Playing With The Wolves

Apologizes in advance, if this chapter is too similar to my last chapter.

"Um Aisling, do you mind telling us where we are going?" Ronan asked quietly, as he, Oisin, Nuala and I were walking through the forest. I didn't have to train with my mother today, so I was free to play with my friends.

"Well, I wanted to see if we could find, that wolf pup from yesterday. I thought we could play with it again," I answered happily.

"Oh, that pup was so cute!" Ronan exclaimed excitingly.

"And it had that amazing black fur!" Oisin proclaimed with a grin.

"Eh, when you have not seen it once, you have not seen it a million times," Nuala muttered, not as excited as the rest of us.

We just rolled our eyes, and went over to the bush where we first saw the pup. "Now this where we last saw him. We played together with the pup in this area, before it went home to its mother," I memorized as I pointed from the bush, to the where the wolf pup and its mother walked off to, which was a large tree.

"So we just walk in that direction, and hope we just run into it? That does not sound very well thought out," Nuala pointed out, crossing her arms. I just ignored her, and went over to the spot we last saw the pup. Once there I told my friends to follow me, which they did. "How about we split up? We each take a direction to look, and after a while we come back her, and say if we've seen it or not."

"Good idea!" Oisin exclaimed.

"Sounds good to me," Ronan said quietly, agreeing with Oisin.

"Sure, why not?" Nuala finally joined in.

"I think I will go left…that is…if you do not mind of course. If you want to go left, then you can take it," Ronan stuttered shyly, as he shifted his head back and forth, as if he was unsure what to say next.

We just chuckled and encouraged: "Take the left if you want Ronan, we will just go a different direction."

"I think I will go right. Hey Nuala, do you want to come with me?" Oisin asked his friend.

"Sure, it will be fun to drop a spider on your head, and watch you scream like a child," Nuala teased, as the two of us lightly chuckled, which caused Oisin to scowl.

"Hey! I thought you promised not to tell anyone!" He shouted, clearly annoyed by what Nuala said.

"Well to be fair Oisin, we knew about a long time ago. You would get nervous, if you as much as saw a spider," I pointed out, as our chuckling died out.

"I still cannot believe how you would be afraid, of something you can fit in your pocket," Nuala said, as she stopped chuckling. Oisin just avoided her, as Ronan walked over to him, with an angry look on his face.

"Hey guys, stop teasing Oisin. It is completely normal, to be afraid of something!" Ronan exclaimed in a defensive tone, as he stood up for Oisin.

"Do not worry Ronan, he knows we're not try to be offensive here. Right Oisin?" Nuala asked.

"Sure, I guess it is fine. After all Ronan has a point. We are all afraid of something, like you are afraid of water," Oisin pointed out.

"HEY! I am not afraid of water! I just cannot swim! There's a large difference between the two!" Nuala shouted offended by the subject.

"Well if you do not like people to know about it, you should not point them out to other people," Oisin exclaimed.

"ENOUGH!" Ronan shouted angrily, and not in his usual timid and quiet manner of speaking. This surprised us, as we're not used to seeing this side of him. "Stop fighting each other. If you keep on doing it, then the two of you might start to hate each other. And I do not like to watch, two of my closest friends becoming enemies."

I was really impressed at Ronan. Despite his shyness, he was not at all afraid, to voice his opinion. "You are right Ronan. Why do you not just calm down, at try to forget about this?" I asked. I turned to Oisin, and politely said: "Oisin, I am sorry that I chuckled at you earlier. Nuala, do you have something similar to say to Oisin?"

Nuala sighed, and said: "Yeah. Sorry about that."

Oisin smiled and replied happily: "It is ok Nuala. Sorry I brought up, your fear. Now, are we going to try and find that pup, or not?" He then asked determined.

I smiled back, and answered: "We are. Nuala, how about the two of us, try to find it together?"

Nuala smiled at me, determinedly replied: "Of course. I bet I can find the pup, before you do!"

"Great, then let us go! But remember, we all meet up back at this spot." I reminded them. They all nodded, and we went our separate ways. Ronan and Oisin went the road they chose earlier, while me and Nuala went together at a different direction.

As the two of us walked, I watched as Nuala started using her senses. She sniffing her nose for any kind of smell, while crouched down, and gently moving her left hand through the grass, and moving her head side to side at the sound of any possible noise. She turned to me, and asked: "Do you see anything?"

"No, just a few butterflies, ladybugs, beetles and dragonflies. I will be sure to tell you, if I see anything," I answered her, as we kept searching. Just then Nuala stopped in her tracks, and started feeling the ground with both of her hands. I crouched to her level, and excitingly asked her: "Have you picked up its tracks?"

"I think so. It defiantly feels like something, has walked by here," She answered, with a confident smile on her face.

"Do you think, you can follow it to the pup?" I asked excited.

"Of course I can," Nuala answered confidently, as a smirk grew on her face. She continued to follow the track of the wolf pup, with me following behind her. We went past trees, bushes and other animals as we continued to follow the track.

As I followed Nuala, I noticed that sometimes it looked like we're going in circles. After a while, I was starting to have some doubt, and I decided to ask her: "Nuala, are you sure you know, where we are going?"

Nuala stopped trying to follow the track, and gave me an annoyed: "Of course I know where we are going."

"Well, I only asked because it looks like we are just waking circles." I pointed out.

"So you are saying, that I do not know how to track down animals?" Nuala asked, in a very annoyed tone.

"No, of course not." I answered, trying my best not to sound rude. "Just that, maybe you are just not as good as you think you are…"

"Look, I know where I am going ok," Nuala exclaimed annoyed.

I then optimistically suggested: "Well…maybe you have accidently followed the tracks of a different…"

"Well, if you think you can do better go ahead and be my guest!" Nuala shouted annoyed, yet angrily at the same time.

As she walked off, I quickly ran after her trying to apologize: "Nuala, I am sorry if I was coming off as rude or impatient or anything like that. But you have to admit, that it is a possibility. Let us try retracing our steps, and see if you have missed something."

Nuala groaned and muttered: "Fine. But I want to go take my way first."

I simply shrugged innocently, and said: "I guess that sounds fair. Lead the way."

With that Nuala continued, to follow the track. Eventually she stopped, by a bush. "Okay, the pup should be right behind the bush." We both heard some movement in the bush, indicating that the wolf pup was there. Without hesitating, Nuala moved the leaves of the bushes away to reveal…

"Ahhhh, it's a fox kit!" I exclaimed, at the cute baby fox.

"What?" Nuala exclaimed in surprise.

I just ignored her, and picked up the cute, little fox kit. I turned to Nuala, who was simply walking back to the "Come on Nuala. Do you not want to hold this adorable little kit?" I asked her, as I scratched the fox's underbelly.

"No thank you. I think I will just, go back to the tree," Nuala muttered, as she continued on her way. I could clearly tell that she was upset, so I gently placed the fox kit and went to Nuala to try and comfort her.

"Hey Nuala wait!" I shouted, as I ran towards her. She turned to face me, just as I had reached her. "Nuala, what is wrong? Are you upset, because it wasn't the wolf pup?"

"YES! I'm upset, because clearly my horrible tracking skills were completely useless! There are you happy?" Nuala muttered both angry and annoyed.

"No, I am not happy!" I exclaimed worryingly. "One of my best friends is upset. I would never be happy at that. I have told you, you are in no way a horrible tracker. You are just not the best, but that's not bad. I mean you managed to track down, a fox kit. That has to be something right?"

"Maybe not, but while I've wasting our time trying to find a fox, the others have probably found the wolf pup by now," Nuala said roughly.

"You do not know. They are probably just waiting for us, back the tree." I stated, before walking towards tree, with Nuala mumbling behind me. When we got there, we saw that sure enough, Oisin and Ronan where waiting for us by the tree, with no wolf pup in sight.

"See? They do not have the wolf pup," I told Nuala with a smile. She just avoided me.

"Hey guys. We look everywhere, and could not find the little guy," Oisin informed us. As he got a closer look, he noticed that Nuala was still a bit annoyed at her failure. "Hey Nuala are you ok?" He asked concerned.

"Yes, I am fine," Nuala muttered, not bother looking away from the sound of his voice.

"Are you sure? You look pretty upset. You are not upset because you and Aisling, did not find the wolf pup either are you?" Ronan asked equally concerned.

This only further annoyed Nuala, who turned to him and bark: "And what if I am? You did not find him either!"

This really upset Oisin, who marched right over to her and barked back: "And what if we did not? At least we tried."

"Oh, so you are saying we did not try either? You have no idea, how long I spent try to track down the pup!" Nuala snarled, as she marched towards Oisin. I tried to stop her, but she just avoided me and kept marching, as I watch.

"I almost fell into cobweb full of spiders!" Oisin yelled.

"They are little arachnids, that are about as big a nail. Just get over it already"" Nuala retorted annoyed.

"Says the female, who is afraid of water!" Oisin pointed out, with an angry tone.

"I AM NOT AFRIAD OF WATER, I JUST CANNOT…"

"STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU!" Ronan shouted, his voice much more loudly, than we had ever heard him talk. This caused both Oisin and Nuala to stop arguing, and we all turned to Ronan as he walked over to them. "Look, I know the both of you are very tired and stressed, from trying to find the pup. But that is no reason, to start insulting and offending each other. Nothing good will ever come from it, and you will only end up feeling miserable about it in the end," Ronan told them with the same tone he used earlier today. After a while of thinking Nuala and Oisin finally calmed down. "Now, how about you tell us what's bothering you Nuala? If you want to anyway," Ronan then asked, returning to his quiet tone.

Nuala sighed and stated with a very small annoyance in her voice: "Look, I do not do criticism ok? I am not a fan, of being told I did something wrong, or that I'm not good enough or that I'm just plain bad at doing something. I'm already blind, I don't think I need to be reminded, that I have other flaws."

I walked over to her, and gently placed my hand on her shoulder. As she turned to me, I smiled and kindly told her: "Nuala, it is perfectly natural to have flaws. We all have some, and it is nothing to be ashamed of. It is what makes us who we are."

"Yeah, if everyone was absolutely perfect, then there wouldn't be any challenges for us. No excitement or variation from each other," Oisin joined in, with a smile on his face.

"And just because you are great at something, does not mean your bad. And even if you are, there are still other things you are good at. " Ronan said, as he encouraged her. Nuala's frown started to fade away, as she smiled at our words of support.

"So you see Nuala, you should let your flaws get to you. Just remember we all have flaws, and instead on how bad you are at something, you should also look at the things you're good at," I finished off with a smile.

Nuala turned to the sound of our voices, and happily said: "Thanks. I apologize for my mood today."

Just then we heard a loud bark, coming from behind us. We turned, and sure enough…

"It is the wolf pup!" Ronan exclaimed in happiness, as we ran towards the little black furred pup, sitting by its cave, surrounded by whole group of other black furred pups.

"WHAT! We spent HOURS trying to find this thing, look ALL over the forest…and he was right there THE WHOLE TIME?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" Nuala cried out in shock. We just ignored her, and went over the pup, Nuala just standing there for a few minutes, before just accepting it and followed us.

I chuckled the pup, gently licked my cheek. As I watched my friends play, I started looking at he pup, wrestling with one of his brothers. It was then I realized something. I completely forgot to add wolf to my list, of animal forms. I cannot believe how. I loved wolves. Their fur, their speed, their power, their senses. I just loved everything about them. They were a symbol of Wisdom, loyalty, fearlessness, and willingness to fight injustice. WHY DID I NOT PUT THEM ON THE LIST? I most have been to busy, thinking about other animals that the wolf, must have slipped my mind.

After a few hours of playing with the pups, we went back home, tired and happy with our time with the wolves.

Well I hope you liked the chapter.

I would like to say, if any of you are afraid of spiders or water, I'm very sorry if this chapter has offended you.

I know it doesn't have that much of Aisling, and that it can be called filler, but I wanted to give Nuala and Ronan some spotlight, like I did with Oisin in the last chapter. And I know this was probably very similar to the last one, and I'm sorry if it is. Also I am more than welcome to constructive criticism. The next chapter will most defiantly be an Aisling centered one.