I.

It had been two days since Togo had left his home in Nome.

Two days of wandering the great arctic landscape, trailing after his gorgeous Goddess.

"Are you hungry?" he asked after nearly forty hours of no food.

Aniu glanced at him briefly and continued to trot after her pack. Barano was flicking his long tail, exhaling in a jittery huff now and then. The rest of the wolves began to relax as at last they reached a tiny grove of tall trees and a large, rocky outcropping...right in the middle of the tundra; It was an arctic oasis that was both isolated and exposed. The eldest white wolf collapsed. Noctruno went to talk with his son and grandson as the twins nibbled at their fur.

"Nice trees," Togo approved of the cottonwoods around them.

He went up and started to scratch one of the thick, ridged trunks.

Soon the dog turned to see if Aniu was watching, but she had gone to the rocky base to lay under it's shadow. Togo noticed the position of the sun and went to go lay beside to her. She sent him half a look before resting her head down between her paws. The brown and tan husky did not press her, he merely stared out at the scenery with Aniu and wagged his tail.

Several minutes passed before a smile appeared on his muzzle: Inspiration had hit.

"Which ones are your mom and dad?"

The white wolf looked at him unsurely; even she found such forwardness odd.

But she saw that he was entirely serious.

Aniu sighed a bit. "The dark wolves there are grandfather, father and son. Those two young ones are Cotto and Nelle, you will find their only distinguishable features are the reversal of their coat patterns. Lunara is the eldest and my grandmother. I am a year and a half in age," she settled her chin on her left paw and folded her ears back. Togo waited for her to say more...

Yet she never did.

He felt hunger shoot through his stomach. Anxiously, he glanced at her and saw she would no longer acknowledge him. Never once did he think she was no longer thinking of his being there. Togo smiled affectionately at his Goddess and set out to chase down an Alaskan hare with the twins. Shanarow looked up to watch him leave before shaking his head in disgust.

"How long must we entertain this?"

"He poses no threat," Nocturno rumbled.

His grandson shot him a venomous look.

"All the same, he cannot continue following us." Barano interceded.

"Good," Shanarow took this as permission. "I will track him down and with the twins-,"

"We will leave him." Noctruno raised his great head, making himself taller and emphasizing the broadness of his shoulders. "If he follows, then we will resort to other measures..." The wolf looked to Barano, who nodded in agreement. Shanarow's fangs exposed a sinister grin.

...

As late day came, Togo returned to his Goddess with the furs of his labor.

She cocked her head at the brown creature in his mouth. He had caught something?

The confused face of a pine marten looked up first at Togo, then at Aniu.

Her golden eyes narrowed and the creature quickly scampered away back into the forest. It was with assumed casual interest that Aniu rose to her large feet and lumbered over to the dog. He looked at her immediately. "Togo," she asked candidly, "Why are you following me?"

He blinked. "Because you're beautiful." The dog smiled.

"What are you?" She asked curiously.

"I can be whatever you want me to be!" Togo straightened up excitedly.

"A rabbit," he sprung around in an impressive imitation. "A deer." Togo bounded about even more gaily, earning him some appropriate stares. "Even a moose." he looked up at her from the ground, smiling ear-to-ear. Aniu watched stoically as he then assumed a tall, impassive creature. The wolf blinked in response before her stomach gurgled with hunger. She took it that Togo had already scavenged off the twin's kill when he said, "We should eat Goddess."

"And why do you call me Goddess?" She asked apathetically. "My name is Aniu."

"Okay, Aniu." Togo smiled at her. He was suddenly struck with the fact that he should feed his beautiful... Aniu. The dog looked up at a tree and saw a squirrel munching on a nut. An observation of his paw showed him that his claws were long and slightly hooked. Inspiration filled his face as he looked at Aniu and then looked up at the squirrel. "Okay, one moment."

He raced up the small cottonwood right after the startled animal.

"It has been one moment," Aniu said softly as he cornered his query. The squirrel twitched it's tail and Togo mimicked it perfectly. She tilted her head a little as Shanarow approached.

"We're ready to leave now," He mentioned to her in a husky voice, taking care that the very squirrelly dog didn't overhear. Aniu looked at him one last time and then followed Shanarow.

She almost didn't say anything. "Do you suppose he'll be all right?"

"If he can survive." The black-and-silver wolf said simply.

They were almost out of the cover of the tall branches when something landed squarely in front of Aniu. Shanarow flashed his fangs in a growl as the white wolf hesitated on one foot, her eyes quite large for once. Togo wagged his tall with the chattering squirrel in his mouth.

"Kill it," The male wolf ordered him.

Togo looked at him in surprise as everyone gathered to watch.

"You heard me." Shanarow barked authoritatively. "Kill the beast. Prove your worth!"

The dog lowered his brows and sat the squirrel down; it wasted no time in booking it.

"Why are you so mean?" Togo approached him.

Shanarow froze gravely.

"I will teach him to kill," Aniu appeared at Togo's side.

His brown eyes reddened. "Father," he turned to the pack leader.

"If the dog can hunt," Nocturno overrode his son in a booming voice, stopping Barano from helping his own son with the dealing of Togo, "by this time tomorrow," he finished. "He may stay." Aniu stepped back as she had semi-deliberately placed a leg in front of the naive pup.

"And if not," Shanarow challenged his grandfather again, "You will allow me to end this."

Barano looked between the two, but said nothing.

Noctruno nodded.

"And he must kill without hesitation," the old male laid the final condition.

The full extent of Shanarow's fury was stifled for the moment.

With an angry shake of his head, the wolf stalked away growling.

Everyone watched with still caution until Barano trailed after his son at the flank.

Aniu turned to Togo with great meaning. "You must be a wolf," she told him firmly.

He beamed up at her with instant delight. "A wolf," he both decided and agreed with her as if he hadn't heard what everyone else had said. "I'll be a wolf." Togo jumped once excitedly and then followed the pack. Aniu didn't tell him it would take time or that he wasn't actually a wolf, nor that he would have to face difficult trials if he did succeed. She merely followed.

To be continued...