Ancestry.

Stepping into his, no, his clan's ancestral homeland, he tried to recall where Shimogakure was, but the memory was hazy. He knew it was farther south, but that could be put on hold for a small while. He had come to the Highlands first not just because they were the closest to Kumo, but because he needed to find the Cavern again. Even though it likely wasn't the same cavern as before, he knew that he had found it once before on his was to Kumo, and as he had thought back on it it gave off a similar feeling as the Cathedral did.

Unpacking a small sandwich from his pack, he wondered just how much effort it would take to find both locations, as well as a good place to set up the memorial.

Maybe he should find someone else to take with him. If the Ashitaka here was any similar in personality to the Ashitaka he had once fought, if the rumors from both this and that time were true, he might appreciate it. Maybe. Hopefully. Knowing that people's ages were off by eight years meant it was possible, and maybe he could help prevent the war they had fought in from ever happening. That was something he had prevented by finding the scrolls already and doing what he could to integrate them into the clan's teachings, but it was slow going. Sure people had been aged differently, the techniques to decipher those scrolls weren't made yet. He had brought a copy along to work on, but he hadn't had time to try and rework them from what he already knew.

Finishing the sandwich, he'd begin his exploration.

[Mortimer is scouting Frost for Hidden Villages, 1 irl week from S int & B pers; 6/29 4:40 pm CST]

He should have packed better.

Not that he wasn't able to handle the weather, no even without chakra regulating his internal body temperature the Kurama were built for the cold. But having to hunt his own game for rations was something he had forgotten was a lot harder then he remembered. Having been searching for any sign of major village life as well as the cave, he had come up short today, and was sitting in front of a makeshift campfire, his tent propped up nearby. Id was staying silent as well, leaving him with only his own thoughts once again.

sigh "I wonder what they'd think of me now, hanging onto a thread of hope like this."

Something had happened while he was on a trip to Ryuko's homeland those many years ago, having returned to find Kumogakure in shambles. The other villages were the same, and as the head of the Kurama his job was to get them to safety, so he brought them to her homeland as well. By that point the Epsilon war was a joke to all of them, the scattered clans of the mind united again. He had wished it was a genjutsu, but he had instinctively known that it wasn't at the time.

If only he had been there. If only he hadn't left her and her child. He felt like he failed them as the Seraph of the Sword. But that was a future that happened, things were different now. Whatever catastrophe that had happened during his sojourn likely wouldn't happen now, or so he hoped. But he had time if it was going to happen again, and he would use that time to prepare. To relax. To repent.

He didn't sleep that night. Sleep was getting harder to find as of late. He just sat there, eyes closed as he wondered what kind of animal would try to join him. None did.

In the morning he would continue the search. He was getting close to finding the cave, he knew it.

{Mort continues searching}

It had been a good search, and it had given him time to flesh out his plans. Mort had managed to locate the cave, it's howling maw the same as when he had seen it last time. He couldn't bring himself to go into the cave again though, the memories of it's power enough that he knew he'd have to be stronger to brave it again. It would be no place to remember his companions.

It was also during the search that he came across a villager from Shimogakure, and after using the mind reading technique knew of it's location. That made his life a bit easier, and he figured he might as well go and take a look before he went to visit the Land of Fire. A last hurrah before he had to deal with people that would probably try and kill him.

The Land of Fire's Konohagakure. He had never actually visited the place before. After he came back and had found the land in tatters, the thought of risking going to another major village was...unappealing to say the least. Trying to find the remaining Kurama was hard enough, but...no. That was in the past.

The fact his thoughts kept looping back to the past was getting annoying. He understood it was because it had such an impact, but having it come back over and over and over again was a pain. Hopefully finding Konohagakure would help push those thoughts to the wayside, but first he had to go visit a smaller hidden village.

{Mortimer has finished searching Frost for hidden villages}
[Exit to Frost's Shimogakure, No travel time.]