winter is here again, oh lord

Would prefer only one other to join c: Perhaps someone from Hrafnsvaktin?

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The snowfall was dense - sheets of ice and snow made it difficult to see where they were traveling. Why their brother had chosen now to sprain his paw and require elder leaves. He was lucky they'd had some stored for this purpose, but their brother was fairly far from the herb stores, and Aspen had needed to fetch the plants for him instead. 

Normally, this would not have been an issue, but this blizzard was far from normal. In fact, Aspen had not seen such a thing in all of their life. It set a faint spike of nervousness into their chest, but they kept reminding themself that it was just a little further. A straight line there and back. Nothing to worry about. 

But they were worried, and so, they stopped to calm down. Aspen closed their eyes and focused on their breathing. Deep breath in, and out. In... and out.

Their heart rate declined after a few moments, and -

- they opened their eyes. 

The snow was still falling, but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as it had been a few seconds ago. Aspen's eyes narrowed as they looked around, and then down, before they widened again. Underfoot was a massive sheet of ice, so clear that it almost looked as though they were walking on water. This place certainly hadn't been part of their territory - it didn't even smell like their family.

Where were they?

Aspen placed the elder leaves at their paws, trying to think past the fuzziness that had started to invade their mind. What could have possibly happened in those few moments that could've caused them to open their eyes in an entirely different location?
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A number of times Ragnar had traveled eastward, across the Frozen Ground, past Cloudrest and into the Everfrost. Banesteppe was as far northward as he had gone yet this day he pushed those boundaries to the north further.

The Frozen Ground seemed to last on forever until the familiarity of mountains came to him. He followed them instinctively despite this being far different from home. The mountain range has been claimed, this much was so by the marked borders and he thought for certain he knew the scent one of one those who lived here personally. Yet Ragnar kept his distance, whether @Valmúa was here or not. He rounded upward to be met with a large frozen lake bed he had not yet seen before.

Solid, clear, he looked into the depths of the waters below. A school of fish passing underfoot, but dark and large eerie shadows in a world so close yet still far beyond his reach. A grumble, Ragnar's eyes narrow and lift back up and he is met with the view of another wolf, pale as his long now lost son. Had they been standing there all along??

“....Oh.” The lands were so open and yet, in the blinding white, one such as white as this one, could be just as invisible as a black wolf in cover of shadow. Clearly Ragnar had been caught off guard. “Hello...”
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Usually, Aspen was not easily startled, but the sound of a voice so near and in such a strange place caused them to jump a little. Brown eyes flicked over to the source of the sound - a man, it seemed, much larger than themself. But they were both of a similar hue, though the man was cloaked in pale golds rather than silvers. 

"Hello," they greeted in return, hoping against hope that this strange man somehow knew where they were. This place, though cold and frosted, looked nothing like their homeland, and they could no longer smell their family. Something told them that, if this was not a dream, it was perhaps a new reality instead. 

Some wolves might have panicked at the thought. Aspen was not some wolves. 

They angled their ears toward the man, but did not approach. That would require leaving the herbs behind on the ground, and they did not want to do so - just in case reality decided to shift again and they lost those as well. Instead, they continued, "Do you happen to know where we are?" 

Whether he knew their homeland or not, having a name for this place would be helpful.
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Startled, warm brown eyes turned to look upon him, filled with question, maybe even further expressed by the darkening shade of fur under they're eyes. Lost. It was confirmed to him as the other's ears perked, her questioning coming to light as they asked where they were. Alas, another Ragnar had come upon who had been displaced from the lands they once had roamed.

“Here...?” The word came out slow, thoughtful. His head lifts, nose arching over the skies and around them. He draws in a heavy breath before turning back to the other. “A magical place as a whole, I'd think to say...” A small frown then, a crease in his scarred brow. “We're in the far reaches of the Tundra. I admit I've never come this far north before, though home for me is not all that far...”

The name of this lake here? He did not know, did not know how well traveled it had become either savor by those whose home in the mountains just south of here. “I take it you've lost your way?” He wanted to make sure then if she was having her Awakening, if she could remember from before.
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A magical place, hm? Aspen didn’t know if they believed in magic or not - it seemed fairly far-fetched, and they were quite the rational wolf. But what they’d just experienced was not normal, and they were beyond confused about the whole thing. This was not something they could just explain away with facts or logic - this was… weird.

A dream was a possibility, of course, but this didn’t feel like any dream they’d ever had before. Staticky panic began to creep in on the edges of their mind - their ears began to ring. It didn’t show on their face, but briefly, Aspen was a little afraid.

But it didn’t matter. There was nothing they could do to change this situation at the moment, so there was no use obsessing over it. They shook their head once more to clear it, the movement almost imperceptible. The silverwhite wolf turned their attention back to the man before them.

”I suppose I have,” they responded, meeting his gaze. ”It does not make any sense, really, but I have no better way to explain it than your magic.” Which was something Aspen had never said in their entire life. This whole situation was bizarre.

Apparently this man had a home not far from here. It was comforting to know that there were other wolves nearby, at least. ”What is your name?” they asked the stranger then, tilting their head to the side a hair.
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Aspen had well hidden her fear. The last wolf Ragnar had met whom just had 'blipped into existence' here had been very fearful of it all. Ragnar couldn't and wouldn't blame @Sam for it. Had Ragnar not woken up along Sindri and their children, he very well would have felt quite differently about arriving here. Thus, Ragnar felt horribly for those who had been torn from their families, for those who had no intention of dispursing and leaving them for their own adventure. For those who had been very much happy with where they had been before coming here, whatever the whole of this region was called.

She confirms her loss again, that she couldn't explain what had just happened here. And Ragnar, who could have sworn he had been out here to himself just moments ago, couldn't have explained her arrival other then said 'magic'. “Everyone that I've met, at least with those where we had discussed their arrival, just appeared here, didn't know how they got here. Like they woke up and that was it.” He explained on and with it allowing her to know that she was most definitely not the only one this had happened to.

“Ragnar Stormborn... and you, stranger?” Though he guessed she...he? (Ragnar as odd as it were, couldn't exactly pin-point which by their scent) wouldn't be one for long.
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