from his reach.

Very much secure. She spoke with a nod of an agreement. Over the many years those who have not dispursed to new lands made divisions of the Empire within Torbine, fortifying the Archer claim over all. Some smaller packs or bands remain, with permission and agreements, of course.

Her attention moved from the dark waters of his gaze and out then again to the ocean before them. The land is quite large. From the inner most parts, you can barely smell the sea if at all, kind of like some stretches inland here. She spoke with a shrug, tossing her muzzle over her slender shoulder towards inland and then back again. From beyond The Wall, the lands go from open and barren tundra to dry, cracked and hard rock earth for miles out. A hard trek to make... Her nose crinkled, thinking back to her own journey through it.

With further details, she expanded the scope of Torbine for him in several ways. So the lands were vast, varied, and the name rather far-reaching--if a branching claim was any indication, and to the Ostrega, it very much was.

It sounded like a solid ideal, one not too different than what he imagined his mother was on the way to cultivating from what his grandparents had begun.. given enough time, no bears to tear apart his brother, and certainly no falling stars. A different type of fortress, granted, but even this familiarity appealed to him and helped him understand the Archer homeland better. Maybe it was a type of dream, the what it could have been for them too.

But, at least somewhere in faraway wilds, Antares supposed they still persisted. Guess that probably helps keep shady neighbors away too, he chuffed about the badlands beyond The Wall and imagined it to be quite a buffer zone. He wondered what had made her want to leave, to willingly press out past The Wall, beyond the security of the family, presumably as just a dispersal. So when you left, did you think you would ever see it again? he asked, gently testing into some waters that could get personal from the right vantage point, though he didn't necessarily need it to. He just liked hearing about these faraway places lately, even the ones he had no reason to ever see.

Here, Vallkyrie was little. But a single woman in a vast sea of names and knowing. The name Archer meant nothing here, though it had reached far- not this far. Not until her. Not until her sister, but she too had moved on from these lands now. Ostrega was everywhere, their name holding power, promise. At least, it had. If Kyr had been making the same connection Antares was, she would have been pulled into a further sympathy for the man at her side that had lost so very much.

She chuckles instead, nodding to his words. It does indeed. Though the mountains were not particularly thick they were high, quite jagged without the pleasant rolling green slopes or trees and went directly from one side of the land to the other, leaving falling rock down into open sea.

Honestly, She breaths a sigh, I did. I wanted to go out, see lands beyond that I knew, to maybe find my own path... Of course, there was plenty to meet and plenty to do and go in Torbine however, The lot of us pups then, we wanted to see beyond The Wall, you know? And this land is beautiful, but I always imagined returning home one day. Maybe with family, with my own pups, so that they know their founding. She wondered too if her sister thought to do the same for her own future children. Maybe they would meet again soon enough.

In her answer, he goes on to understand somehow. It was a familiar feeling--wanting to see whatever you couldn't. Though he had not grown up with such a landmark to physically separate him from those beyonds, he had always harbored at least an interest in hearing of what was over the horizon--and sometimes, enough to make him want to see it too. Of course you always think it's greener on the other side, he snickered lightly, imagining the youthful dreams of fledgling Archers to see the world past their stronghold when there was likely everything they could ever need right there at their paws.

But, he was no stranger to it, and her thoughts on a future that imagined a family to show for it all.. he did not know what to say, besides that it sounded fulfilling, possibly, and a whole lot of questions beyond that. Honestly, thoughts to that length had not truly been his before--though he understood where they came from, certainly. Yeah. Satisfying, I'd imagine, he supposed with a thoughtful exhale. And really, he meant that for both sides: the family that stayed, and left. To meet new descendants and cousins, and see the bloodline continuing on elsewhere and histories evolving... When he imagined his mother being the one waiting at the great mountain to receive them one day, he thought that wasn't so bad. Now if only that could have been. And even better to grow up knowing that.. such a backbone like that exists? Despite wherever you may go.. I know it has to grant some peace, he supposed because maybe he had once had that experience too.

After another exhale, like he was clearing his thoughts, he went on with: It's been nice lately to hear more about distant places. A distraction he was enjoying, one worth making a mention about.

Ha-ha, yeah... She agrees to his first bit, nodding her slender muzzle as she turned her attention to the shadow at her side. A striking black without any pronounced markings, different from the river of white she had which flowed from throat to underbelly.

And even if you don't make it out on your own, or it doesn't turn out like you wanted, there is always home, somewhere... She added onto his words. The Archers has themselves quite the backbone and many places, even if not here, knew them well. It did bring a sense of peace and...

Vallkyrie turns back to him, feeling a moment of shame in her words at the thought of his own family roots, made of the great Moonspear cliffs which though still remained, the majority of his family seemingly did not. Time passed and little were recovered, dead or alive. But where did they go? Where now would Ostrega hold their roots?

Maybe we shouldn't just talk about these places... She said then after a while of silence, staring out over the ocean view. I can show you them. Maybe Torbine, maybe we find somewhere else... We both need a break from all... Turning her head back inland. This. She turns back to him, a sheepish expression almost on her features. Her eyes, almost pleading, for by now the huntress had made her decision. It was just up in the air if he was coming with.

First, he nodded firm. It was knowing that a sense of home waited somewhere that brought a special type of solace. The lack of it now was one he was keenly aware of, and had struggled with once--still would, sometimes. But it had allowed a different part of him to surface more than before. While he had grown to appreciate a stronghold of a home at his back, there was the stirring of Ostrega wanderlust in him. He had always shaped it to range, track herds, and scout for his family. Removed from most of them, he could simply do anything, anywhere instead.

Listening on, he started to tilt his head--confused, after he had said he liked hearing of the faraway places, she suggested not to but before he could do anything more about it, the explanation came. I could show you them kept him dreadfully quiet, the allure of it stilling his breath even before the rest of him could think to catch up.

Torbine, or somewhere else. He didn't know anywhere else. In stories he seemed to chase after the vast north, where the auroras were the wildest, and sometimes night lasted almost forever. But he didn't have anything to go towards, really. Moonspear, then Firefly Glen, had always been his homes. He knew the Teekon wilds, and now beyond Ostregas scattered to distant winds before his time, he only had a trickle of fond family left in Moonglow. The ache in his heart to still see the wounded peak couldn't bring him to run among them. Only run away, where it seemed Vallkyrie was still able to stand beside him in moments like these.

When he finally had enough composure to speak again, he sighed softly then nodded to agree. Yeah, we do. It does all have us cornered here on the edge of the world, it feels like... he chuffed a poorly-humored, small laugh with the words as he gestured his muzzle towards where they were. Don't get him wrong, he liked it here, and was feeling more like himself sometimes because of it and the seaside was nice on his fur--but looking at it from here was obvious now. I don't think that would be bad, honestly. It's not like I have a better idea right now. Antares admitted, a pointed glance her way there. Nothing new, but he had no weight to throw here, and almost nothing at all to lose.

I guess that's a wrap for this girl here.
There was a horrible silence which lingered there and the huntress finds herself turning from it, unwilling to look at him as the answer of 'no' came. She'd be on her own, then. She heard his sigh but didn't see his nod. There was an agreement which came then after, causing her only flattened black ears to lift once more.

'I don't think that would be bad, honestly.'

She turns back to the shadow rested at her side. Though for some time now it had seemed more like she was shadowing him. After loosing ties with Bronco and the Neverwinter wolves and sister gone, she hadn't really anyone else. He had little else, too, and now it seemed she would have the reigns now of their travels- far from here.

Good. She smiles a toothy grin as Antares looks to her. She nods as she speaks, It's settled then. We'll leave in the morning. Frosted eyes move back to the ocean and the cloudy night sky above. It would be their last time here but with every hope to find something better- something more.

;__________;

With his piece shared, he let a slow exhale heave its way free. His shoulders relaxed, a tension he had not realized was lingering there dispersed as the seconds ticked and dread never came to find him--even to an unthinkable admission, had one asked him this time last year when everything glimmered still. But no, Vallkyrie grinned his way, contagiously softening his features too as she tidied up the plan, and just like that, he trusted it as well as anything.

His waters of caution would not see him pass an opportunity for something more than this, and neither would he let her go on alone, or selfishly make her stay any longer for his behalf.. not when it was clear. For some time, he had been well aware of her dwindling attachments, and the ache these lands represented while he was no different. But she had remained enough to let him process this, and press close to the conclusion on his own. Vallkyrie was there to help him with the last push he needed, though and now she offered him more than that--a chance to see more, and to not need to do it alone, appealing to a heart that ached and couldn't stomach festering here by himself.

In the morning they would go. Yeah. he said, steadying better then for his own sake. It was still setting in, the reality of it closer than ever. But the choice did not suffocate him. Instead, he must see the horizons the next dawn could open. Best enjoy this beach for one last night then, he chuffed, alongside a light sway to his tail. May as well leave it on a good note, make the best of it, the Ostrega supposed. He didn't want to concern himself with the details of worry or doubt. Instead, it was to be just another coming day to face head on.

He looked to the shoreline, then a quick glance inland, instinctive towards the pull of where he had come from before he returned to her--focused, but easy about it. Thank you. He couldn't quite say, not right now, but maybe it was there in the subtlest of gestures for it certainly sat heavy on the back of his throat.