skill: ranger 1/5

Vidarr had previously trekked to the Howling River, he had been searching. Searching for his brother, his sister, his lover, the brother he'd found, the lives he had lost. And instead of finding any of them he had unexpectedly discovered Svajonė. She'd been busted up severely, her leg snapped, and Mythris itself took so much from her. Three little lives, ones that he had helped name, ones that he had helped bury, they would forever remain. But they had been lucky. They had been able to bring Reid home - and every day Vidarr felt a bit of that tight knot around his heart loosened. Every morning he saw the cub ambling about he considered a blessing.

He had brought three stones he'd gathered - ones that Isaiah had recommended that would help protect - were held in the scrap of rabbits hide. He hadn't told her about this trip, but he would place each stone carefully, just as he'd carefully laid each little body to rest. Vidarr didn't think that Svajone could make the journey on her leg yet. But he would eventually take her. As he approached, though, he was caught off guard. His jaw slacked as his brow furrowed, confused and concerned in equal measures. The cracking sound of flames flickering, the dance that could almost be trance-like but this was no normal flame.

The flame was blue, bright as could be, and if you did not know that they should be orange flames, you wouldn't think twice. Vidarr, however, had seen many fires in his life. His shoulder almost throbbed against the proximity - even though he had stopped in his tracks far from the fire itself. Something in him was at war. Did he investigate, or did he keep back and stay safe?

Mythris was alive, still.

The specifics of romance and courtship were beyond Aurelia's understanding, but she could tell something was blossoming between Vidarr and Svajonė in much the same way it had with Dalmatia and N​ó​ttin. They had begun spending much of their time together, alone and apart from the others, and the pup who belonged to the pale woman seemed quite close with the grizzled man.

How old was he, now? Aurelia had never asked, she supposed. He always seemed so much older, so much wiser, as much of a steady presence as Tiberius had been when he was strong and sure and there.

And yet how easily he faded into the shadows. Aurelia felt a pang of guilt as she realized she had, perhaps, been forgetting about him these past months - or even years.

Vidarr was a cornerstone of their lives.

She wanted to speak with him, to make small-talk, to make the attempt and catch up after so much time coexisting like ships passing at sea. He had been there through it all and weathered every storm in equal measure, but not once had she thought to inquire after his wellbeing. Selfishly, she thought he would always be well. He was Vidarr.

His scent was easy to follow. Svajonė stayed behind at the Vale, still recovering from her injury, and so Aurelia tracked him all the way to the Howling River until even she was stopped in awe by the dancing azure flame ahead. Never in her life had she seen anything like it; the color was mesmerizing, almost inviting in the way it flickered and twinkled playfully in its otherworldly hue. Vidarr also seemed to be entranced by the spectacle.

What is it? she said, breaking the silence. There was a good chance he had already known the Shakti-Vaes was following him. I've never seen anything so... blue. It doesn't seem to have a fuel source, either.

skill: ranger 2/5

How many times did it seem that world would make Vidarr cross it? Defective, sullied by his loss, somehow still on the side of world that put him right where he needed to be. It had been when they all had been transported there, and Vidarr had not left. He'd ended up halfway across the globe, admittedly once, and that had been shit. Otherwise, he had been there since the first of the boys lives, watching as guardian over Olive and giving Tiberius the space to be present for the birth of his boys. Vidarr had then been a shoulder while Archon and Tiberii had gone missing, and then Olive, and Tiberius, Augustus, Wren, and Euphemia. And then somehow they all managed to band together to bring Dawnbreak together, and they had all become stronger for it. Vidarr did not think much on the brief bit of time that Tiberius had returned to them before he dispersed again. He chose not to. Tiberius had been there and then skipped right out like a stone thrown against a still lake.

He heard her somewhere behind him, and it was enough to make him think of something other than the past. He didn't exactly slow down when he realized she was following him deliberately, but Vidarr at his natural clip had slowed as he had aged and then the knot of scars over his shoulder from the burns. They had been through so much since then. Spring would mark the boys' third birthday. He had spent winter with them before that, before Mythris. He'd shared sorrows and joys with them - and for someone who lived boisterously because that was the only way he knew how to.

He did not hide his emotions, so even now it would be clear to Aurelia that a tremble had started, his thick hackles and lip lifted in response to the unnatural fire. If Aurelia had peered at his eyes, she would have been able to see the blue flames dancing in his golden gaze. It is wrong. Vidarr grit out, taking a step back with his left leg as if he felt it necessary to hide the old injury and keep it safe. He was unable to hide it though, not fully, not without turning his entire body. No matter the places he had gone, the mountains he had scaled, the valleys he had explored, he had never seen such a thing. It was wild, and it made no sense, not to Guardian.

I have never seen such a thing - a flame with no source. It must be another gift from Mythris. Vidarr tore his gaze away from te fire to look to the Pillar. What is your thoughts, Wisdom? While older than her, yes, he still thought her perceptive and intelligent. He was interested in hearing what she saw that might have been (was hopefully) different than his innate fear of the flame.