Alpha

She watched from afar as the stinging-tail hunter-kin carried Cunning away over the water until they were gone from sight. Cunning would never forget the bad he had done, and his kin, the stinging-tail hunter-kin, got to keep him.

She rejoined all the surviving kin as they spun with flight-joy over the smoke and smoldering ruins of broken tree-dens. The kin's life-fires burned with freedom and the open sky and their being out of traps! A pawful of the males and a females brushed wingtips with each other, probably pairs reunited.

Curious, she watched the ruins of the nest below. Looking with life-fire sight confirmed what she suspected: there were more two-legs still alive, probably the females and young.

Why not kill them too?

There was no reason to fight them. The two-legs were no threat anymore, but they might have a few fighters still with them. Fighting to kill every last two-leg would certainly kill more of the kin for no good reason. Further, the fire-anger that had burned in the kin was gone. They were all tired of the flaming, killing, and fighting.

Three had died. One fire-scale, one spine-tail, and one of the rock-bellies were gone. The fire-scale and the spine-tail had died in the attack on the two-leg nest. The rock-belly had fallen into the water around the water-walkers and had not been able to swim, which was a chilling but also appropriate way to end. They were not the smartest of kin, and rocks would sink in water. At least the two-legs could not find its body and tear it apart for scales, bones, meat, or anything.

The water was probably where the dead should go.

'Help carry the dead kin to water!'

Two of the fire-scales and two spine-tails dove with her and helped pick up the dead kin of their own kind. It took some work for them, using teeth and claws, but they carried the two dead kin out over the water and dropped them. The four kin flew back to the rest of the pack while she circled, watching until the dead kin were gone from sight.

Mourning the dead would not help or change anything. They had died doing what they wanted to do: fighting and killing the two-legs.

Satisfied, she raced back to the pack of kin, all of whom roared with joy at her.

'Follow! Resting! Sleeping!'

They spun to follow her flight out over the trees until she found what she was looking for: the small valley with a pond in it.

She dove and landed in the valley, and all the other kin followed her down in a chorus of roars, calls, and nips until everyone was safely on the ground. She roared and flared her wings to get the attention of all kin while also touching their life-fires. They were all relieved, weary, and at peace now.

She started in surprise when all the kin bent their wings toward her and purred or hummed in acknowledgment of her as their Alpha! It did not matter that she was one of the smaller kin here. Size alone was not a measure of ability to be an Alpha!

She was now their flight-leader. This would be different from her brief time leading the She-Far-Fliers in Ice-Water-Pack. These kin were not light wings, but that might them easier to lead, in some ways.

'My kin, how many of us have hurts?'

Four of the kin stepped forward, having worse hurts which were mostly large cuts dripping life-water or visible two-leg stick-claws in their hides. None of those were life-threats.

'Lick hurts! We are a pack!'

'We pack!' they all thought back.

Without any concern for kinds, they began licking hurts, biting out the small stick-claws in their scales and hides, or nuzzling each other. One of the spine-tails even brought up a fish and dropped it for the fire-scale fledgling to eat.

This was very strange and not what she expected would happen. Oldest-Knower had explained that different kinds of kin did not mix or share ranges. But this consideration for each other was probably a strange exception to the life-rule. These kin, having all been trapped by two-legs had learned that, though they were different kin-kinds, they were still all kin. They all suffered from the same monsters, and that suffering made them the same group.

Kin against two-legs. Having enemies and monsters to fight together against had pushed them together and reminded them of the truth that they were kin! Oldest-Knower's life-lesson was still true, just more subtle than she had initially thought.

One of the male fire-scales crept before her and bent his head in respect, 'Alpha you hurt yes now help hurt?'

The male glanced at her back, so she did too. She held in the whine at the sight of her back missing one of the spines and all the dried life-water on her. Looking at the hurt also made it hurt slightly more, which was twisting. Maybe not knowing about or thinking about a hurt would help it hurt less. How much of pain was only in thinking and awareness?

The hurt was frustratingly in a place where she could not lick it herself.

'Please help. Lick the hurt,' she purred.

The fire-scale rumbled and licked her back, making the hurt sting at first before feeling soothed. What little pain there had been was quickly fading.

The fire-scale hopped back from her, the hurt-licking finished.

'Thanks for helping, fire-scale.'

'Helping Alpha obey help give.'

She roared to get the attention of all in the pack after the fire-scale retreated.

'Pack! We are safe here. Rest!'

'Now what?' 'Do what?' 'We now?' 'Lost up?' 'Call memory?' 'Sleep..."

Their thought-voices were a confusing mess.

'Peace pack! Peace. We rest, drink water, rest, sleep! Fly next waking-cycle.'

Several kin yawned, showing that they were very sleepy. Fighting, flaming, and killing should be followed by a long sleep.

Kin walked to the pond to start drinking water. Others curled up where they lay or leaned against other kin, including their mate if they had one.

Twistingly, a couple of the females hissed loudly or roared suddenly, facing males of their own kinds. Why were they doing that? Everyone had been peaceful until right now.

She bounded between them and flared her wings. It was time to resolve her first dispute as the Alpha.

'What this? Why roaring?'

They settled down, though the males hung their heads and rumbled weakly.

She glared at the two males, a fire-scale and a spine-tail, 'Why roaring? Explain!'

The fire-scale rumbled without looking up, 'Obey Alpha mating command obey do.'

She stifled the gasp and growl. The two male kin had apparently mated the females without them wanting to do that. That was wrong and rotted of the males, but the males were not truly free either. They were probably thought-thralls, wanting to obey the Alpha two-leg that had corrupted them. It was even possible they had the sting-rot from the stinging-tail hunter-kin used to make them obey the two-legs.

On the other paw, they might not have been thralls; they could have mated the females just for pleasure when they thought they could get away with it.

She could search the males' memories to try to know why they had done what they did. But that might mean feeling in her own life-fire what they did. Further, the past did not matter anymore. The male kin were free of the thought-rot, in a new pack, and answered to her as their Alpha.

She touched life-fires with all four of the kin, both males and both females, 'The past wrong-mating was bad. The males were pushed by bad two-legs! No more!'

She paused and growled, facing the males, 'If you do more wrong, you will be packless and not us! No threat to females! Understand?'

The males whined and shoved the dirt with their heads, 'Understand...' 'Obey Alpha...'

She spun on the females and purred to reassure them, 'They hear and obey. No hurting now. We are a pack.'

The females grumbled and hissed, 'Hear wonder unsure.' 'Maybe safe maybe not what?'

'Safe yes. They will not hurt you.'

The females were apparently satisfied by her reassurance and wandered away to be on their own. The males went their own way too.

She breathed a deep sigh of relief, strolled over to the water, and drank her fill while keeping a watch on everyone else in the pack. The angry females were much calmer, not even glancing toward the males that had wronged them long ago.

Finished drinking, she bounded over to a pile of rocks near the only narrow entrance to the valley. The rocks looked like a good, warm place to rest in gathered sky-light warmth in the rocks.

Splayed out on the rock and looking out over her weary pack, she let out the sigh and finally relaxed. It was over. The kin were free and would be free of two-legs forever.

The time for action was over, leaving more thought and considering of how the flight could have been different. There was no true need to attack the two-legs in the nest itself. The kin could have just killed the two-legs on their backs, flown up to the cave, rescued the females somehow, and then flown away. However, the kin had needed to strike and kill and burn. They had demanded revenge for all the suffering they had endured. The attack was justified.

Kin would be kin, after all, and they should not be anything less.

But there was an obvious mistake she had made, now that she had the time to think about it.

The bigger two-leg Alpha had wanted her to fly, carrying him. She had refused to obey, and that disobedience was what sparked him to cut off the spine as punishment. Was there a mistake in what she had done?

Going along with what he wanted would have resulted in a similar result but without as much pain. She could have gone along with it: carried him and then kicked him off or had another kin do that. Refusal to compromise with what she thought was right and good was why she suffered. But would going along with something that was wrong not foul her own life-fire too? Yes, it would, but that was probably necessary.

Oldest-Knower said something about living in the world that is instead of the one she wished was. Maybe part of being an Alpha or just being a strong, confident kin was to know that good and bad, right and wrong did not truly have lines. Anything could be good and justified if the need was great enough. Shedding pride and ideas of her own self-importance would have helped even if going along with the action would foul her life-fire. Someone had to do that for the greater good of kin.

Maybe all Alphas needed to do things they did not want to do or agree with. Small wrongs could actually make a bigger good.

Her eyes began feeling very heavy, so she glanced around one more time to check on her pack. Everyone was resting, curled up under the sky-light. Satisfied, she covered her head with her tailfins and fell swiftly asleep into a rest without any sleep-visions.

She woke, stretched, and yawned up at the dark-sky-rock. Stretching slightly annoyed her back, but not that much. Peaceful and calm, everyone else was resting in the valley as it was filled with a constant hum and purr. A couple of the kin were drinking from the pool so she trotted over to them and joined them. They purred softly in greeting without needing any thought-voice.

She drank her water and then silently trotted back to the warmed rocks she had fallen asleep on. Everything was still peaceful as most of the kin slept.

Perched on her rocks, she grumbled about a problem she had avoided thinking about until then: what was she to do with her pack now?

This island, from what she remembered of it, did not have much hunting. Even the two-legs were not very good hunting, not having very big bodies or much meat on them. Further, other two-legs would probably come here on their water-walkers. No, this island was not safe to stay on for long. Where could the kin go?

The water-path she had swam though to leave the underground ranges was not a way these kin could use. They were not water-kin or kin that could swim like she could. There would be no way to get the kin to the underground ranges where they would always be safe from...

From...

Breath departed as the terrible memory flew back into her thoughts. That event which had sparked her need to fly to the above in the first place had not mattered much, so she had not thought about it in a long time.

Two-legs were already in the underground ranges! Two-legs were using dark wings to get around!

It had to be no different from how the dead thrall-making two-legs had been breaking kin's life-fires. They had tricked the kin into thinking of each two-leg like an Alpha for each kin.

Great lights... no no no no... bad bad bad!

There were no other kin in all these above-ground ranges so far. Were the only other kin all in the underground ranges? Had they fled there to escape the monsters that were everywhere above?

And now below?

Chilled to the liver, she hopped down from the rocks and began pacing. But she had enough control to not whine, growl, or do anything that would disturb the other kin. They needed sleep after all that had happened to them.

She closed her eyes and focused only on her breathing. Panic would not help at all. What was the goal for now?

For now, she was responsible for her pack. Their safety was what mattered. They could not be safe in this above, so they had to get to the below despite the certain danger spreading even there. That was another problem for later.

How to find a way below? The great-tusk only knew of the water-path. But there must be another way in. How else could the two-legs have gotten in? They could not have swam or flown, so there must be a cave somewhere. At least, they could not have flown unless they already had thralled kin in the above.

None of her memories of thought-talking in sleep-visions with her sire-father helped at all. He had never mentioned an above or caves that went up and down.

'Fire-scale, do you know the world below waters?'

'Alpha, confusion below water what?' the fire-scale thought.

'Thanking. You should rest more.'

She softly huffed and continued to the next kin, all without moving from her rocks. Ten of the kin had responded so far with only confusion, so she moved on to the next awake kin. This plan of asking her packmates if they knew how to get to the world below was not working well so far. Still, some of them were still asleep or had not yet been asked.

'Spine-tail, do you know the world below waters?'

'Alpha, confusion wanting call not follow trapped.'

That made no sense. Something about a call to follow and being trapped?

'Explain please. What call?'

'Hear call wanting kin fly see safe place down not fly trapped then.'

She shot upright and faced the resting spine-tail. This kin might know something useful.

'What safe place?'

'See vision island cave down down down light-rocks waters safe place. Hear whisper wind want fly safe place.'

She touched life-fires even closer with the spine-tail, seeing its memories and forming a vision in her own waking-thoughts.

A whisper on the wind, and a summons before the end.

A needing pull, a call, a wish to fly to safety. A place far in the colder ranges, many islands all around, away from the largest lands, an island with no two-legs, a mountain, and a wide, gaping cave-mouth that went down.

She blinked and shook her head as the waking-vision broke. The answer was in there, in the spine-tail's and probably many other kin's life-fires and memories, all along. The kin had heard a call to return to hiding below, but the trapped kin could not obey the call or fly to safety. What was strong enough to call to kin from so far away?

One possible answer numbed her liver and almost made her whine in loss.

Had her sire-father known the danger of two-legs and, being the Highest-Alpha of all ranges, called to all kin everywhere? Had that burned away much of his life-will-power and left him weak?

Her sire-father must have somehow known about this danger in the above. If so, then it was good or right that she could finish what he started by bringing back these last remaining kin from the above.

The flight was as clear as if she had already flown it. A flight of a pawful of dark-light cycles, a couple islands to rest on, and then the island with the cave that went down into what should have been safety.

Satisfied, she hopped back up on her rocks and curled up there. There was no going back to sleep after how far her thoughts had flown, so instead she just stared at the sky and the small lights up here. What were the small lights?

Those little lights, like the sky-breath that flew with different colors, filled the liver with peace and awe, now that she could indulge herself. What the little lights were did not truly matter, but she would not see them again after she led the pack back below. Some parts of this above-world were good, but they were only the places without the fouling two-legs.

She woke up on the same rocks where she had gone to sleep. She stretched, winced at the faint pain, and counted all the packmates, just to be sure everyone was here. They needed to be protected and led by someone who knew what they were doing.

She was not sure whether she could do that well. This was the first time she truly led kin like this. Leading light wings was very different since they could be trusted to understand more easily. These kin, while true kin in their livers, were different.

'Wake pack! We fly soon!'

The kin gradually woke up, stretching their wings and yawning.

'Fly?' 'Fly where?' 'Flying!' 'Sleeping?' 'Flying!'

'Fly to a safe place under the waters! I lead!'

'Hungry!' 'Fish!' 'Food!' 'Hunting!'

If they wanted to hunt, fine. The pack could hunt fish off the island and on the flight. It was unlikely that the two-legs which some of the kin ate in the fighting were enough of a meal. Further, hunting the rest of the two-legs would be unnecessarily dangerous.

'Follow!'

She leaped out of the valley, hovered, and waited for her pack to follow. Once they were all aloft, she turned for the edge of the island where there were small rocks that grew up out of the water. Those could be good to rest on while hunting for fish.

Three dark-light cycles of flying and resting on small islands had passed in peace. She did not see any other two-leg nests, and she would have had her pack avoid them if she did see any. Even better, there were none of the water-walkers on these waters.

Maybe two-legs did not live in these ranges.

She glanced over her tail to watch her pack in flight. Her pack, after three of the cycles together, had formed smaller groups of each kin kind. They preferred flying with each other, which was understandable of them. Even the males and females that had bad pasts were not being snappy at each other.

Even with these differences, all flew together, following her lead. They trusted her, and she trusted in the memories seen from the other kin.

Her sire-father, for no other kin could have called to all kin everywhere in all ranges, must have thought-spoken to all kin to bring them back to safety. There were, from those memories, several paths that went down into the underground ranges. One path was a large hole filled with waterfalls on a misty island almost sunk under the water itself. Another path was a big underwater cave-path, maybe the one she had swam through. The one she was leading her flight to was a big cave on an island.

How seeing a memory gave her the knowing of where the island was confusing at first. Was there another explanation beyond only seeing a memory? It felt very much like she already know this place. Maybe getting to the island would help her understand how she knew it already.

The pack was safely resting on the shore of a new island with a mountain in the middle. This island had no trees and very little green on it, but she did not care about that. There was something else she needed to inspect more closely.

Her kin were resting on the sand, swimming in the water, or hunting fish. They all knew to stay close and watch for each other, even though there were no signs of two-legs. She could leave her pack alone for a few wingbeats to go explore the far side of the island.

She flew around the mountain and came across what looked like a very large valley with a water-hole in the middle. The water-hole looked very deep and might touch the deeper waters around or under the island. The valley went out and became a very rocky and sandy shore that stretched along the island. Large rocks grew up from the water offshore.

And upon the rocks just offshore were the visible white bones of a great-tusk.

The growl escaped when she saw what was on the shore. Nothing was moving, so it was safe to investigate up close. She touched down on the sands, her fire ready on the off-paw chance that two-legs were here. Walking among these things made it feel like bugs were crawling all over her after long entrapment.

Water-walkers were destroyed on rocks and on shore. There were more kin-bones on the ground. Their bodies were nothing but bones and a few dull scales.

Two-legs had come to this island once, and there had been a very big fight. Many kin had died long ago.

She turned around and stared at the bones of the great-tusk as horror and chill began growing in her liver. How had the great-tusk died? Had two-legs killed a great-tusk? Was that even possible?

There was nothing else to see here, so she flew away to return to her pack.

It was the first time she had truly seen many kin bones up close other than one other place anyway. These bones of the past were very much like the bones which Ice-Water-Pack kept for its pack-ceremony of remembering the dead. That Alpha had a problem with living too much in the past, not wanting to let his dead daughter be dead in his own memory.

Or maybe he did not truly have a problem. His wanting to remember his daughter and be angry about what happened would help him if there were still an enemy to fight. Remembering the bad and the wrongs of the past was a way to find the strength to act against those wrongs.

Nothing would change if everyone forgot or forgave the wrongs of the past.

She calmed herself and took flight while considering the inevitable future.

Getting her pack back to the underground ranges was the first priority. After that probably came finding the two-legs that had gotten into the hidden-ranges. There might be an entire pack of the two-legs in the below-ranges. There was also the uncertain situation of the dark wings, which could easily be thought-thralls.

The dark wings were likely victims in all this, not even knowing that they were oppressed and being used. They might even fight back against her and try to stop her from helping them. It was unlikely she could do anything completely on her own. Maybe there would be other light wing packs that had not yet been touched by the two-legs, and which could be allies.

While her current mixed-pack could possibly help, using them as fighters did not feel best for them. At the very least, the dams and fledglings needed to be free to go on their own.

The island far ahead stirred memory. Flashes of sleep-visions. Soaring above the island, perching on the mountain-peak, watching and protecting as had been done for very long.

Her sire-father had lived here or at least had known this island very well.

Without any doubt, this was the place.

She roared to her pack, and they roared back, though wearily. They were all tired of the flying after six dark-light cycles of flight and rest on small islands. But they were almost to safety, hopefully.

Over the shore, the hills of grass, and around the mountain she led her pack until she saw a very big cave which sloped down and even glowed faintly green from light-making moss inside. It was also the biggest cave-mouth she had ever seen. It could easily allow a flight of many-

Gliding above the island while watching the numberless kin of all different kinds returning to safety from all the horizons. The same was happening in far ranges at the same time. They had heard her summoning whisper on the wind, were home to where all began long ago, would be safe from the two-legs, and-

She blinked and grumbled, pushing away those memories. It was frustrating that those memories were bubbling and being bothersome now. Most twisting was how those visions always showed herself flying in her sire-father's place, or maybe that was not so very twisting. He had been a protector for the hidden-ranges, but he was gone now, so someone had to do the work of protecting kin.

She dove down among her pack and roared with joy to them.

'Pack! Fly in the cave and go down! We are safe!'

'Safe?' 'Good?' 'Fly!' 'Yes!' 'Obey Alpha.'

Her pack flew forward into the cave-mouth with many joyful roars and cries. She glided outside the cave-mouth a while longer, just looking out to the distant waters after her kin had all flown into the cave-mouth.

The hidden world of the above was so very different from the known, safer world below. The sky-waters, the sky-light, the high-flying mists, and the unthinkable size of the ranges was all good.

But the two-legs fouled all of that. The above was lost to them. Let them keep that world for all time.

The below was hopefully not yet lost.

She snorted and turned tail on the world above. Down the cave, she followed her kin until she caught up with them. Their roars and calls bounced off the walls in a mix of noise and echoes as time faded away. A soft wind blew in her face from below, and the mosses glowed with light all the way down. The air became cooler and wetter, like the warmer ranges she knew from before. The light grew brighter up ahead. That could only be because of light-rocks!

The cave-mouth widened and dropped down into a massive range filled with light-rocks, rock-columns, trees, waterfalls, a lake, mushrooms, and so much good! This was the world she knew so well in the liver, even if a different range from the ones she had flown in before!

With a roar, she beckoned her pack to follow her, which they did. More details about the chamber became clearer as she led her pack deeper within. There were more caves that grew into this one. A few kin were visible flying through the distant paths. Further, there was no apparent pack that lived in this range.

There could be bad reasons why a range like this one was unclaimed. But she saw nothing very dangerous, such as kin-bones or dead places where nothing grew. It was more likely a connecting place which let many ranges touch and would be too difficult for any pack to claim and defend.

Her pack started drifting lower toward the waters below. Everyone was tired from all the flying.

'Pack! We should rest and sleep!'

'Rest!' 'Sleep!' 'Yes!' 'Tired!'

They landed on the sandy shore and began swimming or curling up to fall asleep. Satisfied that her pack was well, she glided higher to keep watch. She deftly touched down on a large light-rock sticking out from a column.

Two of the very large cave paths ahead caught her attention. Despite having never been here before, they both looked familiar. The one at the far end of the chamber had large light-rocks and a great brightness burning from beyond the corner. The path on her right was darker and led into a very long cave.

She shook her head and looked down on her pack.

Two goals: find a range for her pack, and find where the two-legs had made their nest. What would happen after finding the range of two-legs was still uncertain. Her options would be limited by how many two-legs there were, how many kin they had thralled, and how easy it would be to get rid of the two-legs.

The problem was going to be the dark wings. Their life-fires would be more difficult to free than were those of other kin, such as her pack. So much depended on how thralled the dark wings were. If they were only a little thralled, not seeing what was happening to them and other kin, it would be much easier to help free them, hopefully with words alone.

Her ear twitched. A gentle push on the air struck her, though there was nothing visible.

She calmly spun around and gazed at the empty space on the light rock.

"I know you are there, light wing. Show yourself."

The light wing, a lean male, gradually appeared where she was staring. He was not especially threatening, since he was smaller than her even though he was grown.

"What are you?" he barked.

"My name is Skadi. I am a half light wing. What is your name?"

"This one is Seventh-Far-Flier. What is that flight of kin down there?"

"They are my pack. I am their Alpha."

"Their Alpha? How? What?"

She purred, "I saved them from two-legs in the hidden world above."

"From two-legs," he growled.

"Yes, do you know those things?"

"Not only does this one know about the two-legs. We have seen them and watch for them in these ranges."

"You know where they are!" she barked in shock.

He pointed his tail at the dark path behind them, "They live in a range down that path."

Her tail twitched as she glared at the path. It was incredible to think that the small monsters lived somewhere down there. The great-lights only knew what they had done to the range they had claimed and any kin living there.

"What did you mean when you said you watch for them?" she asked.

He grumbled, shuffling in place, "My pack has almost had fighting with the Alphas in that mixed-range."

"What happened?" she asked, eager for information.

"The two dark wing Alphas flew to my pack in the past. My pack greeted them well, and they tricked one of our females into flying with them."

A pair of dark wings were Alphas for that range? That was very curious. Why would any kin share that status? She already knew that dark wings were somehow involved with the rotted range. Worse was how the dark wings tricked a female into going with them. There was one obvious reason why confident, willful, Alpha males would trick a female into going with them.

"That was rotted of the dark wings to trick your pack and take her. What else happened?"

"My Alpha and some of his Fighters flew to talk to the dark wings. They had bad words, and then our Alpha made peace. He did not want to fight. He is a most merciful Alpha."

"Good for him. This does not look like your pack's territory, so why are you here?"

"Our Alpha has a Far-Flier watch this path so we know if the two-legs ever use kin to go to other ranges, or if the dark wings try to attack."

She appreciated the difficulty of that situation. Alphas sometimes needed to do what they did not want to do, all so they could prevent something worse from happening. Seventh-Far-Flier's Alpha must be practical and dedicated to his pack.

"Are the two-legs only in that range?"

"Almost all of them. A pawful sometimes leave on kin, but they always come back."

"Are there any other two-legs nests anywhere?"

"None," he answered.

Good. All the two-legs were still in one place. That would make it easier to do whatever had to be done about them.

"How many two-legs and thralled kin are there?"

He looked confused by that, "What do you mean, thralled?"

She glanced down at her pack, many of whom were asleep, "Two-legs can rot a kin's thinking and make kin into thought-thralls. Most of those kin had two-legs they thought of as Alphas. I helped the kin break free."

He hissed, "This one did not know two-legs had any thought-rotting."

"They do. You do not need to know how. How many of them are there?"

"About ten tens and five tens."

"How many kin?" she asked.

"About two tens of dark wings, light wings, and dark-lights. Between one and two tens of other kin."

Most of the kin were strong-thinking, which would make freeing them more difficult if they were deeply thralled. There were far too many kin there to oppose on her own, or even using her freed pack.

She needed to eventually fly to that range and see whatever she could see there. But there were other responsibilities that came first. She also needed allies who were able to fight against other kin.

"Are there ranges nearby where the kin in my pack can fly to be with their own kin-kinds?"

Seventh-Far-Flier observed her pack and the different kin-kinds in it, "Yes, the ranges of spine-tails, fire-scales, rock-bellies, two-head gas-breathers, and others are easy to find with scent. They will know where to fly."

That was reassuring. She could tell her pack that they were free to fly on their own, as long as they did not fly down the path toward the two-legs.

"Good. I will tell my pack that they can fly to their own kinds. Where is your pack? Is it near here?"

He looked more hesitant about that, "This one is not supposed to say where the pack is. We must stay hidden and safe."

She realized something twisted about what he was saying, or rather how he was speaking.

"Why do you talk like that about yourself?"

"Like what?"

"You say 'this one'."

"This is a pack-custom," he explained.

That was not much of an explanation, but maybe this was like how Ice-Water-Pack had everyone use pack-role names in the open.

"Fine. I want to meet your pack. Will you will lead me to them?"

"This one can. Do you wish to join the pack?" he asked.

"Probably not, but I need to talk to your Alpha and let him know about a danger."

He grumbled, "For that reason, this one can lead you to the pack. We do not allow other kin in our ranges. You must have your pack fly on their own."

"I was planning to do that once I knew where was safe for them. Will you wait for me?"

"This one will wait for you."

Satisfied, she leaned off the light-rock and glided down to her pack, some of whom were asleep. Waking them up would be a little frustrating, but they deserved to hear the good news.

It was perhaps a little twisting to be ending her pack, but part of being Alpha was to know when others did not need to be led. Gaining power to change something was good, but then giving away power was needed once the change had been done.

She landed with a splash in the sand.

'Pack! Wake up. We must talk!'

They barked in surprise, getting to their paws, yawning, and facing her.

'What?' 'Sleep...' 'Wake?' 'Why?' 'Confusion.'

'You are now safe! Fly free and find your own kin-kinds!'

She spun in place and stared up toward the dark passage. She also touched their life-fires and let them feel the bad-wrong-danger that lay down that path.

'Do not fly that way. There are two-legs there!'

'Danger!' 'Bad!' 'Wrong!' 'Fight yes?' 'Fight!'

She relaxed, 'You do not need to fight. I am Alpha and will protect!"

'Understand.' 'Fly free!' 'Find kin!' 'Obey Alpha.' 'Where fly?'

She closed her eyes and saw only the other cave-paths, leading into other ranges she did not know. All paths except the one which led to the two-legs anyway.

'Fly to your kin. Find range. Understand?'

'Yes!' 'Fly!' 'Find!' 'Kin ours!'

Chittering and growling eagerly, they began stretching their wings and limbs. Their tiredness after long flying was probably burned away by the thought of their own kin-kinds.

'Fly now! Be free!'

The kin took flight in a series of roars and calls. She circled while watching until the groups of kin had all flown out of vision down the distant cave paths. Then they were gone.

Her pack, the kin who looked to her directly as their Alpha, was no more now that the kin had flown off on their own. Their life-flights were theirs to fly on their own.

Did her not having a pack to directly lead make her less of an Alpha? Was being an Alpha limited only to those who had a pack following them? Maybe so, in which case she was not an Alpha anymore. However, the feeling of responsibility was not gone with their departure. No, she was not only responsible for those specific kin. She had to protect them all from the danger she knew about.

The hidden light wing pack was aware of the danger of two-legs, even if they were not opposed to them. However, they were being prudent by keeping watch on the range using Far-Fliers. The other light wing pack was crucial to whatever had to happen next.

She winged toward the light-rock on which Seventh-Far-Flier was still resting as he said he would be.

"That was twisted," he huffed once she landed.

"What was?"

"You being an Alpha for different kin-kinds. They do not mix in one pack."

She shrugged, "They had to be one pack since the two-legs thralled them and kept them in traps. We all fought as one flight to be free again."

He got to his paws and stretched his wings, "That is not normal. Are you ready to follow me to my pack?"

"Can we see the fouled range first?" she asked.

Seeing exactly what the two-legs had done there would help answer what could reasonably be done about them. Further, seeing that range up close would resolve any lingering possibility of not understanding everything.

After all, Cunning was not only rotted and twisted, being capable of some warmth to the stinging-tail hunter-kin. It was possible that other two-legs could be… not good, but less bad than others.

He grumbled, "Going there is not a good idea. The dark wings are very dangerous to others."

She started in surprise and concern, "Why? How are they dangerous?"

"They attack us whenever they see us. Our Far-Fliers, Hunters looking for food, anyone outside our territory is flamed at on sight. We did not even do anything to them!"

He and his pack apparently already had enough poor experiences with this fouled range. The dark wings would be a problem, whether they were victims or actively aiding the two-legs. Regardless, Seventh and his packmates surely knew better than she did how dangerous it would be to fly into that fouled range. Flying alone into a range of hostile kin who did not even need a reason to attack others was not prudent at all. Flying in peace to the dark wings was apparently certain to get her attacked as an outsider and possibly killed.

"I understand. Please lead me to your pack."

"Follow."

She followed him into the sky, their flight set for a distant passage to elsewhere. How many waking-cycles had passed since she had been among a proper pack of fellow strong-thinking kin? Too many. After so long since being in a welcoming range, it would be pleasant to be among warm-livered light wings again. Between his hidden pack and other packs that must be nearby, she could surely find the allies she needed to protect all the kin-ranges.