Falling Softly, Drifting Slowly
Leaves crunched ever softly as the wolf pack loped steadily through the forest. It seems as if they were in slow motion as they floated above the floor. The alpha female skidded to a halt at the edge of the promontory and turned to face her pack. Her mate was one of the last wolves to arrive, bolsteringthe eldest she-wolf, Sita. He nudged her over to Griffon, he could watch her now. Griffon's blasé attitude wasn't the best for the job, but the young male had to learn to appreciate elders as a part of the pack. The alpha, Theron, strode to sit beside his mate on the edge. He nodded at his pack in approval, this was the pack he'd mustered in all of a year or more.
They sat there and watched the moon as it rose gradually. They didn't howl, didn't speak. It was a frivolous meeting they held once a month, but it didn't mean anything. It was just there to be there. It was everyone in the pack's time to think. It remained quiet until the moon reached its full height, when the alpha female, Kaisha, began the call. She let out one lone, solitary howl which was met by a chorus from the pack. Only Theron sustained his staid conduct. He waited until the call was done and headed back to the forest, signaling for the others to follow. The pups barked softly to each other, for some, it was their first time to the ledge. One even carried a porous rock she found atop the headland.
Griffon growled as, though prone to, Sita fell to the ground. Kaisha turned back and her stern gaze seemed to say, "I have no qualm with you, but I will if you don't learn your manners." Griffon was, after all, her eldest pup. She knew that soon Theron would oust him from the pack when he became a threat to power. She wasn't obsessing over it, it was something she'd always known would come. His sisters would stay, and they'd be enough. One day Griffon would have his own pack, it was truly a comforting thought. There would be noresidue in her heart to make her long for him.
They came upon the den, it didn't seem like much, but it was enough to sustainthe life of the pack. She watched as Theron and the others went back to their nests and soon she went to hers, drifting slowly to sleep.