---

skill: 1/5 ranger

As it turned out, recovering from a stint of potential frostbite meant she wasn’t exactly allowed to go everywhere she wanted. For the first few days, Steren had slept, one paw folded over her nose, the other sprawled beside her head. She woke only to eat and drink, then she slept again. Then, she was mostly lethargic.

Now, though, she had been allowed mostly free rein. But, she couldn’t go star gazing as often as she wanted to quite yet. Not until winter released her cold grip on the island, and the night. It was what led her here, watching the twilight darken to dusk. The sun still tried to drag rosy limbs across the sky, lighting the world in a pink glow. The sea frothed beneath the ice, and the bitter chill was already starting to set in on her. As it turned out, she did need to plump up, or risk only being able to go outside at noon until spring. So, she ate, and she sat, and she dreamed of a day when she could climb the distant peaks, and be close to the celestial bodies that had always caught her eye.

Sand crunched beneath her paws as she walked, trying very hard to not stop and stare. Her reclusiveness hadn’t lent her many friends in all her..ever. But there was determination to make this work. Maybe. One day. When she had the lay of the land, perhaps, as she was trying to do now. Scouting and all that. See, as of right now, if anyone asked, Steren was beachcombing, learning the sands. Definitely not pining for distant suns that would never pay attention to her.

「 Skill Point ― Ranger 」

New scents were on the island and while Asgeir despised it, he was also... curious.

The growing boy found himself making his way towards the beach. While the dusk light painted the sky, he found himself climbing over the black and gold dunes with an ease that was accomplished with his newly grown body. He was almost as tall as his father now, but he was still gangly. Still room to grow. Room to become stronger and more powerful than even the moon and sun.

As he skidded down the dune, Asgeir set his sights on the stranger in the near distance. A small thing, looked like a rat. A scowl pulled at his maw. What did his father see in this thing that he needed to bring it back to the island? Ever grumpy, Asgeir made a snort of annoyance.

Oi. he called bluntly, beginning to march up to the she-wolf.

---

eight? months

Asgeir's meanderings had pulled Sverke free of a nap. He wasn't complaining, which was why Asgeir was currently safe from his twin's more fanged methods of communication. Instead, he followed at a comfortable distance. The lilting movement of his own smooth, easy trot, keeping the bright gold of his sun-gilded brother in his sights as he moved, was so soothing to Sverke he thought he might fall back asleep like this - eyes open, still walking, secure in the knowledge that that which he cared for most in the world was only a leap, a bound, and a bite away from his grasp.

The midnight Prince's tail was loose by his ankles, a half-sleepy look on his face and his fur still smushed out of shape on one cheek. He looked less of a prince, and more like the very visage of a freshly-woken teenager - dour expression and all.

He was, however, much more than just an unruly juvenile: proven in the way the boy straightened and his two-toned eyes glinted with a predator's keen intellect the moment his twin's call alerted Sverke to something ahead that had prompted their joint investigation. His loose jog hastened slightly, cresting a dune of his own to spot the shape of a dark sable shadow mired in the falling dusk.

One of the newcomers to their borders. Sverke's maw stretched into a languid, toothy yawn as he continued on Asgeir's trail, curling his tail up from where it had rested to sway lazily and confidently even with his spine. He'd let the brasher twin take the lead on this one - was this a welcoming committee or a hazing ritual?

---

2/5 ranger

The beach was pretty, at least. It stretched in front of her, a barrier around the island, keeping the peace between sea and land. The grains beneath her paws crunched satisfyingly, though she did sink some. She was rather thankful this body was small, it made cruising along the sands much faster than it had been with two legs. Not that the Steren of before had ever been to a beach, but she’d been around mud. And mud was kind of like sand in her eyes.

At the very least, she could probe this area. Her dedicated march across the sand was short lived, though, as she turned around when the gust of words brought her up sharp. Two boys, still gangly with youth, one wearing Tyr’s colors, the other patterned like the sun. Were these two of the eight children? My, she hadn’t guessed how big a wolf child could get.

Good evening. She replied, wishing above all else that she had her glasses still. If only to awkwardly toy with them. It was a strange sort of tension she felt. Like she wanted to make the best impression possible. But she was so tongue tied at the moment, she didn’t think she could say much else.