The rumours of treasure falling from the sky was too good to pass up; after the conflict with the Flamegarde and Thundergarde they had been left in ruins - half their number had lost their lives and those that had managed to get away… well… they were just as damaged in their own ways. The loss of possessions Coryanna could live with; you could always buy more things and they had always been able to trade their talents in Ice Magicks for a decent payment of coin… but the loss of friends, family and loved ones still weighed heavily on the Alpha female’s heart.
Many might have said it was because she had lost her eldest son but it was more than that. As with all of the Garde Packs every member was family - added to over the years with a few others from the outside that showed promise with the Ice Element but mostly the Clan kept to themselves, living out their nomadic lifestyle as one unit - always working to the good of the Pack. To lose any of them, blood relative or otherwise, had always been hard but to lose so many of their number all at once…

It had changed her.

They had left the Wolves on the mainland - choosing to travel Horae on foot, it was a rare occasion to see the Pack without their Wolves but since this trip was to collect treasure in order to fill their pockets and reclaim some of the items lost during the conflict it really didn’t require the hulking beasts - they would not be looking for trouble after all and it did the Pack good to set out on foot every now and then… or so Coryanna believed… Anderyn on the other hand had other ideas on this matter.

”I still don’t see why we couldn’t bring the Wolves.” The man sighed, shoulders slumping forward as his head hung low and his arms lolled against his sides, dragging his feet through the snow on the ground, glancing at his wife out of the corner of his eye. ”My poor sweet Amaya, oh how lonely she must be without me.” He said in a mockingly sorrowful tone that he knew would wind her up.
”I’m sure she’s grateful to be rid of your constant whittering.” Coryanna snapped, head whipping around to glare at her EX-husband with her one good eye, the left now covered with an eye patch since the loss of it during the battle with the other Garde Packs. ”Anyway you could do with the exercise, you’re getting fat from being so lazy. It’ll do you good to use your own legs for once rather than burdening that poor Wolf of yours.” She continued, knowing that that would annoy him in return.

An over-exaggerated gasp left Anderyn’s throat as he held one hand to his ‘broken’ heart and the other to his forehead in distress. ”How can you say such a thing Coryanna? I am not fat! Merely festively plump. What a thing to say to your beloved husband!”
”I say it because it’s true, festively plump, by the Allgarde have you heard the ridiculous nonsense that leaves your tongue Anderyn? And that is EX-wife I think you’ll find. Alpha you may be alongside me but husband you are no longer, I have absolutely no intention of sharing anything more than title with you. Now shut up and take this seriously, we may not have brought the others but that does not mean you can be lax in your observations. You never learn do you?” She snarled, hands clenched into fists as she felt the anger rising within her chest at him as per usual.
”Neither do you. If you truly believed that any of us were at risk you wouldn’t have left the Wolves on the mainland but you did. Don’t think for a minute that I would risk the Pack Cory.” Anderyn replied in a serious tone.
”Really? Could have fooled me given you spend more time whining like a babe and dragging your feet like a petulant teenager rather than a respectable Alpha.” She snarled once more, striding away in the snow, leaving behind her estranged husband who, for a moment, looked saddened that once again the exchange between them had ended in them arguing.

Sighing heavily Anderyn glanced at their youngest son and gave the lad a playful wink; by the Allgarde he would not let Kolvar believe that his mother could bring down his father’s mood so easily. Letting his son get a few steps ahead of him Anderyn dove behind a tree, gathered some snow into his hands and formed a ball with it. Tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he concentrated he launched the snowball, full force, at the back of his son’s head… just as his wife turned around to see where he had gone.
”ANDERYN!” She roared and he flinched… now he’d done it.

Kolvar walked just a step behind his Alphas - who also happened to be his parents - as custom and hierarchy demanded. It was this admittedly scant distance that gave the young man the confidence to roll his eyes and not worry about being scolded for it. As ever, his parents were bickering over nothing worthwhile, their voices an almost distant thing on the pleasantly cold wind. Though he did agree with father - leaving their Wolves behind was weird. As much as he liked exercise and physical exertion, keeping himself in shape as much as he did his canine partner, Kolvar found himself missing the furry bulk of Sabrione. He had grown up with the she-wolf, after all. It only made sense that he'd miss her - not to mention worry over what kind of mischief she would get into without him to keep tabs on her. Added to that the all too recent loss of his older brother, as well as a great deal of their clan to fighting with the other Garde clans, well. If he were more predisposed to needless fretting, Kolvar would have barely left the mainland. As it was, he was certain his parents wolves could keep the others safe and on their best behaviour. Well, mostly. He'd probably get back and find Sab pinned under the massive paws of Sorrento, looking for all the world like this was the best game ever. He'd have to apologise to mother, promise he'd give Sabrione a talking to, and have all his words go in one ear, and out the other. Sab wasn't a stupid beast he could simply train to be obedient, she was just as smart as a human, if not smarter. If she wanted to do something, his displeasure wasn't going to stop her. Allgarde, it would probably encourage her!

Sighing, Kolvar turned ice-blue eyes towards the lands around them, looking for the tell-tale gleam of gold. Maybe if they found enough, mother would be in a good mood. Maybe she wouldn't snap at father so much - not that he tried to avoid being snapped at. What was the phrase? Don't poke the bear? Father went past poking, and straight into full-body tackling, only it was worse than a bear, it was his mother. On the tail of that thought, Kolvar looked ahead to see his father, standing still as mother stalked ahead, clearly furious. They would have to find a lot of gold to cheer mother up after whatever that was, Kolvar thought, stomach sinking. Not that gold would replace the family they had lost, or heal the injured. It would simply make it easier for them to replace lost weapons, medicines, travelling gear, and the such. Kolvar had offered to go out and sell his services as an ice mage, as he had many times before, but rumours of this island had put a stop to any mercenary work. A place were wealth simply dropped into one's lap? It seemed almost too good to be true, and though personally Kolvar thought they should have brought the wolves to more easily move about, and carry any valuables they happened to find, he wasn't Alpha.

"What did you say?" Kolvar asked his father as he drew alongside him. Cocking his head as all he got was a wink in reply, the ice mage shrugged, and carried on his way. No doubt father didn't want to share the gory details, didn't want to show weakness to others in the Pack. Didn't want his son to see his parents fighting yet again. Everything had been fighting lately, and while he was no stranger to violence, Kolvar was sick of it. He'd been glad to go chasing this rumour instead of turn mercenary for a - hah - spell. At least this, hopefully, was a simple case of find the gold, pick up the gold, go back to the mainland. Maybe he could finally buy some leather to make more riding straps. Sabrione had nearly worn out her last set, and riding bare-back for any distance could be tricky if one wanted to carry one's home with them, as the nomadic Frostgarde did. Maybe he could dye them, or decorate them with metal studs. Useless, he knew, and an extravagance mother would frown upon, but it was a pleasant daydream nonetheless.

Until his mother bellowed, and something wet, cold, and heavy smacked into the back of his head.

For almost a second, Kolvar thought that, somehow, mother had read his thoughts and was scolding him, before his brain caught up and recognised his father's name. Looking around, Kolvar reached a hand to the back of his head, finding his hair wet with snow. Ah, suddenly, it clicked. That wink, why father wasn't following, mother's ire. Still, that had hurt more than a snowball should, even thrown by his father. Grumbling, Kolvar shook his hood out, scattering snow before it could melt and soak the heavy wool. Something gleamed as it tumbled out, however, and with a yelp of surprise, Kolvar snatched it up.
"Hey, look!" he called, holding out his prize to be examined, "I found gold!"
Well, technically his father had, but it had hit his head, and he was the one to actually find it, so, yeah. He'd found gold!

For all his wife's chiding Anderyn's heart was heavier than she would ever believe; the loss of their eldest had hit him hard, of course it had, just as the loss of the others had but to lose her as well… He could see her, she was just within arms reach of him. He could hear her, usually shouting and snapping at him. He could feel her, mostly when she lost her temper with him and smacked him… and yet she wasn't there anymore, not his Cory at least, not the woman he had fallen in love with - who he had admired from afar when they had been younger, who had terrified and intrigued him his entire life… who he had loved long before she even knew he had existed. He had worked his way up to Beta for her; he had fought his way to the top rank to catch her eye and when she had finally looked his way he had found out that she had been secretly watching him from the shadows too. 
For all intents and purposes their love story was a little like a fairy tale, one they had amusingly told their two sons when the boys had been little alongside the other children of the Pack… their end had been little more than a tragedy. Anderyn mourned the loss of the others but he had no intention of losing himself to it in the way that Coryanna had - as far as he was concerned he was not honoring anyone by changing who he was; he was serious when he needed to be but he was not going to lose his love of life, his joy at the small things, his sense of humour - these were all things that made him who he was, if he lost that he would lose everything.

As Coryanna strode on ahead; angry at him for what was probably the hundredth time that day Anderyn threw off the sadness he felt at the distance now between them. Again he wished that they had brought the Wolves, he hated being separated from Amaya for too long - while he was perfectly capable of walking and taking care of himself the Frostgarde were raised with their Wolves, to be apart from them for any length of time always felt so damned unnatural. Grinning at his youngest as Kolvar dared to ask what he had said to aggravate his mother this time he wiggled his eyebrows playfully at the lad as he almost skipped off to find a way to alleviate some of the tension that lingered amongst those in the group that had come with them to the Island to gather some treasure. 
There was snow all around them, what could be better than a little snow ball fight?! As the projectile left his hand Coryanna turned and screeched his name at him and he immediately regretted his decision… he really should have thought this one through… or at least ensured that Cory wasn't going to turn around and catch him. He heard Kolvar yelp and silently congratulated himself on his aim before grinning at his son's exclamation. "That's what I call using your head!" He laughed as he jogged over and slapped his son on his shoulder. "Well done son." He grinned. 
"At least your son is useful." Coryanna snarled under her breath as she strode over to them, smiling at Kolvar as she leant over to kiss her son on the forehead. "Well done my love. Alright all of you fan out and look for more; if there's one piece there's bound to be more."