The beast hauled himself up the mountainside, each paw mechanically placed, one before the other. As fun as it was to laze about the territory, with the occasional token effort given to appease his brother and Phineas, it did start to bore the dimmer Cygni. Fortunately simple minds only needed simple pleasures, and a jaunt outside the territory was a sufficient distraction. There was some reason he had decided to go up the mountain, but it had been long forgotten and he was simply moving to keep moving. Al wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and eventually wound up slipping through a wall of high rocks and onto a plateau.

Albireo paced to the edge of the plateau, peering down over its edge until a keen sense of vertigo caused him to visibly shudder and pull back. Looking across, the sun had already began to creep down behind the mountain at his back, drawing a dark wedge shaped shadow over the gold tinted lands. Really, it was a beautiful sight, but the spectacle was utterly wasted on Albireo.

The winds seemed to have changed, with them bringing an eddy of dust headed straight for Albireo's dull eyes. He winced, though it was too late, the grit having already made itself incredibly intimate with his corneas. Al whined loudly, reaching up with a pale white paw to swipe uselessly at his watering eyes. Loudly making all sorts of horrible groans, he lay down on the ground and pawed at both stinging eyes.

Albireo was still attempting to scrub the dirt from his eyes when the winged creature glided down to join him on the plateau. It wasn't until the avian began to squawk that Al finally noticed it, turning his watering eyes to glare at the black feathered bird. "Caw, caw caw, caw, croak," was all he heard, not even considering the possibility that it was trying to say something with its raspy voice. Before Albireo could even think to get to his feet, the raven stumbled back away from him.

The Cygni stood, eyeing the corvid as it waddled about in an animated fashion he had never noticed from a raven before, which probably said more about his observational skills rather than this particular specimen. The temptation of catching the bird drifted through his mind, but he immediately discarded the thought. The one time he and @Deneb had managed to catch a crow out of desperation... it hadn't tasted pleasant at all, and Albireo imagined an even bigger crow wouldn't taste much better.

"What's up with you, He slowly murmured, more to himself than anything. Somewhat ironically, Al had always considered birds rather dull, mindless creatures. It was surprising the way this one was just looking right at him. After some more staring, he realized the raven was looking right at a den he hadn't noticed on his way in.

"Better not be a bear in here," Albireo grumbled to the bird as he paced closer to the den, nose working as he tried to detect if the cave was still inhabited. A few tufts of fur, brittle and bleached by the elements clung to the rocky mouth of the den, but any scent it might have once held was now long gone.