Find your center.

What was his grounding element? What was it, that thing for which he fought? For which he lived? As an Aquila, he must know this thing. Without a purpose, without reason, a fighter is weak. It is his passion that gives him strength. So what was it that he was fighting for? Justice? Vengeance? Entitlement? No... much as he thought about such things, they were only mental attachments. He needed something physical, something tangible.

He supposed he should feel grounded to Spirane. Several of the others did, but somehow he just did not feel it. Spirane had nurtured him into a more confident spirit for sure, but as much as he loved the clean mountain air and was comfortable with the Spirane territory, his mind often wandered back to the seaside pack of Glorall. His time there had been brief, far less than he had spent in the mountains, but... he felt as much a part of the sea as he felt at home here in the mountains. After all, it was the sea that had brought him here in the first place. What he had before he washed up on the white sands of Glorall, he could not say, but neither could he truly miss it.

Still, the question: What was he fighting for? Alcide had told him not to dwell, that he would find his center in time. But still, the thought haunted him. Maybe he was being a bit irrational, pushing himself to find an answer like this, but it was important. Very important. With his plans for the future, he couldn't afford to be set back by something so... elemental.

Perhaps a venture beyond the borders, alone, might help him either find his answer or clear his mind. Really, either outcome would be very much appreciated. Noel had seen these crags from atop the mountain many times, but only today had he thought to explore them. To think on it, the rocky terrain made good use of his young, lean muscles and quickly growing body.

Noel was still stuck in that phase where he seemed to have all too much leg, but was just starting to grow into them with a deep, narrow chest and well-shaped shoulders and thighs. His pristine white coat, dusted just so on his topline and muzzle with a sooty charcoal, had already thinned in the spring and lay in a silky contour of his youthful frame. And those eyes... Those mismatched brilliant amber and split amber-blue eyes...

Confidence suited them.