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Finally- they were out on their first viking. Adelheid had been begging and pleading and bargaining with their mother (and their half-sister Kifuani, too, as she was more of an aunt-figure) over the prospect and she had been unrelenting in her refusal. They really did not need her permission to go out on a viking, but Adelheid confided that she would have felt too guilty becoming Reavers without their mother's consent. It was a weird, sticky, and pretty uncomfortable situation in actuality... Their mother, Chayah, and their half-sister, Kifuani, had been captives of their grandmother, Coeur, when she was hunting down her adult cubs. Chayah and Kifuani did not like talking about the white lioness, sometimes they flat out refused. Coeur was tracking Pur'Coeur (Chayah's sister) and had made it to the Myrsky Syntynyt border. She actually managed to find and meet Klona and Skosgund, Pur's adult children by Herryk. While she was distracted talking to them, however, Chayah and Kifuani were being captured.

Freed from one insane captor by more, but only sometimes insane captors, Chayah and Kifuani spent some time as thralls. Their mother still bore the scars from that battle, as she had fought for Kifuani as though she had nothing to lose. Sometimes Eikthyrnir could see her stiff and limping in the early morning on cold days. After discovering that they were in the pride, Pur'Coeur claimed them as kin and freed them from Thrall-hood to be raised to Freeborns. However, the whole experience, and even the feelings associated with the bonds of slavery were still raw and chafing to the mother and daughter. But...

"But!!!! Hróõvitnir and Brynhildr just became Reavers!" Eikthyrnir had whined to Chayah on one of the days that she refused to acknowledge their questions and desires. They were his half-nephew and half-niece, and while they were older, that must have counted for something? And they were all adults now. Eikthyrnir felt like he was being deprived of the quintessential Myrsky Syntynyt life experience. His other friends (male and female alike) were leaving him behind and returning with thralls and treasure and stories. It had been making him a little bit crazy.

"You never let us know our father." Eikthyrnir was finished. He was cold. The way his mother flinched at his words showed that he had struck a raw nerve. It was only after that exchange that Chayah, after a day or two of calming down and collecting herself, let her children know that they could become Reavers if they wanted to. That she would not stand in their way anymore. It was not exactly a blessing, she was not happy about it or excited for it, but it was liberating nevertheless.

It had only taken them a couple of days since that to prepare for their first viking, and Eikthyrnir and Adelheid would be going out on the next one with Brynhildr and Hróõvitnir and a captain. The Reavers and Reavers-to-be of the family were highly anticipating the prospect of having a band entirely made up of their family. Of course, that could not happen until at least one of them had gained enough experience to become a Captain, but they would, in good time.

...

The black lion was almost... prancing... with excitement. His face prominently featured a toothy grin that stretched from ear to ear, and his gray mane bounced with every step, like his tail that was carried high over his back.

"Adelheid... We're here!!" He kept the his voice hushed but the excitement was apparent.

Vaskr was a patient lion.

Much of his time was spent wandering. Waiting. There were many periods in the lion's life spent without purpose and waiting for the next to come. They would hit him suddenly and without warning. Visions would hit him in the middle of the day, paralyzing his body and pulling him into a deep trance. The images weren't always clear, and he never had any indication of where or when the vision would take place. He would spend the next days, weeks, months deciphering the message, then set his course accordingly.

She was a dark lioness with markings of blood and who smelled like the sea. And she was like he was. With eyes behind her eyes, deep within her mind.

He spent a long while gathering information. There were some known groups found on the coast, from what other travelers had said. Some made themselves known. There was a mysterious group by the jungle, but not much was known about them and they didn't seem to move in groups like the lioness would. There were the pirates, but form what he knew they were long gone. There were the Vikings… Now, the infamous Stormborn were a good bet. Fierce plunderers, as far as he knew. Only time would tell.

Vaskr didn't know how long it would take for him to cross paths with the lioness from his vision. The lioness who could see. He had to be ready at any moment. The large godborn lion traveled alone. While he figured there might be some use in having travel companions, the benefits of traveling alone—the flexibility, not being concerned for others—far outweighed the contrary. He was silent as he moved, his red markings shifting over his muscled body with each step as he moved alongside the abandoned watering hole. He seemed to move without concern, large enough and confident in his ability to take care of himself. He moved silently, patient and planning…

As good as his foresight could have been at times, Vaskr couldn't see everything. Still, he wasn't dumb. The bulky lion had been standing still and silent, peering down into the waterhole when he heard the steps approaching. He didn't know who was there, but it only sounded like there was one of them. The steps weren't heavy enough to be that of a large lion, regardless of how stealthy the individual might have been. They were steps of someone stalking, but someone who was unfamiliar to walking on this ground.

His heart was beating in his chest, and it took pointed concentration to keep his breath steady and collected. The large lion gave no indication that he knew about the presence of the individual that was intruding on his space. Still, it was difficult to ignore the feeling of being stalked like prey.

Muscles remained tensed, still under his pale pelt. He wasn't trying to stay concealed by any means. Vaskr had long since given up on that venture. His markings were to bright and didn't really allow for camouflage in any environment. If anything, the lion was asking for attention. He made no motion to move. Not yet. The time wasn't right. He had to wait for the moment. Patience.

His claws unsheathed, scraping into the dirt of the dried edge of the river. It was stiff ground. It would be easy to move quickly. All he had to do now was wait.

The moment Adelheid made her move was the same moment he smelled her. There was the sudden smell of the sea. The sudden smell of something he remembered from his past travels, when he'd been moving through the remnants of burnt grasslands. The smell of old and dusty ash.

She'd aimed high and so he didn't put in much effort to dodge, only ducking and moving to the side. This was it. This was her. He had to act quickly. Instinctively, a snarl grew onto his face as he move from her lunge. He allowed it, as he did the guttural growl that escaped him as the expression grew. Vaskr stepped back examined her for the first time in person, fangs bared and claws extended to deliver a blow if she insisted on attacking.

For a lioness, she was massive. He figured them both to be about the same size, which wasn't surprising all considering. She seemed to be built like a fighter, but moved like she didn't have a whole lot of experience. She was dark, like he remembered from his vision. And those blood-like markings…

"It's you," he called to the lioness that had never met him before, the statement brief and purposeful.

"Not in a traditional sense, I suppose."

Vaskr's muscles relaxed ever so slightly. His head raised and he came out of a crouching position, but stayed ready to make a move if the lioness attacked. She seemed a bit confused, though. Maybe he could use that to his advantage.

"But I've seen you, lioness from the sea. You know of them, right? Sight of the future, or of faraway lands. Waking dreams in the middle of the day. Visions." His voice was rumbling and deep, bright eyes looking her over. He was intentionally cryptic as he spoke, hoping to entice her into questioning him more.

She was a seer. Of that he was somewhat confident. Whether she was godborn or not was another question, but her sheer size made him bet that she was. It gave him hope. She seemed powerful (she had intended to hit him with that lunge, after all), even if she needed a little training on that front. If she would be use to him or not he'd figure, it was just a matter of where this all went.

The pale lion straightened further, meeting her eye. His claws remained unsheathed, scraping lines into the dirt, but he no longer glowered at her. "My name is Vaskr."

"You have doubts. That's smart of you."

His low rumbling voice was a velvety croon. The tone could have easily been confused with taunting. Or was it flirting? In all honesty it was difficult to tell. Vaskr began to move, his steps languid and smooth as he walked a wide circle around her.

Vaskr didn't have a lot of experience with gods, but he had some. He had no full siblings that he knew of, his memories of his youth consisting of time he spent with Uuni alone. He had similar experiences to what he knew some of his half-siblings had had. Blood Magic was a deal-maker. He'd met gods and mortals in his youth, but everything about his upbringing was mystical and mysterious.

The lion didn't know what it was like to be raised without knowledge of gods. Sure, he didn't know his father either, but from all he knew it was a mortal who had some sort of deal with his mother, or who had a pelt that caught her attention. For all that mattered to him, he knew where he came from and who he was.

He looked her over. His vision hadn't given him much details. She was from the sea, and she was a seer. That's as far as he knew. Her size suggested she was godborn… but she acted unsure enough to where it didn't seem like she knew much about seers.

"But you don't really know much about how visions work, do you? I'm getting that you weren't really told about your ability. Your potential." That, of course, could change. Vaskr would be happy to assist. "I'm getting that you didn't know them. Your god-parent, that is." He was shooting completely in the dark, working to piece together the information that he knew. He was just hoping she wouldn't catch on. Hoping that he was shooting in the right direction. Her size suggested she was god-born. If not, well. She would be less interesting then and he wouldn't really need to worry about it.

Vaskr was silent, letting her speak. He'd gain nothing by interrupting her, after all. So he waited, eyes set to hers even when she cast her gaze away, and when Adelheid finished speaking he let the silence settle around them briefly before he responded. His voice was still low, rumbling and controlled as he did his best not to get to eager at how much she was opening up. He only just managed to keep a smile from growing on his face. As he spoke, Vaskr's stance relaxed and his words were less serious. More inviting.

"I'm not going to lie to you," he started, giving a brief rolling shrug, "I don't know who your father is." Vaskr let the statement linger, curiously watching her reaction.

"But I might know how I could help you find him. Or, at the very least, learn more about him. Visions have shown me, after a while, my nephew. My sister. My mother, once." He stretched, thinking carefully over his words.

"I spent a great deal of time and energy focusing on my visions," he was mostly pulling his words out of thin air, now. She could latch onto them as much as he wanted, but even he didn't know if he could have followed through with any promises he gave. "It helped, but it took a long while. And I assume you're shortly headed back to..." he looked her over once more, sniffing the air. Salt and ash. "back to wherever it was that you came from. Back to the sea."