[A/N Long one folks... Lot's o stuff happening]

Aleu and Niju

Grey Dawn in Newlands

The sudden noise was enough to shock the sleep from them as they both immediately sat up and glanced wildly at each other.

It was unlike anything they'd ever heard before…Almost. Aleu suddenly found her memory jarred to the time her papa had attacked that human in the forest who had mistaken her for a wild animal.

"What in the name of Aniu was th-" Niju didn't finish before it sounded off again.

"I've heard that before! Where's it coming from?" Aleu scrambled out of the den and towards the last place she'd seen the caribou. She had no idea why she was going that way, but her intuition seemed to take over abruptly.

Niju jumped up and barked after her. "Aleu, no! Come back, you fool!" When his voice echoed back to no avail he tore after her.

Aleu arrived at the frozen lake only to find that the caribou appeared to have bolted sometime during the night. There were tracks leading to the mountain trails that looked relatively fresh in the snowfall, but no sign of them otherwise.

Ale's eyes grew wide as the dream came flooding back to her, crystal clear this time. She was running frantically, trying to slam into anything that might rip the collar off or loosen it. She became aware of running towards a mountain. As she climbed the crushing weight on her throat was diminished but when she turned back it increased tenfold.

Suddenly with a flush of adrenalin it became so much more than that. In the dead of winter, she could see a group of humans with their domesticated reindeer taking refuge on the plains and moving across the territory. She could almost read their thoughts. She looked through their eyes and saw they had those explosive sticks with them, those strange weapons she'd had pointed at her once before. Time passed and at the beginning of spring she could see them leaving as quickly as they'd come. They were leaving these lands forever as they searched for a less hostile environment for the herd. They'd go much farther south, taking their domesticated herd across another channel. But she knew what her vision meant for now. They were here and they were dangerous.

As her mind reeled back into reality, she found herself dazed and slightly out of breath. However, just like with the caribou a year ago, there was no denying what she'd seen.

Niju seemed to have finally caught up with her. His breath created large clouds as his panting broke the silence. Anything he might've yearned to say was suppressed by his realization that the caribou had indeed gone into the mountains.

"They're completely gone. They must have…bolted. What's happening?" Niju was clearly bewildered and uneasy.

"It's my dream, I think I understand now." Aleu scrunched her brows up. "Niju, call the clan!"

Niju was taken aback at being ordered suddenly by none other than Aleu. "What?"

Aleu was already taking off in another direction. "We have to go into the mountains and the sooner we leave, the better!"

"Aleu wait! Why?! What kind of nonsense is this?" Niju struggled to keep up with her.

"Because I saw them. They're on the plains and they will kill us out of ignorance and fear for their lives and livelihood! We must follow the caribou into the mountains for a time! But come spring they will find the lands too unforgiving and leave our territory in peace."

"What are you talking about?" He demanded.

"A human pack, Niju." She stopped abruptly, deliberately blocking him.

"You're sure?" He stopped but still wouldn't leave her side.

"Yes, don't follow me! Just call for the clan to meet at the elders' den and wait for me there!" She took off once again, leaving him standing at the top of the small hill.

"Where in spirit's name are you going then?!" He called out to her through the light flurries.

"I'm going to see if I was right." She muttered to herself.

Apparently he'd heard her. "Have you gone rabid, you crazy mutt?"

"Niju, please just do this for me, I need to make sure my dream was right. I'll be careful, I promise. I'll meet you there," She almost tripped over a small snowy hedge in her haste. "Make sure every member is there, along with the elders."

"I…" Niju looked up into the cloudy sky. The dark gray of the cloudy dawn was barely enough to overtake the remaining black of night, but being a wolf his vision was barely hindered.

"Nava please watch her…" He whispered into the cloud of breath caught in the frigid air.

o-o-o-o-o

Aleu carefully tread onto the plains, using the brush to cover herself when the line of trees faded away and there was nothing but flat ground. She was careful to maneuver herself down wind of their scent, she wasn't taking any chances. She thought back on her time spent around humans, strange as those creatures were; Aleu knew they were uncannily crafty and very clever. She'd need to keep her wits about her, especially now that she'd grown wiser of their intentions. She knew she was no one's idea of a pet dog and she would not be greeted with open arms. She was living the life of a wild animal, and she had come to terms with that over her long journey.

Her eyes were wide as her pupils expanded to find their quarry in the scarce light. Suddenly it was clear as day. There were a few fat caribou strangely oblivious to her presence in the distance, and as she crept forward she saw what looked to be well over a hundred of the complacent looking beasts down the gentle slope of the hill. There she saw some strange looking dome like structures made of furs and logs, with what smelled like clouds of wood smoke rising from them. It was barely dawn and the humans within didn't seem to be starting the day yet. It was serene and yet immensely strange for the young she-wolf to process. Could they really be harmful? The caribou didn't seem to mind them… But she thought better of it. The caribou looked like fat and easy targets, but she knew something wasn't right here. A long buried inkling told her to be on her guard, perhaps it was something deep within her genetic code. Her last encounter with a human certainly fed into that, and her vision told her these humans carried these same "sticks of fire" as weapons.

"I hope Niju got everyone together…" Aleu just couldn't understand how they'd been so blind. She didn't even know how many humans there were within the camp, but surely enough to be dangerous. She turned to leave, there was no use staying around these parts now that she had her answer. She needed to return to the clan straight away.

o-o-o-o-o

Niju was pacing while the clan gathered around him. He had been more solitary and less commanding of late so when he demanded they meet in haste most of them suspected something was quite amiss. To see the large black wolf pacing was enough to set the rest of them on edge. Quiet whispers began to grow louder as the elders emerged from their cave and time seemed to drag on.

Ulva, the more cantankerous of the elders was clearly growing impatient. "Niju! What is the meaning of this?"

Niju felt a deep sigh of relief leave his body as Aleu climbed onto the expansive ledge. He knew she was quite resourceful, but often found himself worried nonetheless.

"Aleu, have you any idea what Niju is up to?" Quisp took a moment to ask while Aleu struggled to catch her breath, but the question spurred her into further action.

"Everyone! Listen, there's a human pack with their captive reindeer on the plains and surrounding area. They have avoided detection up until now; they are extremely dangerous and we need to leave at once." Before she could even finish all hell broke loose. Perhaps she should have been less direct.

The scraggly voice of Ulva's partner Siluk could be heard from the mouth of the cave. "What's this?! Humans? Not likely! They cannot survive out here. How do you know of this?"

Then Ikun's usual jump to extremes. "Humans! Oh we're all doomed… I've heard stories about that lot before. Worst case scenario usually."

His even-tempered mate Sura tried to reason with him, "Oh Ikun, they're not all that bad, we'll just leave them be and they'll leave us be."

Ikun was obstinate. "No, no. It's all lost, we'll have to scrape and scrap an existence somewhere else. The wilderness is shrinking!" He shuddered and laid his head into his paws.

Their daughter Yuli just rolled her eyes as she stood with her friends. "Dad please…"

"I've seen it for myself! I saw their camp just before I came here. Please listen, we must leave now! We can take refuge in the mountains- we will be safe there. Come early spring they will leave these unforgiving lands never to return." Aleu pleaded with everyone over the uproar.

"What?! How can you know that?" Someone in the back shouted.

"Well I…" Aleu blushed for a moment as she struggled to come to terms with the fact that she only knew as far as her dream visions told her.

Niju, enraged at the clan's disregard for urgency and failure to act roared back, "It doesn't matter you fools! Aleu is giving you an order. She knows far more than any of you could ever hope to, you should be grateful!"

Sumac looked like he was about to say something to that, but Niju's steely glare shut him up.

Artok glanced over Niju before turning his gaze onto Aleu. "To give an order she would have to be our leader."

Ulva harshly cut in. "And that she is not!"

"Silence! She's done far more leading in a month than you have in four. Why not let a real alpha female take your place?" Niju slowly stepped in front of Aleu.

"And watch as you let her suffer the same fate as Nava's son? I don't think so. Nava was always too soft on you..." Ulva frowned and flicked her tail, her expression seemed to hint that she knew exactly what she was doing.

Niju's eyes grew wide and his hackles raised. The low rumble in his throat had turned into a boiling display of fury, wide jawed and toothy. "Don't you EVER-"

Aleu stepped between Niju and the elders. "Enough! Stop it!"

She was disappointed in Ulva deliberately provoking his temper like that. She knew not what it meant, but she knew it had been a deliberate move on the elder wolf's part. Aleu harshly glared at Niju and surprisingly he lowered his offences but the snarl remained. Ulva still glared at him, almost daring him to move against her.

Aleu heaved a sigh. "We don't have time for this! We have to leave now, the humans will hunt us down and kill us if they deem us a threat to their herd. They have us outmatched, don't you see? We will return, I promise, but you must come with us now!" She glanced wildly at her fellow clan members.

"But Aleu, how do you know this?" Quisp dared to ask in a quieter voice to break the following silence.

"I've been having the same vision for days on end, just like last time. It's always the same. It's telling us we must go into the mountains along with the caribou herd, we will be safe up there until the humans depart, then we will return." Aleu spoke as if she were confessing something, but in a way she was. Trusting a dream was a lot to ask anyone, even if it seemed to have worked in the past.

"We need to leave now." Niju grumbled as a reminder.

What struck Aleu most about the whole thing was how readily Niju went along with her. How easily he trusted her judgment about the dream. She never asked him to trust her like this, he gave that up willingly. He could so easily use this as a situation to wrench power from her and force everyone to take sides against her, but he trusted her to serve the clan's best interests. That's whose side Niju was truly on.

Aleu felt the words flowing through her like water through parched earth, too long had she ached to say the unspoken. "I know I'm asking a lot from each and every one of you. I know I'm not as wise as Nava, or as confident as my father and I'm much less sure of my identity than my mother… But I am asking you to trust me. Trust me as you once did crossing the ice bridge, I need that faith. We need that faith! In order to survive we must trust each other, we must help each other. I have seen two different worlds in my lifetime, and I have chosen the one that goes beyond the reach of a leash and chain. But I know this world to be the harsher of the two, to survive we need to put our faith into those around us. A lone wolf doesn't stand a chance, that is why we are a clan! I can't promise a bright future, but I can promise to lend every part of myself to the wellbeing of this clan."

Whatever their expressions and responses were she didn't wait around to hear.

Aleu climbed down from her figurative soapbox just as quickly as she'd climbed up and fumbled the words "Uhm..Anyone who wants to join me, is always welcome." She began to walk in the general direction that would take her to the mountains. In a weak moment she didn't dare look back. If there was no one behind her, she didn't want to know.

The clan slowly began to follow Aleu, one by one. Quisp, Anaru and Sarnai were among the first to begin following her. Then Quillaq and Tuk, followed by Yak, Nuk and Sumac. Artok was the most able-bodied of the elders was almost able to keep up with everyone else. He quickly abandoned his post beside the bitterly stubborn couple in favor of Aleu's path, not wasting a second to let them convince him otherwise. He'd seen and heard enough.

Soon there were only a few who had not departed with Aleu yet.

After watching Artok go, Sura quickly swatted her mate to get his attention as she began to follow.

Ikun was standing stunned as Sura walked past the rest of the clan. She called to him, "Come on, you idiot! Yuli, you too! You might be 5 years old but I'm still your-"

"Mother! We're coming." Yuli nudged her friend Miksa to follow her.

However, Miksa had the unfortunate slight of being Ulva and Siluk's granddaughter. Thus her heart was torn. Her relationship with her grandparents had been somewhat strained of late, but they were all the family she had left. She had fond memories of them teaching her about the ways of the clan in her youth. After a great deal of deliberation and pleading Miksa finally urged them to reluctantly follow Aleu and the rest of the clan.

As for Niju's place in all of this, he was in the back of the traveling pack, keeping his eyes and ears sharp for anything that might harm them. The easiest and quickest path into the steeper peaks would take them towards the outer edge of their current territory, a little closer to where the humans were supposed to be than he'd like. Miska, Siluk and Ulva were the only ones behind him, not able to keep the rushed pace Aleu had set. Yuli soon lagged behind against Niju's orders to keep moving in order to help Miksa with the two elders.

Aleu was well aware the clan had decided to join her as she marched on. She heard Sumac whispering to his companions, "Hey..hey..Why's it always the caribou?"

"Vhat?" Yak sounded puzzled.

"Why are we always following the caribous eh?" Sumac repeated. Nuk and Yak just shrugged and walked onwards.

The scent of caribou, smoke, and other foreign smells was almost overpowering as they reached the outer edge of the plains that led to the frozen lake at the base of the mountain. The humans must have moved the herd in search of slightly better foraging. That meant the humans were awake and tending to their herd, but due to the overpowering scents Aleu found it difficult to pinpoint their exact location. The air was thick with the heavy scent of smoke, which made detection even more challenging. She could almost see the frozen lake and began to pick up the pace. If they could only make it up into the peaks beyond that lake they'd be safe.

Niju stopped on a small hill and saw Aleu leading the clan on, as he glanced behind he saw an image that made his heart stop. Besides the four wolves that had dropped far behind him, there were two creatures that seemed to fit the description of what he'd heard humans to be. They currently seemed to take no notice of the fleeing clan, but all they had to do was turn around, aim their weapons and it would all be over. He cursed the smoke for letting them get so close without any of them realizing it.

He knew what he had to do.

He had always been fervently devoted to his kin- almost driving him to the point of madness on occasion. If their survival called for the ultimate sacrifice who was he- one wolf, to stand in their way. In his past it could've been said that Niju was the kind of wolf to push others down to help his own ambitions, he was never a coward. He could ask no one else to do this but himself. He gave Aleu a final glance before he turned to run behind.

He quickly stopped to tell Miksa,Yuli, Siluk and Ulva what lay just beyond the bend, just out of their sight. "Humans, two of them! You've got to keep going, move!" He harshly boomed at them.

Ulva, not yet robbed of all her pluck by the arduous journey narrowed her brows at him. "And where are you going?" She managed to pant as she tried to hurriedly hobble alongside her Siluk.

"I've got to draw them off! Move! Now!" He turned to run past her as Yuli and Miksa tried to hurry them off.

Siluk suddenly stopped as did Ulva. "Niju! You would do this?" Siluk called out to Niju just as he moved to turn from them.

Ulva looked stunned and almost offended at the revelation. "You- You actually were telling the truth. You actually did try to save Kanu, didn't you? I-… All this time, I…"

The sudden snapping of a twig caused Miksa and Yuli to all but leave their sides, break into a run and join the rest of the clan. Miksa stopped and turned back while Yuli was attempting to urge Miska to keep going.

"Quickly! Go!" Niju seemed to take no notice of Ulva and Siluk's revelations into the past. Siluk started a meager shuffle, but only managed to trip and come to rest on his extremely arthritic side.

"Run, you old fool and I'll try to buy him some time-" The strain was evident in Niju's voice.

"No!" Ulva's voice had become surprisingly clear again for a wolf of her years. "My place is beside my mate, and yours rests with Aleu and our clan. Look up that hill Niju, there's a she-wolf up there who needs your help and a clan who needs it even more!" Ulva was stern as she ever was.

Niju could do nothing but watch as he knew the humans were getting ever closer. Every moment that went by could be the one that they were discovered. Even if he caught up to the clan, it probably wouldn't matter. However, it seemed the elder wolfess had some strength left as she helped her weathered mate to his feet.

"Silluk?" She spoke as she would to an old lover and friend.

"Yes, my dear?" He responded as he struggled to his feet.

"How long has it been since we last romped together through the snow?" She gave him a wry grin and he returned it.

"Far too long."

Niju had never seen them run like that before, and never would again.

Miksa screamed out for them to stop and took all the strength Yuli had to brace against her and keep her from going to them. Yuli was still trying to push Miksa forward when Niju caught up with them.

"Come on Miksa- we must keep going! We're almost there." Yuli attempted to urge her forward.

Suddenly there were two strange noises, much like they'd heard earlier. One right after the other and then silence. Niju could no longer hear the footfalls of the couple. He'd seen enough to know he was better off not turning around to gaze upon the hillside.

He heaved a breath as he passed Miksa and Yuli. Miksa had become hysterical and it took the force of both Niju and Yuli to get her to the frozen lake, where they finally caught up with the rest of the clan. As they started into the mountainsides Niju jumped forward while Sura dropped behind to help Yuli with Miksa.

Aleu had turned to see where the noises originated, but the snowfall that began some time ago was obscuring her vision. Niju soon reached her side, his expression a bit despondent.

"What happened back there?" Aleu took a brief moment to rest and examine the caribou tracks on the path they were on.

"Siluk and Ulva, they drew the humans off so we could have a fighting chance to make the climb without them noticing. They're…gone now." He didn't need to elaborate further as the look in her baby blues said that she understood more than enough.

"Oh… Oh no. What have I done? I- I should have-" Aleu despaired for a moment as she lay in the snow.

"There was nothing you or I could have done, they made their peace with it. They want this clan to survive as much as you and I do." He offered as he helped her to her paws again.

"Is Miksa alright? I know she was back there." Aleu looked back down the snowy trail.

"She'll be alright in time. Sura and Yuli are back there. We should keep moving, though." He pushed on, despite the harsh wind to his face.

Pushing a rushed pace, it had only taken the afternoon to get them up into the mountains. Aleu had a goal in mind. She intended to go up into the edge of the treeline, she knew the caribou would likely stay within range of the trees in order to forage lichen from them.

Upon reaching the outer limits of the trees, Aleu took a breath of fresh mountain air before collapsing into the snow as sheer exhaustion overcame her. She heard Niju do the same, much like as he had during the fire. Soon the rest of the clan toddled along and they rested together.

Though there was still shelter and food to find, they all knew winter was a time of plenty for them and they feared not. Aleu looked out upon the vast snowy hills, though it was not permanent, it would be home for the winter.