[ Vanthra actually lay really far south. xD ]

He wasn't sure how much longer he should give this before giving up. It was uncomfortable the way he wanted to smack Paladin in the face, and some part of him suspected that maybe the urge was mutual — and if it was so, he was grateful they were both grown men who could hold back. Midas didn't deserve to see to relatively old men quarrel like boys anyway, even if the issues underlying the friction weren't the petty squabbles of colts. Besides, he liked to think he was above that level, but recently, he felt so out of sorts he wasn't even sure anymore. In an attempt to keep his characteristic cool, Mauja had been staring at the horizon, wondering if Paladin would chew him out over not having had a proper discussion, when Midas eager voice caught him by surprise. Black-rimmed ears flicked towards him, eyes slipping to his. For a moment his excitement betrayed his youth, and the Frostheart wondered if he had never been outside of Helovia. If he hadn't.. in some ways, he was missing out on a lot, but on the other hand, they had all crowded in here, hadn't they? For some reason, Helovia drew them in. For some reason, he'd chosen it to carve out his future.

But then those golden eyes slid to his face, and he words had Mauja's 'brows arching, a rather humorous expression — very expressive, too, considering how unreadable he usually was. Was it his color, the frost on his horn and hooves, the ice spikes, or his name, that made everyone assume he was from the north? It would've amused him to no end to be able to, truthfully, say I come from the southwest, but it would be to lie. He came from so far north that it felt like he'd been born on the top of the world, where the sun never rose in winter and never set in summer. So, unfortunately, they were correct when they assumed his origin to be somewhere in the north.

"My birthplace is naught by fire and ash by now, destroyed by selfish desire and war." Paladin's eyes flitted to his again, and this time he kept his 'brows down. Some part of him wondered if the older warlord was hinting at something, that maybe Mauja's crusades of the past would have the same result if he renewed them, but there was no reason to dredge it up here. No reason to show them that some thoughts still spun in his mind. "I will," he said, brief yet sincere, when he mentioned Psyche and Giselle. He even made a mental kind of note about it, because the cultures and customs of foreign lands interested him greatly, and some part of him thirsted for knowledge. Knowledge of all things; why the mountains rose into the sky, why some men were greedy and some honorable, what made them tick, why mares bore children and stallions not, what plants were dangerous, where everyone had come from.. how they had been raised, what values they had been given. Everything, even the things that seemed logical and natural. Everything had a reason.

Paladin spoke of the Tides, and again, Mauja kept his face blank and smooth; ears tipped his way, his gaze interested, but the small, self-satisfied smile hidden away from sight. The Tides had been before he met d'Artagnan, in a land he had personally never set hoof on, but he knew that many of the early Plague brethren had come there in its evening hour and tried to wrest those very Tides from under Paladin's hooves. They hadn't succeeded, because the shadows had descended upon them and driven them out, but still. He forced the cat-like feeling of glee aside. No reason to give Paladin another reason to scowl at him by associating with that act.

"I know nothing of this land called Vanthra," he responded to Paladin, before settling his gaze on Midas for a moment. "What lies beyond the mountains, you say? The icy ocean, and.. snow. And more snow. And even more snow. It's a cold and harsh place, but there are those who live there, some kingdoms and empires that stand strong in the face of the blizzards." He gave a slight shrug. "It is a vast place, and merciless. Winter does not leave room for weakness or mistakes." He was silent for a second, before sighing softly. "I don't really know what to tell you about it."

Mauja Frosthjärta