we built this city on broken glass

His own violet gaze continued to linger upon those volcanoes within the distance, those pointed peaks spearing out of the snow and ice to touch at the tips of the clouds above. They would act as decent landmarks, at least for awhile. An assurance he was upon the right path and heading within the right direction for as long as they remained upon his right side. He had followed their silhouettes once before in a near desperate bid to escape that frozen tundra. How ironic that he should seek them once more only to follow them home again. That sudden, soft query from his girlfriend readily saw his attention turn away from those rumbling peaks and back to Nadya herself. Frost so hardly a man to soften words in any sense. The stallion offering her the simple truth of those volcanoes before him if only because she surely deserved that very truth- even if she might be inclined to find that answer disagreeable.

"The last eruption was in 2010. We are due for another this year or at the beginning of next. They are all active but there will be warning signs before they erupt. They will not simply explode overnight. You have nothing to fear. We will have ample time, if we need, to plan an alternate path if any should erupt."

He offered those words with that same simple, easy confidence in which he did so very much. Frost allowing his shoulders to shrug ever so slightly- as if an explosion of molten lava was a decidedly commonplace event and hardly one they need concern themselves with. He had, after all, grown up in this very country. Those volcanoes would give ample warning before that lava begun to flow and yet even he was willing to admit an eruption would significantly....derail his plans for their return. It would be better for all concerned were they to remain quiet for a few weeks yet. Frost readily allowed that shift to overcome his form then. His slender human figure replaced with that near towering war horse. That training he had encouraged Nadya to undertake so readily coming in handy in that moment. Her movements were far more assured, her skills more then merely passable and indeed that very nervousness that had clung to her figure in the presence off his equine form had all but dissipated. Fortunate perhaps, given the sheer number of horses she would find herself surrounded by within the next few days. Any hints of nervousness sure to have given her away. Those softly uttered icelandic words prompted his ears to prick forward, his head lowered readily to her own in that moment of quiet affection between the pair. That Nadya had made the effort to learn even that much was....endearing. A warmth of sorts finding his very chest at that notion as he offered that simple, meaningful praise for those efforts. He had so never anticipated he might take on this journey with any other and yet he could so hardly deny the satisfaction he took in her presence all the same. That very tenacity within the woman that had so drawn him to her in the beginning surely that very thing that so inspired her determination to accompany him here and now. How well suited they were to one another. How much he enjoyed her determined personality even if he so often hardly knew the words to explain it. Words had never truly been his forte, after all and yet he was assured nadya knew off his affection for her, even if he did not nearly utter those words as often as he should.

It was only once the woman had settled herself within that saddle that Frost stepped from the road and into that national park that would take up the most of their journey. Those flat, open, frosted plains stretching out before them in near every direction. His hooves thudding dully upon the dry earth. Nadya was so hardly the rider Alexander was. The Hunter by far the most exceptional skilled being whom had ever sat astride him and yet- Nadya had come a distinctly long way in those weeks they had practised. She was no longer unbalanced, anxious, tense and out of rhythm with his own stride. His girlfriend having replaced near each of those flaws with balance, confidence, ease and rhythm. She no longer slipped and scrambled at the trot or fell heavily against his back at the canter. He would, perhaps, not trust her to stay seated at a breakneck gallop across uneven ground or leaping over rivers and yet, that she could ride well enough to stay on for the most part was all that matter. Even if her muscles would ache beyond all recognition come tomorrow morning.

His affinity for warmth so readily embraced them both, Frost slipping into that steady, loping trot he was wholly capable of sustaining for hours on end. That very training done with Alexander having improved his own fitness significantly so. That trot hardly an effort in any sense- at least on fresh legs. It was some hours before that landscape at last began to change, the earth becoming more hilly and mountainous, the air becoming colder. Frost turning to follow that river with that soft insistence he had something Nadya might like to see. He followed that river downward then and into a valley of sorts, his own pace slowed to a thumping walk as the crashing of that water became clear. The pair rounding that corner to step onto that pebbled, sandy bank and before those towering, tumbling falls that cast rainbows into the air as they fell. That greenery that surrounded them all the more intense. Frost paused with barely the tips off his hooves resting in that stream, those near teasing words on his lips rewarded with the roll of Nadya's eyes before she insisted those falls truly were beautiful. Iceland, he was sure, by far the most exquisite land on earth even if his own thoughts were biased. That sudden query on whether or not it was the only waterfall in the park however readily prompted that soft chuckle. Those words pressed to her mind then as he turned to follow that stream back out of the small valley and onto those hilly plains once more.

"There are more than one hundred in this park and more then ten thousand in Iceland as a whole. I have not seen even half of them myself."

Perhaps, had he the time of immortality as Alexander did he might well have made it a goal of sorts to see but each one and yet- Frost was so hardly a being given to such idle and frivolous dreams. The stallion practical, if nothing else. Yet, his thoughts had so already considered another place for Nadya to see along their way. One they might well reach by nightfall if they kept up this pace, Frost breaking into that loping trot once more. His ears turned back upon his head to listen to Nadya as she spoke again. His girlfriend so rarely inquiring after his past in any sense, Frost, by the same token, so rarely offering any information upon it and yet.....he was hardly opposed to those questions in any true sense. Nadya one of the few beings he was perhaps willing to share that past with. His girlfriend, so far, having proven a decidedly good....listener, on those rare occasions the stallion chose to offer but even the faintest mention of the life he had once led.

"I was sixteen or seventeen. I had been drafted into a regiment sent to Russia after having had something of a...disagreement with my last rider, Xerxes. I had lost my eye about two weeks earlier. We were searching for the cause behind disappearances in a town there, vampires or Were's of some kind were suspected. We were supposed to ride through a canyon. I knew it was an ambush- they wouldn't listen. They thought I was simply acting out again. I refused to walk through it, they tried to force me, I threw my ride and took off. They caught me again later. I was...angry, my eye hurt, I was frustrated and I lashed out at them. I hated people being on my right side- I couldn't see them, I hated the idea the damn fools would lead me to my death because rather then listen to a horse they followed orders so blindly. I didn't want them touching me anymore I.....became, as they say, 'unmanageable'. The rest of my regiment was all but obliterated in that ambush that day."

Frost paused but briefly, his features frowning at that memory before his head simply shook, those words continued then.

"I found out that they planned to shoot me within the next few days- so I planned my own escape."

The stallion fell easily silent once more, that story offered as simply as if he were merely inquiring after the weather rather than speaking of the attempts of an organization to murder him for his non-compliance. Frost having become all but.....despondent to that story. That utter lack of emotion perhaps alarming and yet emotion had hardly helped in in any sense, not then and surely not now as he offered that tale. The stallion paused to allow Nadya that chance to ask any further question before he began to climb that first hill, his head lowered slightly to make that work all the easier. Frost managing that slope with veritable ease before he begun to head down the other side, his head flicked briefly toward another mountain in the distance.

"We will stop there tonight, when we reach it. There is a black sand beach there, I think you will enjoy it. Are you holding on?"

He waited only so long as it took Nadya to insist she was. Frost suddenly increasing that pace to a sweeping canter as soon as he reached that flat once more. That speed readily seeing his mane blow backwards with each stride. That cold air feeling all the colder and yet his frame readily embraced that run, his legs keen to stretch even as he kept both ears turned back towards his girlfriend to assure she was still there. Frost slowing back to that trot only once that very desire to run was all but satisfied. The pair continuing onward for several more hours before the sun so began to seat and they reached that very beach the stallion had mentioned, that ebony dark sand a truly unusual sight, that towering mountain beside them casting its reflection across the water in a sight near picturesque.

"Stretch your legs for a bit when you climb down before you try to walk. Do you want to do the fire or the tent? If we are lucky, when it gets dark, we might get a light show."

FrosT