Night fell soon after their escape, leaving both groups with a lot of options in terms of cover, using the darkest forests to hide as they rested for the night, careful not to traverse too closely to the Grizzly Hills. While the group made camp and sat around the fire, Ulrich had gone off on his own to forage for firewood, though he'd stopped after grasping a single log of wood that sat on the ground, contented with returning with an excuse or two.

Instead, he leaned against a tree, staring off into the thick wilderness, peering out beneath the pale moonlight that shined down onto the land before him. His arms crossed each other as the cold air bit at his exposed skin of his arms, his face taking a darker expression as he went over the day's events.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of a twig breaking, his lips curving into a grin as he spoke up, quietly, "You're slipping."

"Oh hush," came Shadowmoon's voice as she walked without care now, "The tundra doesn't have any underfoot crap to worry about; I'm not used to this."

"I thought you were from Teldrassil," Ulric quipped, smugly, "Isn't that, like, "Underfoot Central"?"

Shadowmoon glared at him with a stare that he could feel without seeing, causing him to laugh, "What?"

"I said I liked Teldrassil; it doesn't mean I'm from there," she confirmed, with only the slightest bit of unconvincing.

Slyly, Ulric went on, "You're a bad liar. At least with me, anyway."

Shadowmoon went quiet, which only furthered his suspicions, as she would normally fire back in retort. He looked over his shoulder, chuckling as he watched her staring off into the distance, head hanging low beneath her shoulders.

"Fuck," she muttered, finally realizing that in taking so much time, it pretty much implicated her, "Don't say anything."

"I wasn't going to," Ulric shrugged, "I don't know anything about you; none of us do. If you want to keep it that way, that's not my decision. I don't pry; where you're from doesn't concern anybody, as far as I know. I was just prodding."

Shadowmoon nodded, sarcastically, "Sure."

Ulric hummed a laugh as he remained against the tree, "What's up?"

Leading in with a sigh, Shadowmoon spoke up, "Okay, why exactly did you invite those strangers? I've known you for quite some time; never before have you ever been to…open to guests."

"They probably saved our li-"

"Oh, shut up," Shadowmoon interrupted, rather rudely, "You infiltrate entire gangs with only one person, me, to back you up; don't pretend as though you suddenly value help."

Ulric shrugged, looking off into the distance, "You were looking out for them. Why shouldn't I have?"

Shadowmoon immediately held her tongue, staring at the ground in frustration, mostly toward herself. She groaned, clenching her fists as she turned to leave, though Ulric was quick to stop her.

"Come here. You've never seen the Grizzly Hills, have you?"

"No," she answered, slowly following his instruction, "Coming through the first time, you had us rushing to the south in too much of a hurry."

He nodded in agreement, "I suppose I did."

She stood beside him, the two of them now staring off into the distance, the earth beneath them trailing off underneath massive boughs of treetops, a magnificent, hollowed out tree trunk appearing as a massive shadow in the distance. Ulric sighed as they went on, silently, simply taking in the wilderness.

"You know, they describe the fjord as "howling" because of the wolves. I was always told that it was because, if you stood in the right spot, the wind would howl as it blew past you down between those crags of rock," Ulric explained, nostalgically, "For the point I'd like to make, let's say it's the first one- there's a bunch of wolves, alright?"

He paused for a moment, before going on, "If you took at the furbolgs or bears out of the hills here, it wouldn't be anything other than the Grizzly Hills. That's just how powerful Ursoc is."

Shadowmoon now eyed him curiously, not knowing what he was getting at, though he seemed to gather that much as he turned to her with an unsure smile as Shadowmoon asked with an expectant shrug, "So?"

Ulric chuckled, shaking his head, "Nothing, really. All these old gods and stuff; not only does it get pretty complicated along the way, I honestly couldn't care much less. It's interesting though, hearing of their old stories and all. Ursoc was a great and powerful beast; when the trolls up north expanded down here, that all stops at his den, in fact. But life saw that his brother, Ursol, was taken from him; in that, he ended up more powerful than most other beings, but in that, he gave up everything except his seclusion."

Shrugging, Ulric continued, "I don't know; that idea of seclusion frightens me. I think, sometimes, I'd prefer to be Ursol."

Curiously, Shadowmoon turned her head toward him, "You have a death wish?"

"No, no," Ulric laughed, "I don't know. In the face of being alone and pushing everybody away, I think I'd rather not feel anything at all than feel that sting. That's why I travel in a pack, I guess."

Shadowmoon eyed him fiercely, wondering aloud, "You sure you're not coming onto me again?"

Laughing, Ulric shook his head, "Oh, please. It's just- back at Westgard, when I went back to thank those three… So much blood had been shed and in such a dangerous situation, yet I still found those two, the human and one of the women, holding one another as if the world could have split apart, but they wouldn't have. Just reminded me of Ursoc and his brother, and then, my mother and myself, I guess."

He sighed, pulling himself away from the tree as he stood up straight, "But, you know, life happens. Gods still go on living, humans still die regardless. I guess it's rather pointless to think about."

"I don't know," Shadowmoon sighed, "Maybe for humans, sure; I mean, you have so little time. When you're near-immortal, you have time to waste with those questions."

Ulric chuckled, "That mean you've done a number on that kind of thing?"

Shadowmoon rolled her eyes, turning away dismissively, "Hardly."

"I supposed so," Ulric nodded with a wry grin, pulling his single log of firewood up for him to examine, "Well, guess that's enough."

He shrugged to himself, amused, before turning to Shadowmoon, "Come on. And don't worry about them; if you're suspicious, just remember that I've got my eyes on them as well. And I doubt those three will let them get the better of them their selves."

Shadowmoon sighed, waveringly, "Were I so confident…"

Shadowmoon's face dropped instantly as they returned to camp, hearing the laughter of Parvaen and Remnaar breaking the air. Even Tandkota had managed to crack a smile as Colin spoke up happily, recounting some story, pausing as Ulric and Shadowmoon entered the area around the campfire.

"Well, we're having a good time!" Ulric exclaimed, happily, dropping the single log onto the ground, "Slim pickings otherwise."

Parvaen held his side as he leaned toward him, "Hey captain, you must listen to the rest of this! Colin was just recounting his adventures down in the Brawlpub! A smashing tale, if I may say!"

Ulric nodded as he fell onto a rock to sit, Shadowmoon doing the same, though quite a ways away from the group, carefully watching the three from beneath her cloaked head. She wasn't much apprehensive of their actions as what they might say; granted, Colin seemed to have somewhat of an interest in further concealing her identity, but while Kyra did her best not to return a stare, Vylira was much more interested in her sister's solitude.

"It wasn't much of a big deal after that, honestly," Colin chuckled, "I mean, I had asked for directions, but nobody would tell me about it –I guess there's some "number one rule" about it- so nobody bothered to tell me NOT to go that way. I'm curious by nature, so of course I was prepared to press on."

Parvaen continued laughing heartily, swatting at the air as Tandkota spoke up, amusedly, "So many brought up beneath the Horde banner believe your tram to be nothing more than a rumor. It's always interesting to hear about it- it sounds magnificent, especially for a people as mine. We praise all of nature; to be surrounded by the Earthmother's waters would be incredible."

Colin nodded with a smile, pulling out a sketchbook from his knapsack, "Well…here! I rode it a few times just for the specifics, but it's a pretty authentic recreation of it."

He passed the pad to Ulric, who admired it for a moment with a nod before passing it to Tandkota, the tauren's face remaining solemn in its stillness, though his eyes noticeably lit up behind his deep snout, a gentle hum just barely shaking the ground around camp, "Truly so. Magnificent."

Colin smiled at his words, feeling a warmth within him from another being's ability to glean some sort of emotion from his work, before replying, "Hopefully there will be a time where you can see it, along with all of your people."

Tandkota nodded gently, "Then your optimism is far greater than mine, human."

He snorted out a quiet sigh before slowly grabbing at the edge of the page, eyeing Colin for confirmation, who happily smiled in reply, the tauren's face lighting up at the next image, "M-Mulgore?"

Nodding, Colin answered, "Sure is. An Awaihilo allowed me passage, which was rather easy, considering how peaceful your people are. Granted, I wasn't allowed passage to your Bluff, but I managed a rather breathtaking view of it."

Tandkota sighed deeply as one of his massive fingers gently ran down the page, his memories having been piqued at the sight of home- one he hadn't seen for many years, "You speak Taur-ahe?"

"Very, very little," Colin admitted, chuckling, "I know quite of bit of Orcish and that sort of gets me by enough, though I speak fluent Zandali, so if I stumble across a Horde who can't speak that, I can usually get a troll to help out. Just knowing the language seems to catch enough of your Horde off-guard enough to know I'm not there for trouble."

Parvaen slowly lowered his head as he listened along, thankful that nobody seemed to notice as Ulric had spoken up, "So you're just exploring up here?"

"Pretty much," Colin nodded, reaching over to hold Kyra's hand, "Kyra's actually my mate, so I guess I have an insatiable desire to see everything with her while we can be together."

Kyra was about to scold him silently for revealing too much information, though, in keeping out his "condition", she figured he was being careful enough. She hadn't much wariness for this band of people, but a basic sense of caution, she figured, was rather necessary up here.

At Colin's words, Remnaar was the first to manage a shock, "Mates?! Now that is not something you hear every day!"

Laughing quietly, Colin pulled Kyra toward him, closing the smallest bit of distance between them, "She was actually my guide when I finally gained access to Teldrassil. She wanted to leave when I did, and a rather violent skirmish later…well, we became close. We've been through a lot."

Ulric nodded, still in astonishment, "Still, among mating between species, elves are far more unwilling in that sort of thing, at least when commitment is concerned."

"Indeed," Remnaar nodded, "Parv, even your blood- erm, Thalassians practice such-"

He paused as he turned to Parvaen, noticing his downtrodden position, as if wishing he could disappear. The draenei immediately yanked back his line of questioning with a clearing of his throat, immediately recalling Parvaen's history, returning to the others as he suddenly segued away.

"Eh, erm, even blood elves don't do that," Remnaar managed, nervously, "Not usually."

Camp became quiet after that, everybody having taking note of Parvaen's state of being, which only made him want to vanish even more. All that could be heard was the gently turning of paper pages as Tandkota absent-mindedly continued going through Colin's sketchbook. Ulric finally took the initiative, taking to his feet with a sigh.

"I think it's time to turn in," he concluded, "We'll have a long day tomorrow, if everything goes to plan."

Kyra looked up toward him, "Which is?"

Ulrich sighed once more, rubbing the back of his neck, "Well, passage through to the Blight has been restricted through Wintergarde due to some…unfavorable events. Tomorrow, I'll be taking Shadowmoon along and the two of us will try and figure out whether or not we'll all be able to pass through. Deegan Poore's condition might not help, after all."

"Of course," he went on, "We have contingency plans, just in case we can't pass on."

Colin shrugged, "It's no big deal either way. We're only trying to pass on through to Wyrmrest Temple; it's not as if we are needing to see the whole thing."

Suddenly, Ulric's ears perked up, "Wyrmrest?"

His immediately interest quickly placed a red flag within Colin's mind, as if Kyra's subtle jab of the knee wasn't enough, so he quickly made up, "Just a nice place to see, I figured. Might as well get some drawings of its interior, if I'm allowed."

Tandkota's attention immediately returned at Colin's mention of drawings, the tauren embarrassingly shutting the sketchbook and passing it along back to him, "S-Sorry."

Colin only smiled back to him, "Owachi."

Ulric rubbed his head, shaking his head as if to shed a thought from his mind, "Alright. You all will remain here until we return. Should the need arise, Remnaar, keep everybody safe, alright?"

"On my honor, sir," the draenei replied, immediately, offering a quick thumbs-up alongside his confident words.

Ulric nodded his approval as he bent down to scoop up some dirt to snuff out the flames of the campfire, the heated air meeting its last breath as he muttered aloud, "Goodnight."