Spring; it held many promises for Traithgren, warmer weather for one, festivals, holy days amongst his people, but most of all, Spring meant travel.

He'd spoken about it a few weeks ago, the trip. Had told her he planned to leave for a while, but also, asked her to come along. The time for their departure was drawing near, and he showed this in his restless nights, his active days, no longer just sitting and waiting, but constantly moving. It meant more to him than he let on.

He'd spent most of his time over the last few weeks gathering supplies, and preparing for the long journey ahead. For Traithgren planned to go on foot, no form of transportation other than his strong capable legs for guidance.

That cave had served as his home for the duration of his stay in Rhy?Din, but now, it seemed more like a prison when he sat in the mouth of it, studying the woodlands before him. It was warmer, the weather was slowly clearing, and winter had passed.

Restless; Traith knew the feeling well, but on this day, the day of their departure into the vast countryside, it nearly ate away at his resolve. If Annike weren't coming along, he would have long ago sprinted off, but the thought of her travelling with him, stayed his eager legs, calmed his current wanderlust.

Elbows rested on large knees as he leaned forward, hands brought together before his face as he stared off in the direction of his homeland, being as patient as possible. Such patience though, ate at his will every second, for his heart tugged and yearned, cried out to travel once more. But it called for something else as well.

Traithgren inhaled deeply as he studied the trees that stood just outside the mouth of his cavern, and listened with ears that were acutely attuned to the nature around them, to the sounds of the surrounding forest. But none of the sounds, not the trickling of the nearby spring, the scampering of startled squirrels, the chirping of birds, and not even the rustling of leaves, were what he was listening for.

Footsteps, that's what he hoped to hear amidst the myriad of sounds, and a scent, that had become oh so familiar to him over the past few weeks, a scent that sparked up a whirl of thoughts, even when mixed with all the other smells around him.

He was simply waiting now, for her, as he sat on that large stone in the mouth of the cavern, simple, old breeches, were the only thing the barbarian wore for the trip, he had things packed, for weather emergencies, but starting out, he'd not wear so many hindering things.

Hands instantly lifted, twisting around to rest against her's, before he was slipping them away, and rising to his feet. She was ready, that was what he'd been waiting for all day, all week, for the last few weeks, to be honest.

He shouldered his heavy pack with ease, the thought of travel doing much to calm his restless nerves, the thought that something was amiss in Rhy'Din, in their small group.

He didn't know where Desi would go while they were away, but, it was too late to question, wonder, or regret.

"Ye ready then? Good, s'bout time we're fer headin' off," he said with his usual, deep and rumbling voice, words something akin to grunts.

With calloused fingers resting on her shoulders, sliding down to take one of the hands that fit so easily in his own, Traithgren started off.

Already, he felt better, just taking that first step away from the cave that had served as den for beast and man, proved to ease a great deal of his restlessness.

He listened as they walked, to her, and to the surrounding sounds. The snapping of leaves, the rustle of trees, all sounds seemed to assault the large Barbarian's senses at once.

"Aye," said the Barbarian,"it is, isn' it?" Traithgren's eyes, earthen hues, turned down to Annike for a moment, studying quietly.

The significance of the full moon, wasn't completely lost on humble Traith, but nor was it completely understood. He knew of it's importance to wolves such as her, but only stories and myths, nothing he'd ever seen confirmed.

"What're ye thinkin'?" he asked suddenly, noting how deep thoughts, seemed to be the plague of her current mindset. "Somethin' troublin' ye?"

Family had been important to Traith once, as had the tribe, when he was free and living with them. Years of a broken existence, had slowly wiped him clear of such attachments. Yet, Rhy'Din, Annike, and the gathering, the small group they'd forged, had started to spark that flame once more, the need for a family.

That's why Traith felt he should travel, to see his tribe, and clear his mind of fears regarding it's safety and condition.

They traveled on, hours turned to days, days into weeks, and so on. They had all blended together, the constant days of traveling, and were it not for the gradual change in landscape, one might think they'd gone nowhere at all.

The forests outside Rhy'Din fell away to valleys and mountains in the distance, and soon, those were passed by in favor of rolling plains as the Barbarian and Dancer made their way to the land of the tribes.

After a month of tedious travel, they were once again, headed toward a large and dense wooded area.

"M'tribe's jus' on the other side o'them woods," the Barbarian informed Annike as a calloused finger pointed in the direction of the greenery before them. "Least, that's where they were last time I saw 'em," wind tousled hair was tied back by a strip of leather, and left that hard lined face, heavy with the scarring of many battles, openly visible. Earthen toned eyes were alight with a sudden sense of urgency, he was so close.

Home; it meant something different for everyone, save for that one common sense of belonging. Everyone felt a different pull toward what they considered home. For the Barbarian, that pull to his homeland was the tug of home, but the need to know.

He'd moved on from the tribes and their ways, however deeply rooted he may have been in them. His home was no longer with the people of his clan, though they'd forever be his family.

But all that said, he needed to know. The random attacks from the mages and their slavers had crippled his tribe when last he saw them. He knew he'd have few blood relatives, if any remaining, but the tribe as a whole may have survived.

The Dancer's fears were lost to the Barbarian, unknown, thus left to themselves as he took the first steps toward the dense expanse of trees before them. If his memory was correct, not long into the forest, was a clearing made by the Barbarians, the main tribe should be there.

"It's differen'," said Traith as he paused before the wall of thick trunks and branches that looked as though they would ensnare you when not watching. "The forest is sick."

It was alive, that forest. Sick as it may have been, life still inhabited it. Sluggish though, dying, there was something that all together, seemed bleak about the forest. As if the creatures that inhabited it, were all very near to death?s cold embrace.

"Sick," he reiterated as he started through the tangled mass of branches, underbrush, and the like. His powerful legs tore through the obstacles with little trouble, thick hands moving this way and that to remove higher up difficulties from their trail as he plowed along.

"Somethin's nae righ', need t'find the tribe," he spoke aloud, this his distant and far off tone suggested he hadn't meant to.

Finally, he turned over his shoulder to look at Annike.

"It's nae dyin', completely, but it's nae as it should be, somethin's gone 'n' tainted it."

They walked on for hours, until finally Traithgren deemed it time to rest. He found a small, dry patch of ground in the slowly dying woods, and set up a small camp, hunched over his meager meal of bread and cheese with a thoughtful frown causing his brow to furrow faintly.

He sat with his back to a large tree, its bark sickly grey, gnarled branches reaching out overhead like the grasping fingers of some old fairy tale monster. It shadowed over them, the grey leaves shielding them from most of the sun's warm, but heartening rays.

The landscape was bleak, little sounds of wildlife emitted from their surroundings, it was as if everything on the world had died, and left them alone there afterwords.

"Iffin' I'm right, the tribes usually camped nae too far tae the west o'here," he jerked his head west. "Just a bit o'ways thataway, that's where I'm thinkin' o'searchin' first," said the Barbarian before tearing off a piece of bread, and tossing it into his mouth.

"Aye," he nodded his agreement. "But I'm thinkin" we'll have ourselves a sleep fist, "bout time t"call it a night anyhow," he stood, finished with his small meal and reached into the pack he'd set on the ground beside him, to dig around for the furs and blankets that made the pair's bedding.

After a few moments of setting up, the hulking barbarian settled himself onto that makeshift bed, patting the spot next to him in a silent invitation to Annike.

"Somethin's on yer mind, I nae have t"be a psychic t"know figure that much out," he mused aloud as he watched her, brows furrowing lightly. "And it doesnae revolve entirely "round the forest "ere," the surprisingly observant Traithgren went on, nodding lightly to himself.

"What's eatin" away at"cha, Annike?? he asked as he sat up more, a faint frown tugging at his features as the considered what might be wrong.