stavanger bay

The sight of Pump’s body so very far broken beyond any and all hopes of repair had been hard, it had been gruesome; the place where she had passed from the world, where her lifeblood had poured onto the sands and into the ebbing and flowing tide was still rank with the putrid scent that a significant amount of blood left in it’s wake. It was this that Ragnar did not hold it against the wolves that did not show. Not all were made to see such a sight. It had shaken even he and he had seen and caused death more times than he cared to admit. Ragnar only wished that he had been able to keep Thistle from finding it, too, that he could have shielded her from it because watching her scramble to gather her little herbs and tools in what they both knew was a futile attempt to patch her back together (Thistle could work miracles sure but not the kind of miracles that magically healed severed spines and pushed blood back into a body) when Pump had been fated to die that day, had been the hardest for Ragnar to bear. He and the few others that had gathered had taken care of Pump’s body and Ragnar had dived straight into work, giving him time for the little and nightmare ridden sleep he had gotten.

There was no time for rest. Not with a pack in mourning and a violent wolf murdering bear on the loose in their territory. He had sent the warning out for all of the Ridge to hear, hoping that their dens might shield them if it came prowling through the night. While the Viking had desired to be with and comfort his wife he hadn’t because he felt that he couldn’t.

So fixated on following the Odinn raven as Ragnar had been he failed to notice that Julooke was trailing behind him and was startled, hackles bristling in a moment when his guard had been let down at her chuff; only to spin and face her. “Julooke,” He breathed her name in relief when he realized who his companion was. “I did not realize you were there,” He admitted sheepishly, having taken the liberty of comfort that was not his to take. She stated that she had followed him and asked him where they were as the distance between them diminished. It was an unexplored part of the Teekon, Ragnar had assumed though knew that it likely wasn’t accurate it had just, likely, been forgotten about nestled away as it was. “I believe we are still in the Teekon Wilds, look there is Silvertip Mountain, and over there is Neverwinter Forest,” He gestured with his muzzle to show that he had not led her as far as it had seemed. Yet, the distance from the other packs was nothing short of relieving. As of now, there was no one encroaching on the small slice of paradise the raven had led them too.

For a moment the Viking was contemplative though the name of the territory needed no thought. It had came to him, whether from his outrider observation of the land around him or divine intervention. “We will call it Stavanger Bay,” It flowed easily off his tongue, a mix of his native language and the common tongue and he knew, within his heart with the certainly sanctioned only by true conviction that it was where they might find peace, where they were to prosper and grow as a pack …and as a family. This Stavanger Bay was their future. “And it will be our new home, Julooke.”