The words Sreda spoke hanging there I'm the air. Wardruna would take a deep breath to take them in. Alder would come if she called to him. And what a thought, that in her teenage years she would swoon trip over herself and shift awkwardly Iike an idiot at the very thought of the man coming to her for any aid. A man not only colored in blood and fire, but a man who burned within with it. Consumed by rage and conquest. Alder had come to Northfall to become a warrior, to kill his grandfather. And so he had. (Although she didn't know he had quite succeeded that) Perhaps he did owe Northfall much after all.

It left her to wonder it all, in those lingering quiet moments. So much of their family had broken apart when Freya left. Yet Freya and Ragnar were both now gone. Had Sylvi become Queen, had herself, would Northfall be as it was now? Would there still be Vitus, Elli and Ezra? Would there still be Fiadh , chasing down her pups instead in the heart of a viking culture for which she was so proud? Would Jökull and ValkyrieD felt more welcome and Wardruna's littermates to return to their natal land?

Abandonment is cowardice.

Forget the rest.

Wardruna grumbled, nodded her head and moved on.

Of course. You cannot allow them to think you abandoned them. Spoken with a bit of amusement given their conversation, yet a serious weight all the same. Take your time. I will be there when you arrive. This she would make certain. Wardruna could only assume Arvid would have no reason to object a member of an allied pack deciding to stay as Northfall. If he did - well, a problem that would be addressed then, she assumed.

Instead of joining Sreda's side in travel, she thought it best to allow the woman the journey alone. Sreda was no less independent then ever, plus Wardruna had passed through Avon on the way here. She thought this time to go north around the Dawnbreak mountains. After all, the plague continued to spread through the high north and it might be an opportunity to recruit those in need.