Almost to Northfall. Within a day's time, he'll be howling at the borders. He's not entirely sure that he mourns Ragnar, but keeping up appearances is important. And frankly, even if he doesn't have a lot of respect for someone who would pawn off their children, he supposes making a fuss at a funeral isn't something Dimitri should do.

He did, after all, tell Wardruna he wasn't going to marry her. Right? Maybe not in the right words? He doesn't remember.

He comes to a stop near the edge of a shallow creek. It's frozen over, so he can't exactly get a drink. He licks up the snow instead, feeling the chill deep in his lungs. He doesn't plan on entering the tournament (that, he's going to leave to Fleetwood). But he will watch, and hopefully he'll see Vitus while he's there. Maybe... Well, he's got a feeling.

Someone's here.

A brief step, a glance around the tree, and...

"You're real."

He remembers her, from one of his freak-outs.

That must be a weird way to greet someone.

It was almost time for the tournament, wolves were slowly trickling in bit by bit, leaving Fiadh out and about after filling up a food cache to see if she can start filling another if the tiger didn't get to it. The herds would be fine, given how small Northfall is now, but still she preferred to hunt further out. Why spook the food at home when you can just drag something back? She's strong enough for it.

It's not like Ragnar had ever given her a proper rank anyway, just letting her do whatever the pack needed at the time, so...she filled her time. Hunting, patrolling, going out for weeks at a time sometimes, exploring the world, living the true Viking way.

Meeting new friends, one of which she caught the scent of on the wind, sending her tail wagging in excitement as she moved to try and surprise him.

He poked his head around a tree as she got close, horrible luck really, but before she could speak he did. Briefly she looked confused before she barked out a laugh 'course 'm real, y'think i'm one'a yer spirits or somethin'? Fiadh bounded up to him then, almost like she was trying to tackle him, before slowing down last second to lightly bump against his side if he didn't move out of the way. Why is it I never find you when i'm lookin' for ya?

Her voice was cheerful, if rather rough from lack of use lately.

She might have only meant to be light, but she's large and he's not. Of course, his muscles see use; he hunts for himself, after all. But her brief touch is enough to send him stumbling. And yet he doesn't mind. There's affection in the gesture that he's surprised to see. People remember him. She remembers him. In this moment, he feels viscerally real. Seen, even. It's a strange feeling.

It is always a stark reminder, that he is a body.

"I thought I might have hallucinated you," he admits lamely. "I feel like I only see you under ill omens." His ears flick backwards. "This might be the first time you talk to me without the barrier. The whole. The demon, you know."

Ah yes, 'the demon', vaguely she remembers.

Fiadh's tail continues wagging, circling the slimmer wolf now, mostly because she's never been one for sitting still, flattening the snow around the pair of them. Well, I'd say we haven't broken that streak yet, with everyone in Northfall bein' an orphan now and what not Fiadh snorted, she may as well be one herself too, though her dam and sire were more than likely alive back....wherever their old home was. But hey! Ya beat the demons back at long last? What did ya do 'bout that? That was the polite thing to do, right? Ask?

She herself wouldn't call it a barrier though, really, but if he wants to call it that then sure. Maybe he actually would be different, but she'll judge that....at some point. Compare notes with herself, down the line.

Dimitri stands, yawning slightly to show he's not particularly upset at her knocking him down. "Really? Everyone? That's something." He leans back on his haunches, content to be the still one. If she doesn't expect his gaze to follow her constant circling, he'd be fine with that. "But yeah. My sister exorcised me." He pauses. "It worked for a while, but. I've accepted I'm just a host at this point. Making the best of it and all."

It's nice, though, being able to talk to her. Maybe because she's only known the worst of him, he feels like nothing he does really matters around her. It's fine. If she doesn't hate him for the demons, what sorts of things he's said to her through the haze of possession... Nothing could be worse than that, surely?

"It's not so bad. I'm keeping it in check these days. Mostly I remember the last few months."

Dimitri sat back up, and as he did so Fiadh had a moment of regret, she could have flopped right onto them right then but missed the opportunity. So she instead moved to sit near, tail thumping, scooting closer as the twink spoke, slowly closer until her tail was thumping up against his. Fiadh absolutely didn't understand a thing about demons, or exorcism, but this was also probably the most someone's talked to her since before the fires.

I mean hey, that's all ya can do Making the most out of things had been her specialty after all. So that mean I get to hang out with the 'new' Dimitri? She questioned. Been a damn long while, went lookin' for ya 'round the time of the fires an' what not but...haven't really had much time since

She's close, and he doesn't mind. "You absolutely can hang out with the 'new' me. Maybe the real me? Or the fake me? I don't ask anymore." He shifts his shoulder a bit. She wants to come close, and he'll lean into it, turning his body so his face isn't far from hers.

"Fiadh. A name I thought I made up." The visions of hell, the trips on so many drugs... "We haven't seen each other since the fires, no. The spirits haven't been as forceful lately." His head will never be empty, but he can at least keep them under control with the right self medication. "How have you been, though?"

Still you either way she takes the leaning towards her as acceptance, pressing her own head closer, leaning lazily into Dimitri. Man, she missed piling up on top of others, she wasn't a girl meant for the solitary life. Fiadh snorted lightly, when he says her name and claims he thought he made it up. They asked her how she was doing, and she was....quiet for a moment.

's fine Liar. Been havin' to tell m'self not to knock Arvid on his ass an' take the throne, and lemme tell you it's getting hard Her tone was light, joking, the anger was always boiling under the surface but that wasn't Dimitri's fault, she didn't want to start ranting...right now at least. Been waiting for one of Ragnar's older brood to come kick the boy down a few pegs.

And yet.

Nothing said about herself, because man it was just sad.

"Arvid? Ragnar's new son, I take it?" He didn't know Ragnar had younger kids, but guess that's the way things go. He pauses. "Did Ragnar marry off all his older daughters? Is that why they're not ruling the pack?" His nose wrinkles. "I do not like the way he treats women." If that's meant to be how a man acts, how a man treats women, then he's not one! Every time he's told how men should be and how men should act, he crawls further away from the definition.

Yeah Fiadh snorted then, the hot puff of air that told of her frustration with the whole situation. All his older kids abandoned Northfall last year 'cuz Freya left instead of putting that other lady back in her place, 'cept Levi and War. Shoulda been one of them in charge, but neither of them fought the boy for it an' then Levi went and got caught in an avalanche

She's been staying out of loyalty to Ragnar, but how far would that take her?

Whuddya mean though, how he treats women? 'cuz of the whole fucking more than one thing? she had vague knowledge of the whole betrothed thing, but fuck if she knew what it meant. They didn't have marriages in her birth pack, after all, as far as she was aware people picked mates for their strength or for flings.