December 20th; After sunset; Light snow, light fog; -6° F/-21° C

On the seventh evening in a row when the sky had barely lightened and darkness was quick to cloak the Lore once more, Sköll Archer was strolling about in the gloom, humming a tune that could have been defined as uncannily bone-chilling. The second-born prince had grown used to the company of night over the past week, oblivious to the fact that the Winter solstice had come upon them. When Asriel and Morganna laid asleep beside their mother, he tiptoed past Angier and Guiness at the mouth of the den and wandered off for the seventh time into the night to be alone. Since the siblings' brotherly spat, Sköll had enough wit to stay clear of his litter mate. Any time they caught glimpses of one another, it made the younger Archer bristle and seethe as he walked away. Because of this, it had only come to the silver-eyed youth's realization that, perhaps one day, Willow Ridge would not be large enough for the both of them, let alone Morganna too. So in the eerie reaches of the western part of his mother's territory he prowled, wanting to memorize every inch of his homeland and selfishly believe that it would all be his in the distant future.

For a moment his song ceased and the wary crow in the trees above him took flight. It had initially stopped the young royal in his tracks but as soon as the silence closed in around him again, he began to pick up where he left off, the song continuing. It wasn't often that Sköll sang or hummed, but it had been something he had discovered on his own when he had once attempted to mimic a songbird that had perched just outside the Infirmary.

Deeper and deeper he went until something in the distance stirred and the prince held still. His lips parted enough to release the breath he had momentarily held captive. A smirk crept up along his ivory-touched muzzle and he crawled between two bare hedges, their numerous twigs digging deep into his full winter pelt. As if to try and coax the eavesdropper closer to where he hid, he let his song snake through the darkness in a muffled and slightly off-tune melody:

"When I was just a little boy, I asked my mother what will I be?"

He had to bite back the childish glee that was bubbling up in his throat as impish giggles, continuing in his sing-song voice only when he felt like he would succeed in drawing his prey even nearer than before, "Will I be handsome? Will I be strong? Here's what she said to me..."

Though Sköll had entirely expected to be approached by some sort of entity, the night-pelted boy had not anticipated being approached from the front of his little hideout between the brambles. Two silvery eyes narrowed and he stepped out of hiding after he came to realize Yuka had recognized him. "Nothing," he retorted, shaking out his long winter coat and eyeing the other Prince in partial disgust. If it hadn't been for Angier's near-constant corrections (both verbal and nonverbal cues from a distance) and discipline practices (just recently Sköll had actually let his cheek get the best of him, making the Lyall outright force him into a more submissive position on the ground) in passing, the boy wouldn't have felt a lick of diplomacy, interest, or tactfulness towards the other youth. "What are you doing all the way out here Prince Yuka?"

The words came out in round puffs of vapor, lifting from the cracks in his muzzle. He scoffed as he stared through the darkness at the Thorben boy. It had been a few months since the duo had last encountered one another and it mildly amused Sköll just how large and mature both of them had become. He had to keep a sneer from wrinkling up his face as he briefly glanced to and fro, barely able to see through the willows on this starless and moonless night, "Aren't you going to get in trouble? Being out here all on your own in the dark?"

His words were meant to sting and bite, but somehow, a part of the young Archer was sure he didn't inject enough venom in his words to offend or irk the other heir. Sköll, these days, cared very little about what his brother and sister often did when he spent time away from them, but he was somewhat certain that they did not spend their time wandering over to Yuka's pack lands to play and socialize. So why was it that it just so happened that Yuka came all this way.... again?

"Y'know," he started again, his full plume of a tail lifting confidently, "if you keep visiting and I have a feeling that you pro'lly know my brother, too...." He briefly made a face that made his ears perk up and the side of his muzzle bunch up near his nose at the thought of Asriel. "Then why aren't we jus' apart of the same pack? Saves you from wandering all the way over here all the time..."

The Archer prince further scowled as Yuka explained that he was here to get away from his siblings and to visit his Uncle Guiness. As far as Sköll was concerned, Guiness was his uncle, not Yuka's. If Guiness was his uncle, then Guiness would have been a Guardian within Whisper Caverns, right? For the time being, that seemed like the only logical, feasible explanation. Yuka continued to tell him that his pack didn't worry about him much; and, while the darker prince could roughly say the same, he probably could have cared less. He feigned interest and listened anyway.

"Do get along with your sibling?" the Thorben then asked. Sköll did everything in his power to keep his frown from becoming more apparent than it already was. He played off the facial expression as one of disbelief. Sibling, he had said... as in... one. One brother, he decided, opting to keep Morganna out of the picture for the sake of protecting her from Yuka as a potential suitor. "Of course I do," he partially lied. "Why wouldn't I get along with my brother? That'd be ridiculous if I didn't..."

The swarthy boy shrugged, sitting so that his lower back was nestled between the hedge that had been his hiding place. He rolled his eyes as if he were stating the obvious, "If I didn't get along with Asriel then who would help me lead a pack when I'm older?" A rather derisive snort came through his nostrils as he eyed Yuka, suddenly interested in all the reasons that had brought Yuka to ask such a thing.

"Why?" he pried, lifting a paw to glance down casually at it for a second as if it would provide some sort of natural buffer for the harshness in his choice of words, "Is Titan bullying you?"

”No," Yuka answered, "He couldn't if he tried. It is more of his way of reasoning. He lacks in...uhmm...common sense.” Sköll couldn't help but to openly smirk now. It seemed that they might have something in common then. The Archer brought his gaze back to the paler boy, rather unsure of where to take their conversation next when he remembered something else. Something... that he had been meaning to find but had been distracted by the opportunity to spook someone.

"You haven't seen anything--" he paused a moment to think of the word he wanted to use, "cool" and "creepy" just weren't going to cut it. He wanted something a little better than say, a discarded antler or a stinky old rabbit pelt, "--interesting, have you?" His wide gray eyes searched Yuka's face for any trace of excitement, anything that would give way to the declaration of something worth his time nearby. He stood up now, his lanky frame inching forward just enough to wordlessly relay that he was intent on going somewhere now that the topic of conversation had gone toward something more thrilling that thick and slow-witted brothers. "I'm looking for, say, hmm..." His ivory-furred lips came together and his head tilted to the left in thought. It had been a long while since he had tried to play a prank or downright spook anyone for his own amusement. One of his large pointy ears came up with the acquisition of an idea, "Maybe something like a few black feathers or something?"