This place again? Well, he could hardly fathom why exactly they would have wanted him but nonetheless, he'd obliged. After all, perhaps it would be a good time to visit his mother, what with spring having come to pass and all - had he any more siblings? Any more things he should know about? What catastrophic screw ups had she managed to perform in the two or so years since they had last met? He'd heard she'd taken a mate. He couldn't but wonder if this one caused as many issues as her previous one, or if he was as absent as Tesseract's own father, Nero, had been. Ah, a visit to Iromar would be most productive, and even if it had been... sped up, it was bound to happen anyway at some point. He had family there, Iromar had family in Glorall... it was just politics, really. It was just a shame they had brought him to the place while it was in such a dire state.

He'd crossed from the driest side of the border, navigating slowly and cautiously over the marshland. At times like this, he became thankful for his time spent in such a place, his paws still adept at maneuvering about the watery loam. He even recognised the tell tale signs of alligators, their long 'slide marks' reaching up and down the sunken banks. Did he have any intention on stopping for any particular reason? Hardly. They'd brought him, so they'd practically invited him in. Of course, he'd noticed the disappearance of Ishtar's scent, replaced with the male Andras' though that came as little surprise - word traveled fast, and the male had always been wading just below the waters of Alpha-hood. It likely suited him well, and if Rogue was anything to show for it, he probably felt quite content at the top. He hadn't much experience with Andras though, so it'd undoubtedly be an interesting encounter.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder why they demanded it of him. Seriously, why was it so important for them to have whisked him away from his home and damn mate? Caligula would surely not be impressed, and his children... he'd never hear the end of that one, would he? They wouldn't let him live it down that he'd had himself fooled by another. It didn't matter. He'd be home to them soon enough, back to the ocean where he didn't so much need to worry about where his paws went, or how fast he'd have to run once an alligator found his scent. Yes, it was safe to say that he'd hardly missed actually living in Iromar all that much.

First thing was first, though his priorities might have been a little skewed. Rather than head for the central region of the pack, or even to the woman who had come to him, he began to retrace steps long since washed away, back to where his mother's den had been all those years ago. He wondered what had become of it, if it had been drowned out or overtaken by another. It had been her pride and joy - where the Alpha, the Queen, lay! What a marvelous sight, she'd always think, with its mouth hollowed out perfectly and littered with a myriad of carcasses, little trinkets of her small victories and trinkets of the children she thought lost. Lost was not quite the word he would have used, for becoming lost was usually... intentional, no? He smiled darkly over that, chuckling quietly to himself as he paced along one of the exposed ridges that jutted from the murky water.

At least, he thought, he gave Andras the respect he so deserved for having at least brought some stirrings back into Iromar. He moved with his tail dropped into a neutral state, swinging loose around his hocks as he trotted along, nose down and ears swiveling as a radar. Now, where was it?

T E S S E R A C T
[ soul of caligula ]