Frostfire Ridge I don’t dislike him, I just don’t like him

At her bark to relax, he calmed down considerably. She shook her head, glancing away as she rolled her eyes. Dogs. They were always far too cautious for their own good. Like they had something to prove or something. She couldn't say. Her own demeanor was more thrilled if only because this area was uninhabited. The part of her that secretly wished for Teza's fall as false king was pleased. The Amazon world was made for females. There was no room for kings. He'd learned that the hard way, it seemed. Oh well. Life went on with or without him.

"More like, 'Why'd I come here in the first place'," she corrected as she pressed deeper into the territory and climbed the mountain at the heart of it. This area wasn't called Frostfire Ridge for no reason. There was an elevation change to it and she was determined to climb it. "My sisters and I were a part of a garrison sworn to protecting our prince. When he vanished into the night we were sent off into the wilderness to find him. We tracked him here. He'd forgotten who he was and was going by a false name."

She was being particularly chatty, but she continued all the same. "He held these delusions of becoming king, which sounds well and good until you consider his origins. We are Amazons first. There's no room for kings when queens reign completely." She continued through the woods, though the trees were starting to thin. The soil here was conflicted. It was torn between the rich warm soil of the nearby volcano and the cool ice of the glacier on its opposite end. The earth battled. Torn in two, nothing flourished. In the same way, so had the pack here risen and it fell just as quickly.

"We humored his dreams long enough to realize he'd gone totally mad. When we discovered there was no stopping him and that the prince we knew remained in figure only, our mission was over. The wolf we were sworn to protect no longer existed and so, we left." Some had gotten farther away than others. Manauia was born to travel. She returned to their Queen to report of their failure. Citali and Nochtli were less prone to traveling so far with winter so close. They remained here and currently made their home within the Maplewood.

She pressed forward. "Come along now. Not too much further to the top."