[un-edited. Fear not folks, I'll be back to do the job right.]

Niju and Aleu

Warm Summer Afternoon in the Den

A few days had passed since Aleu regained consciousness and she was making progress towards recovery. She could manage to stand for a few shaky moments but her body would not allow her to move her limbs too much. Recovery was agonizingly slow for her, and every day without hunting was a day she felt she was unable to help the clan. She suspected Niju felt the same way, but he did his best not to show his frustrations. This afternoon was a hot one and wolves were built to handle the harsh winter climate, thus the heat was doing quite a number on them. Aleu spent the afternoon laid up in the den on her soft patch of dirt which was now enhanced with moss that Niju brought her yesterday.

This particularly hot afternoon saw Niju retreating to the den at the peak of the afternoon. He had gone to bring Nuk the rest of his kill to share with Yak and Sumac. He knew Nuk was the only one of the 3 that could hunt well and he knew the heat would be particularly hard on him at this time. Niju hadn't forgotten how his friends had forsaken his judgment and betrayed him, but he believed they were already suffering enough of the consequences. He didn't feel the need to bring up the fact that if they had listened to him, they wouldn't be eating scraps now. At least that's how Niju viewed their situation.

Nava had clearly made some lasting impression on Niju. Sharing wasn't something that ever came easily to the dark wolf, but there was no sense in letting those that had been loyal to him starve. Niju remembered his exile all too well. He only interacted with his three companions; the rest of the clan was suspicious of him at best. He did not linger in the clan's territory after his task was done. He had returned just as the heat of the afternoon commanded him to retreat into shade. This was an unusually hot day, even for summer. As he entered the cool shade of the den he found Aleu resting on her side.

"Wow, it's hot today huh?" She turned over with effort to face him.

"It's far worse outside." Niju took up his usual spot in the entrance.

As much as she despised the heat, she was frustrated that she couldn't have gone with him. The whole reason she was in this state was because of her impulsiveness. She knew Niju could be extremely impulsive as well- but he didn't seem to suffer the consequences like she had. Niju certainly had a brash side, but she wondered how much of it was actually caused by his fear of change?

"Do you fear change Niju?"

"What would make you ask such a thing?" Niju seemed surprised by her sudden pluck.

"It was something Nava told me once. I was wondering what he meant by it. I want to know why you stayed." The question had long weighed on her mind. He seemed to be loyal to the clan without doubt but he couldn't bring himself to embrace the change they were making.

"Change has never meant anything good to me, not once has it brought a better solution to the problem at hand. I believe in enduring." Niju seemed to avoid her gaze again.

"You had a chance to lead the clan across; you had a chance to lead the clan to better times! I just can't understand why you wouldn't… You seem to want it more than anything." Aleu waited for him to elaborate. She hoped this would provide her with some clarity into his motives.

"I feared leaving the lands that have been ours for generations would be the beginning of the end for our clan."

She still searched for understanding. "For someone who wasn't born into the clan, you sure seem to owe them a great deal of loyalty."

"That's how it all started last time." Niju appeared not to have heard her last statement at all. He seemed lost in a world that was his own.

"It started when he moved the pack. My mother had her doubts but he wouldn't listen. Of course he wouldn't listen- he never did. He had nothing but his own schemes… With his lack of rational thought, he'd overhunted everything around us for miles. We had no choice he said, we had to leave everything we held dear and move on... It started there."Niju was still lost in the memories of the past.

"Huh? What started there?" Aleu was tangled in the vague context of his speech.

"The beginning of the end." Niju suddenly came back into the world he shared with Aleu. She could tell by his tone.

"He… He was your father wasn't he?" Aleu loved her Papa dearly; she couldn't imagine how it was possible to have such unsuppressed hate for a parent. There was clearly no love lost between Niju and his father. Aleu guessed that Niju's father was probably deserving of the hate he received from his son, but Aleu couldn't understand why.

"Yes. Yes he was." Niju answered in a flat tone. He really hated discussing his father. Sumac asked about him once, a mistake Niju made sure Sumac regretted.

Aleu scuttled a little closer to him on her belly. She couldn't really stand and walk yet, but her strength was returning day by day. Niju didn't turn to face her. "What was his name?"

" Nanu."

"What was he like?"

Niju sighed heavily at this question. He was annoyed with her, but she was injured and spent most of her days in agonizing boredom and pain while stuck in the den. He knew how she longed to be helping the clan and how waiting for recovery tormented her. He could at least afford her a conversation.

"Greedy, immoral and cowardly- I haven't the heart to tell you much else."

"Oh… What about your mother?" Aleu seemed unware of the intrusive nature of her questions. She felt justified in asking them, she'd inadvertently spilled all her secret insecurities to him over the past months.

"Her name was Sedna. She was gentle yet…" His voice broke off and he seemed lost again.

"Distant…But I knew she cared for me immensely. She gave the ultimate sacrifice for me." He looked to be more lost to the world than ever as he stared off into the horizon.

Aleu could think of no words to say. She knew her mother lived a very different life from her own, but she knew that Jenna wanted nothing more than to see her pups happy in the lives they have chosen. Aleu once thought she was destined to live her life on the same path as her mother. Now she wasn't so sure. Jenna would not sacrifice her domestic life to keep the family whole and join Balto in exile. But how could she? Jenna was not a "wild animal".

"My mother tried her hardest to help me find my path, but I think she knew I wasn't destined for the kind of life she had." Aleu spoke barely above a whisper. She couldn't find her mother selfish for staying within the confines of domesticated life, but Aleu often wished they'd been closer.

"She couldn't leave the world she knew to keep our family whole." Aleu had never given it much thought as a young pup. Now it hardly mattered, Aleu seemed destined to live in the void between two worlds just as her father had. She understood her father's confusion in life. Her destiny seemed to change with the wind and she was unsure of herself.

Niju's words startled her a bit. She had forgotten how close he was. "Your father, that mutt-"

She cut him off. "Balto. His name is Balto."

"He loves you very much. I could see that from our first meeting. You are lucky to have a father such as him." He turned towards her. He could see her eyebrows were raised into a slant. Her eyes were large and glossy with the luminous rays of the afternoon. He expected tears from her eyes but none came. Her expression was unreadable.

She stumbled into him without warning. He felt her soft fur suddenly rub against his chest. She'd caught him totally unprepared; he hadn't realized what she was planning to do until she was already in motion. She was nuzzling against him. Niju was by no means an overly affectionate wolf; he preferred not to waste his time with petty sentiments. Despite this, he did not pull away from her. She was under his massive chin now, pressing her plush cheeks into his neck. Niju felt suddenly warm but he suspected it was likely because of the summer heat. In wolfish body language a nuzzle is an affectionate press against a fellow wolf as a sign of support and mutual caring. The wolf receiving presses back to complete the gesture. He returned the pressure against her, but was restrained in doing so.

"I believe your father loved you too, Niju." Aleu stopped and looked up at him. He could see hairs from his silvery blue undercoat on her cheeks and nose.

"I wish that were true." Niju exhaled and laid his head on his paws. She copied his movement and pressed her nose into his cheek. It was wet and cold.

"What is it with you?" He squirmed against the movement. Seeing that she was getting a reaction from him she persisted.

"Haha! I've got you now!" She was taken back to the days of playing with Muc and Luc, and the occasional Uncle Boris. She had almost forgotten her injuries.

He playfully batted her as she poked her nose further into his cheeks. "Quit that! Hey!" He rolled onto his back.

"No really, you need to save your energy. You must heal." He was a bit breathless now. She sighed and slumped back onto her side.

"Niju, how long will it be? How long can the clan endure?" She sensed a shift in the mood.

"I'm not sure. Your bones must heal first. Nuk looked well when I visited him, as did Yak. However, Sumac looks a bit worse for wear."

Aleu rolled her large blue eyes. "He always does." That earned her a chuckle.

"Yes, I suppose that's true. The clan is strong and very resourceful. The weaker members will be the hardest hit; they are the ones I worry about lasting." To Niju's disbelief it was Aleu's turn to laugh.

"I'm surprised at you! Whatever happened to 'we must fight for what is ours', hmm? I thought you said that 'only the strongest get to survive'." She poked fun at his brutish behavior during their first meeting.

"I never said that."

"Well maybe not those exact words, but your point was pretty clear." Aleu smirked at him.

Niju knotted his brows together in thought. "I was just going off of what I had experienced and what I had been taught. It's just... I didn't…I-"

Aleu didn't seem to realize the weight of the conversation as she rolled onto her back. Her sides still ached. "Oh. I guess that was Nanu talking, hmm?" She wondered what kind of lessons Nanu would teach his son. Aleu actually wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"The weak have their worth. Nava taught me that as no one else could." It would be easy for Niju to forget his time with the old one, but he had learned so much from Nava.

"Why do the elder's seem to hate you so much?" Aleu no longer feared to ask the large wolf questions that were previously taboo.

"I don't think the same way Nava and them do. They depend solely on the clan for survival; naturally they are more sympathetic towards the weak. In my youth, I was much more… Outspoken in my views." He remembered his difficult juvenile years. "I was also an outsider. While that was not the sole reason we were at odds, it did not help my case." He added.

"How do you think they will feel when I start to organize hunts again?" Aleu tried to turn him towards the future.

"I suspect they will not give up power easily, but it is a start. You need to rebuild your reputation in the pack." He had not forgotten their plan.

"Will they trust me enough to follow you?" Aleu worried about the plan- she knew that Niju's reputation was probably far worse than her own.

"They won't have a choice…" Niju's tone turned sour. He clearly disliked the elders. Aleu was thinking about reminding him not to do anything rash towards them.

"What will you do once you have turned over your position to me?" Niju inquired.

Aleu felt a little surprised at this question. The more thought she gave it, the more she questioned where she belonged. Perhaps she was not destined to live the life of a rogue after all.

"Oh… Umm… I-I'm not sure what Aniu has planned for me." Aleu had nearly forgotten that Niju was going to be leader of the clan when everything was said and done. As time went on Aleu had begun to feel confident in herself as a leader again. She wouldn't tell Niju this, but she felt wary of letting him rule on his own. Earlier she hadn't cared as long as she could escape from her responsibility, but now she wasn't sure of her choice in the matter. There were many qualities of leadership that Niju possessed and Aleu did not. However, Aleu had some that Niju could never fully master. Aleu was indecisive but approachable. Niju commanded respect and obedience- but was not flexible enough in his demeanor… It was a delicate balance that Nava made look so easy.

"In truth, I sometimes forget that it is me that will be taking charge of things and not you." Niju spoke quietly, as if he hadn't totally meant to speak those words aloud.

"Niju… Perhaps we coul-" Aleu was about to open the door to a new idea but Niju stopped her.

"Well at any rate, we won't be getting very far if you don't learn how to hunt properly. Your mistakes have cost us time, but we should make use of it!" Niju spoke over her. He knew what she would ask of him but he was not ready to hear it. He would rather not risk the awkwardness of his uncertainty about her suggestion. He would rather bury it and give it thought later. There was work to be done now; they'd already wasted enough time.

Aleu let it drop; it was probably a foolish notion anyways. "You already told me about my 'blunders' with the bull, I've got it. When we meet again, I will not make the same mistakes." She was truly tired of him berating her on this.

"Not that!" He accidently yelled at her in frustration.

"Ahem…I believe it is time I tell you about how to lead a hunt and distribute tasks among the hunters. When you lead a hunt, you will not do it alone."

Aleu prepared to listen closely to him. This was what she had been waiting to hear.

Aleu and Niju

Summer's end in the New Lands

The trees and grasses were beginning to yellow and the short season of plenty was losing its hold over the land. The days of the midnight sun were over as night began to last longer and longer. The weather had not turned cold yet, but cooler breezes began to blow once more. With the arrival of autumn came Aleu's newfound strength. Niju watched over her as she healed, he brought her food, cleaned her wounds and carried her to water. He watched her as she began to take shaky steps and how these steps turned into steady walking. The walking soon became running as Aleu was able to chase prey through the plains once again. She caught prey of all kinds now. Soon, it would be time…

On this night she returned with a muskrat. Aleu preferred smaller game, seeing as she was only hunting for herself. Aleu ran around the entrance of the den for fun, just because she could. Her bones had mended and her external wounds had become little more than scars now.

"The mighty hunter stalks her prey…" Aleu dropped her muskrat and crouched.

"Don't you dare." Niju was busy eating some scraps. He didn't look up but he already knew what she was planning…Child's play.

Aleu had already made up her mind as she jumped for him. This time Niju did not expect it, he was under the impression she would do the mature thing and let him eat in peace. The sudden force of her knocked the breath from him. Oof. She must have gotten more muscular. She had him on his back now.

"Hah… Give it up. The student surpasses the-" Aleu was mid-sentence when the force of his weight thrown against her flipped them over.

"The what? The master?" He panted in her face as he put extra inflection on the last part. He had her pinned under him. He looked away from her and saw his scraps lying in a patch of dirt. Great. "You stupid mutt... You made me drop my dinner." He growled in annoyance.

"Mutt?! You'll pay for that insult you brute!" She yelled in mock offense and swiped him across the face. Her lithe frame managed to squirm from his grasp and she took off from him. How had she done that?

He stared bewilderingly at the ground where she had just been under him. He never really had a chance to play these games when he was a pup, but he still gave chase. He never imagined doing such a thing, but Aleu had somehow brought his long buried playful nature out tonight. There was something liberating about it all.

She was flying through the dying grass illuminated by the moon's pale glow. He ran after her and she thought she could hear his laughter amidst the crashing of the underbrush.

She ran through the plains and into the area where the grass turned into trees. She was running as if she was the wind through the trees. He was catching up to her as she galloped along the edge of a creek. She was actually proving to be quicker than him as she darted around bushes and trees.

She suddenly disappeared when he chased her out of the tree line and back onto the plains. Niju was slightly out of breath as he trotted through the grass. She was really nowhere in sight… He had stopped and was prepared to sniff the air when she jumped out at him from the tall grass once again.

He decided not to flip her over this time, she was on his back and he had his belly on the ground.

"You fought well Broken Horn…But I have you now." She said victoriously as she sat atop him. She growled and bit his ear.

"Hey!" He yelled as he finally turned over on her. "Alright, now you've really done it." She was under him again. She'd grown strong and was able to hold him back from nipping at her neck. Once again, she worked her way out from under him.

"Not bad for a 'mutt', huh? I'd say I'm getting good." She shook herself off and began to walk past him. Her full tail brushed his face for dramatic effect.

"You're such a pup" He shook his head and began to follow her. It had been a long time since he had played like that in earnest. He was almost embarrassed at himself. However, despite her acting like a playful puppy he couldn't help but notice something about her. Her time laid up in the den with her injuries seemed to transform her.

She was a full grown she-wolf now and even he couldn't deny it any longer. Of course she was smaller than all his kin, but she was stronger now than she'd ever been. Her voice seemed to have changed slightly and something about her presence was no longer the same. She seemed far less of a teenager now, but she still had her moments of angst every now and then. She had gained a good deal of lean muscle and learned stealth; she used her build to the fullest advantage. He was pretty damn proud of her. She was looking more and more like a clan leader every day, but it was not to be. They still had a plan.

She turned towards him. Her azure eyes were a sea unto themselves; he could become lost in them and never be found again… He was conflicted with anger and embarrassment when he realized he was staring yet again. She certainly seemed to have grown easier on the eyes, or had she always been that way? It mattered not, he decided.

"Niju? Are you coming or what?" She called to him and shook him from his thoughts. He hadn't even realized that he'd stopped walking.

"You'd better get some rest. You've got a big day tomorrow." Niju grumbled and caught up with her. He was rather annoyed with himself now.

She looked at him rather confusedly. "Hmm? Why?"

"Because tomorrow is the day you must bring down that bull." Niju knew she was ready now.

At the first light of dawn, it would be time.