Conor Soul’s jaw slowly dropped when he received a reply to his question. He had quickly noticed the man’s strange accent though had not expected him to come from across the great sea halfway around the world. He felt thrilled, though his body seemed to continue its relaxed existence. Conor had never heard of the frozen oceans though he knew that his mother had spent time in Europe. Where was Russia? He had seen a map of the world before, but could not remember seeing it. If he had known better he would have known that Russia was the former Soviet. Unfortunately he did not know this. It was so cool to hear Rurik speak the Russian tongue. ”Wow, that’s so cool!” the boy uttered with admiration. He had dreamt of travelling across the seas to see the world. Unfortunately he doubted that would happen. He belonged here and knew he could not make himself leave those he loved.

        
He did absolutely not understand what the man had said. ”I wish I could travel and see the world.” Oh, so many questions now! ”What’s the frozen sea like? What’s Russia like? How long did it take to get all the way here from your home country?” The young male had to stop himself now. It was just so cool!

         Lilac gaze drifted away, imagining frozen waters and brilliant countries filled with snow and ice. Although Conor’s coat was designed mainly to outlast biting cold, the soul hidden within the body yearned for warmer seasons without much cold. He had been born the month were things started to warm up and rediscover life. He had not yet lived to get a full impression of winter, but he had already made up his mind. Summer and autumn brought dazzling colours and an overflow of game to bask in. The best parts of his short life had been spent in the sun and he craved more – slightly disappointed that autumn too was coming to an end these days, just like his childhood.

        
To sail on the icy sea for so long seemed absolutely surreal to the boy. How did they survive? Obviously they brought provision and water, but the fact that this male had done it was hard to grasp. He had barely gotten hold of an image of a courageous Rurik on the sea before it vanished. It felt oddly hard to concentrate properly. The cinnamon and gold boy realized that he was not particularly bothered about this. Instead he was reminded that he was on a boat riding on the river and that the ride was to become even more bumpy. The majority of the fair had fled the scene by now. He actually felt a flush of excitement bloom on his creamy cheeks. Whoaa, he was on a boat.

        
Speed increased and the boy lost some of his intense confidence. Instead of holding on to the bench he was sitting on, he decided to attach to what seemed to be the steadiest object on the boat – the captain. ”Whoa, what if we craaash, Captain Rurik?” he whined, though not really terrified either. He knew he should be, but the layer of calm soothed the poor nerves. The expression on his face was still a grin and not a frown.

         He was starting to wonder how exactly he felt about everything. It was as if everything had been tuned down several levels and he often caught his thoughts and focus wandering off without his permission. He believed the male when he said that he was in good hands. The adult seemed completely at ease on his seat, steering the boat like this was something he had been born to do. Well, apparently he was, coming all the way from cold Russia half across the globe. How incredibly interesting was not that? Why would he stay here for a longer period of time if he could discover the whole world on-board of his boat? Oh, if Conor just could travel and be free. The thought tempted every time it touched his conscious mind, but he knew that he would probably never leave this place. At least not unless Alexey came with him. Oh, yes, Alexey. It would have been amazing to go out on endless journeys with her all alone. The boy grimaced at his own thoughts, for they were going in a direction he did not like.

        
The vessel was moving in a more upset way now than the boy was accustomed to now. He could feel his body slide down on the floor again and he crawled on all four over to the side of the boat to peek over the railing again. Oh, it was a bumpy ride alright. He wondered how deep the water was. The walk home increased the longer he stayed here. He turned to Rurik with a rather pathetic question. ”How do I get off this thing! What if I don’t find my way home?” Yes, that could prove a problem if he did not know where he was. He tried to focus on the scenery passing by, but he was unable to recognize where he was. Obviously he would only have to follow the river upwards until he found the spot where he had first found the boat, but Alexey would get angry if he did not come home in time.

         It was no exaggeration to say that Conor felt like a true fool as he crawled around in the boat, but he knew that he would find no balance if he tried to get up on his two legs in the rocking boat. He still had this odd fear of somehow getting swept off his feet and tossed out of the boat. This was extremely unlikely, as the boat did not rock all that hard. Had Conor Soul seen some of the waves caused by an upset sea on long travels to and fro continents then he would have squeaked pathetically and lost control of his bladder. This was nothing compared to how cruel raging water could be. No, this was a merry ride and no one knew this better than Rurik. Lavender eyes turned to gaze on the cheery wolf with the silver fur and strange smelling joints. Was he aware that this was Conor’s first time with any kind of cigarettes? The young male’s throat still burned dimly from the harsh smoke he had drawn down into his lungs, but he was unaware of this, for his focus kept dancing about like some crazy monkey with a cup. For reasons unknown Conor smiled at Rurik and stared at the gray hand that was held out for him at the same as he tried to listen to the words that the male had already spoken.

        
Halifax? Was this true? Snout suddenly rose to the air as if he was able to smell directions. Halifax was not at all far from Dahlian borders. The long way home would suddenly be a short way home and all he had done was to sit in this boat and get stoned. Very good deal indeed. Quite a bit too late, the boy answered what he realized had been a question. ”Yeah, Dahlia de Mai’s borders are not far from Dahlia.” A moment passed before he realized that he had to correct his sentence. ”Halifax, I mean.” he said, grabbing for Rurik’s hand and slowly – plus very unsteadily, finding his previous spot next to the sailor. The error in his speech was not an affect of the drug; merely his brain mixing about words as it sometimes did with all. Now it was time to try to convince this Rurik Russo that he was not weird even if he hid in small rooms. ”I don’t usually hide around in boats, just so that you know” he explained and gave a lonely wag of his golden tail. ”Thank you for not getting mad.” Oh, if it had been his brown father finding the boy there would have been blood and shouting.