#emberhowl

Many moons ago, the tentative peace in the forest was tested when a ThunderClan warrior, Lilysight, was discovered to have born a litter with several fathers from across the four Clans. Questions of her litter's custody nearly broke into an all-out war, until a solution was proposed; the eight apprentices must split up, evenly, into each Clan. In the present, one of Lilysight's children, Cardinalsun, is given a prophecy, and with it she discovers the real reason her family was fractured all that time ago…

After enjoying another night camping with her kin in the Voices, Astrid woke that next morning feeling oddly beside herself. As they all packed up camp and began to make way for travel, she moved slower than usual and kept quietly to herself. As she traveled with them she kept a few paces behind and socially distant. Khorthall's Brew Bash wasn't even appealing to her. Lost in her own thoughts, Astrid retreated to the one place where she was always able to collect her thoughts: The Priory.

There was a sort of comfort the Priory provided Astrid, like a lost child returning to the arms of her mother. Should that be the case, then the Priory Library was the bosom where she rested her head. Astrid slowly strolled through the stacks of the Priory library. Her fingers running across spines as she made her way down the isle, eyes inattentively bouncing from label to label. Her focus in fact fell elsewhere cycling through everything polluting her mind. The emotions, the dangers, and the new bonds. So much had happened in such a short time, and she had yet to actually slow down and process it all. Also, the thought of these recent events being just the tip of the iceberg haunted the back of her mind. This thrilled and worried her at the same time.

She wasn't growing old, no. She has seen quite a lot in her thirty-two Scions, though, none surmounting to what she has seen the past few weeks. Placing a hand at her throat, she touched the linen cloth there. Suddenly her fingers yearned for the touch of the quill, the scratch of the parchment. Turning her head before her body, Astrid made her way out of the library and towards her dorm. 

She found her old desk as she had left it: littered with scraps of notes all related to the volume she had finished composing just a season ago, her ink well still on its side. Everything was as it was before she left. Everything except her quill. It was no where to be seen. In a frenzy she began lifting papers here and there, shifting through everything on her desk. Confident the quill wasn't hiding on the top of her desk, she dropped to her knees and began scanning the floor. 

Hiding off in the corner where floor meets wall, beneath her desk, she caught a glimpse of the black feather quill. With a sigh she bends awkwardly to fit her large Norn torso under the desk. The desk lifts a bit as she stretches to reach and grip the quill. Grabbing the top of the table with her free hand, she hoists herself back up, plopping down in the wooden seat behind her. The wood creaked and moaned as she makes herself comfortable and scoots up closer to the table. 

Picking the ink well up, she examines it and begins picking at the skin of ink that had formed in her absence. Pealing it back, she reveals (somewhat) fresh ink. With a grin she dips the head in the well and brings the pen to scrap parchment and begins scratching away. The ink appears faint, but with a little force she's able to make it work. She writes: "Dear Lore,"

Astrid woke with the morning light, like clockwork. But instead of crawling to her desk in last night's chemise, she dressed quickly and moved to gather the things she had packed the night before. She was finally done with her work, and was more than ready to finally spend more than a short trip's worth away from the Priory. Alura was missing, and Astrid was not going to return without her. Hoisting up a pack with her staff tied to it, she attached her weapons to her hip and was headed out the door.

She planned her first stop to be at Wolf's lodge. The Shaman of the lodge had promised her rest any time at the lodge, and she was finally taking him up on the offer. From Lornar's Pass she made her way to Hoelbrak to drop her things off and begin tracking in Wayfarer's Foothills. She figured the lodge would be a good place to store the belongings she brought along for the long run, and keep a day's supply on her while she searched for Alura. Astrid's decision to start in the Foothills was she planned to weave her way through the areas that surrounded Hoelbrak. When Alura had come to her, she said the Daughters had been attacking those leaving Hoelbrak, and if Alura had gone after them, clues could be littered anywhere outside of Hoelbrak.

She figured starting with more open areas would help improve her search. After reaching the lodge and getting settled, Astrid headed straight for the Icesteppes. The area was open and clues hidden in the snow would be spotted faster there. If any existed at all. 

- - -

The hour grew late as Astrid made her way to the fire near the Dolyak trainer's tent towards the northern edge of the foothills. With her eyes hypnotized by the Shiverpeaks ahead of her, she failed to notice the group hunkering around the fire. The sound of familiar voices snapped her from her distracted mind and she quickened her pace to greet the members of The Voices. She offered a greeting to all and was requested by Sruna to join them on a trek through Ascalon to meet with a brood of Charr. She didn't quite grasp the reason for the trek, but she rarely denied a friend's request. However hesitant at first to return to her search, the trip didn't seem as if it would take long, and if anything she would just part ways first thing the following morning. Agreeing to travel amongst members of the Voices once again, it wasn't long before they were on their way.

Many accompanied them on the trip, and it looked as if the numbers of Voices were increasing. This appeared in a positive light to Astrid, strengthening her hopes that the pack would too offer her companionship amongst their ranks. She hadn't belonged to a true pack since her time with the Sisters of Jora. Contemplating on this as they walked, she thought on her recent travels. Since the Sisters, Astrid had been lucky to have the Priory to keep her from traveling alone, however, no pack from the Priory was ever the same. She had no group of familiar faces to call her own.

Half-way through the long Trek through the Iron Marches, Gundahar had been tasked to scout ahead with those of his choosing. Firstly he traveled ahead with Ishild, Arieta, and Gunnar. However after meeting back up with them, Astrid was traded with Gunnar. She walked along side them, mostly speaking with Ishild of family and packs. It was this conversation with Ishild that reinforced her previous mind-wanderings; her travels with the Priory had not been with a true pack. And this fostered a longing in her belly.

Once the four finally reached Sruna's destination, Gundahar informed the Charr populating the encampment of Sruna's soon arrival. Gundahar seemed at ease, however, to Astrid tensions felt awkward - no one knew if either parties should be embraced or reserved, so we waited in unusual silence for the Earthborn's arrival. Sruna and the rest of the troupe were not far behind, and as soon as she arrived the air lightened and a moot began. The chance for drink and good company was well-met by Astrid as she took the opportunity to rest from the stresses of her missing friend. However, never did Alura leave the back of her mind.

As the evening waned, Astrid found herself conversing with the lovely but odd Eyna and the mysterious Arieta. She had seen her face here and there before, but never heard a word from her mouth. At least not until this evening. After brief conversation, Astrid then grew curious if either could know Alura. However, before she could ask, Arieta freely admitted to knowing her after Astrid said she was from the Priory. Taken back by this knowledge, Astrid informed Arieta of Alura's disappearance and Astrid's sworn promise to find her long-time friend. However, before the two could discuss more of Alura, Sruna's real purpose for visiting the Charr was concluding as the fierce Norn confronted the Charr who stole her kill about a month prior.

Day 20 - How did you come up with your name?

I think i kinda said this back when i described my character but here goes again :E

Allrighty so i''ve used Daggoth as my handle for like, 15 years now. A lot of people are gonna see this and tell me "hell yea Morrowind was great" Yes, it was a good game, i played it (just a bit tho) but thats not where i originally picked it up from.

One of the first games i really got into was Starcraft.  Not like, competition good mind you, not even GOOD good, but good where i could play it all day and not realize it.  Long story short, one of the main characters of the first game was called Daggoth, i liked the sound of it, liked the look of it, i adopted it. I've been using it for profile names since, and never really bothered to come up with anything more original. Besides, i think its pretty permanent, cuz even some RL friends i game with have taken to calling me Dagg

And Emberhowl i kinda whent into before as well; my favorite Avatars from FFXI were Ifrit and Fenrir, and i wanted something fire-y and dark/wolf-y for a last name. I messed around with other languages, nothing really really did it for me, so i decided a 'less is more' approach was best