Arthur squints grumpily up at the morning rays of light from the rising sun. He hadn't slept at all last night, how could he? With Alfred unconscious again, and the ever present risk of being attacked from unknown dangers, he couldn't risk sleep. Though Arthur is no stranger to little sleep, he still finds the inevitable morning irritating.

Groaning at the stiffness in his legs, he slowly rises from his place atop the highest point of the rocks, and makes his way back down to the tent where the others are. The few humans that are up still give him a wide birth, which he appreciates, but before he can make it to the tent, a small boy comes charging out of it. Without an ounce of fear, the child throws himself at Arthur's legs, giving the wolf a tight hug.

Surprised, Arthur halts, looking down at the child. The little thing barely reaches half way to his elbow, and it's stubby arms can only just wrap around his strong foreleg, his paw alone is larger than its tiny body.

He jerks his leg free, causing the child to stumble back, looking up in confusion. Arthur is in no mood to indulge pups today.

He makes his point perfectly clear by stomping his paw beside it with enough force to kick up the sand, and lowering his head towards the boy, baring his teeth with a deep growl rumbling in his throat.

Clearly frightened by the change in attitude, the boy bursts into tears and runs back into the tent, wailing for his mother. The sound irritates Arthur more than the hug did, and he berates himself for not simply pushing the pup away.

Still, the pup is not his concern.

The tug of another consciousness in his bond is why he's moved from his self appointed post; Alfred is awake.

He lies down at the tent to poke his head beneath the entrance flap and look inside. Sure enough, Al is sitting up by the fire. The others are also there —including the still weeping boy in his mother's arms, not that Arthur cares— and going by the smells, they're eating something from the bowls in their hands. The smell of food causes Arthur's stomach to rumble, reminding him that it's been a while since he's had a decent meal; small kills on the road do little to satisfy the ravenous hunger of a wolf.

To distract himself, he roves his eyes across the group.

The child has calmed down somewhat, thanks to his mothers gentle hushing, while Alfred apologises for the scare, and Arthur denies the pang of guilt he feels for being the cause of it. The three others are sitting with those clothes they insist on wearing only covering their loins, leaving their legs and chest free from restriction. Even though Alfred's explained it to him before, Arthur still doesn't get the point of clothes, if that saddle Al made him wear is anything to go by, then they're terribly uncomfortable.

He's seen Alfred naked before, but the other two have been far more shy about being 'exposed' —as they call it— around him, so naturally, he's curious.

Seeing them now, Arthur notices how much Al's skin has darkened since coming to this desert, the contrast obvious when compared to the far lighter skin of Gilbert. Looking at Matthew, Arthur thinks Al might be a few shades darker, but his brother hasn't changed much, having already been darker than Al when he met him.

Flicking his eyes between the brothers, Arthur picks out the differences. Al's skin is marred with scars —a warrior— but Matthew only has one visible, a long thin scar running across his right hip, any others are too small or faded to be seen from this far. And between them is Gil, his skin is just as scarred as Al's, but as he shifts Arthur spots one of intrigue; a jagged patch of pink skin just below his left shoulder, matches a similar scar a few inches down on his back, barely missing his spine.

Arthur knows that a set of scars like that is only caused by a wound that runs all the way through. Instinctively, he dips his head at the sight, for only the strongest can survive such injuries, and only the strongest are leaders.

Seeing this, now Arthur understands why Al obeys Gilbert; he is stronger. Which makes Matthew the lowest of their ranks (he doesn't even consider the bird).

He scans his eyes over the three again, affirming his evaluation, and relaxes a little now that he knows his true standing in the pack.

Jolting his head up, Arthur blinks at his own thoughts.

Since when did he consider the other two as part of his pack?

Or perhaps it's more right to ask when did they accept him as part of theirs?

Deciding he really doesn't want to dwell on such thoughts now, he tunes in on their conversation. He'd gotten so used to daydreaming when they were all talking, he's still getting used to the fact that he can now make sense of all the noise around him again, thanks to the constant, but small supply of Alfred's magic.

His ears prick and narrow in on the sound of the knights voice, "…ow it sounds weird, but I swear it was real."

"I'm not saying that it wasn't, but… Al, we never met our mother, we have no idea what she really looked like, Dad never liked to talk about her, remember? So how can you be absolutely certain it was her? What's to say it wasn't someone else posing as her?"

Alfred looks down, tilting the bowl in his hands and watching the liquid swirl before answering, "I just know. You didn't see her Mattie, if you did, you'd know. It was her."

The brothers fall silent beside each other, and Arthur thinks that's the end of whatever they were talking about, that is until Gilbert speaks up, "It's possible."

All eyes fall to the albino who stares back at Al with burning seriousness.

"When I was a kid, my father would take me to this camp out in the western forest for training. But he was always busy with something or other, so your Dad was the one who trained me most often." He frowns as he looks back into his memories, "They were good friends for as long as I can remember, but they weren't the only ones there. I can't say I remember seeing your mother at the camp, but I did meet her, only once, before you two were born." His gaze refocuses on Al, certainty in his eyes, "Your description is exactly how I remember her, even if her belly was bloated with the both of you. And," he adds, "if she's right, then that's all the more reason to go to the Wilderness. We need all the allies we can get."

From behind them, Arthur's eyes narrow at the back of Gil's head. Something about what he just said… Arthur's not sure why, but, Gilbert's lying… no, not lying, more… he's not telling the truth.

His tail flicks against the sand in annoyance as he glares at the silvery haired man. Something about Gilbert has been bothering him since they first met, and now, the more he listens to the man talk, the more sure of it he becomes.

But just as Arthur is about to call out to Al, the knight's voice reaches him first, "So you believe me?"

He looks so hopeful as he stares pleadingly over at Gil, that Arthur stops. And when the man nods, Arthur realises just how much Al values the man's word. He frowns to himself, ears dropping as he thinks. Even though his instincts are screaming at him not to trust the albino, Alfred respects the elder too much for Arthur to challenge the man. The many scars of bites from his kin tingle across his skin as a reminder of what happens when he challenges the Alpha.

He shifts about uncomfortably where he lies, and suddenly finds he can't keep his glare up. His eyes flick up and down for a moment as he wrestles with his instincts, before they settle firmly on the sand between his paws.

The lesson that was beaten into him years ago rings hard in his mind; you must obey.

It's a harsh four day trek from the camp across barren rock to the edge of The Mighty Wilderness of Nankeke. Unlike crossing between the desert Kingdoms, the edge of the Wilderness is very much apparent.

A wall of great Black Wood trees tower before the group. The transition between sand pitted rocks and the ominous dark forest is striking. It's as if someone had simply drawn a line in the land and stitched the two areas together along it. This becomes even more apparent as they look up to the dark gnarled branches above, all of them suddenly twisting upward as if blocked by an invisible wall.

Even standing this close, they can all feel the forest exerting as sort of… pressure seeping through the barrier.

Arthur watches curiously as the others tense and seem weary of approaching the woods, growing more and more anxious the closer they get. And worse still, the beasts they ride on become increasingly difficult to control, forcing the three to dismount and walk, until the horses outright refused to go any further. With no other option, they removed what supplies they could carry, and then let the animals go, watching as they bolted away. Even that bird the albino keeps squawks annoyingly from the man's shoulder as he tries to calm it.

But, while the others are all afraid, Arthur is inexplicably drawn to it. This pressure, the heaviness in the air, he knows it well.

It feels like home.

He can feel the eyes of the others on him as he walks between them to stand right in front of the invisible barrier. Unlike the one back in the desert, he can sense this one.

"Matt?" He hears Gil ask.

"Eh? Oh, uh, r-right…"

He turns to watch the twin, who he's noticed tends to keep his distance from him, slowly approach the barrier, veering as he does to be closer and closer to Arthur, until the teen is practically rubbing up against his leg. Looking over to his right, he cocks his head as he sees Al hovering close to his haunches, even Gilbert can't hide his unease, though he at least doesn't cling to Arthur's side.

He turns back to Matt in time to see the blonde pulling out a familiar book, nervously flipping through its pages before seeming to settle on one. From this close, Arthur can see what he's looking at, but the symbols are meaningless to him, but imagines they must be important somehow.

"What's that for?" Al asks, peering round at his twin.

"This Borderline is different from the others." Gil answers as Matt remains focused on the book. "The ones around the Wilderness are specifically designed to let nothing pass through, just look at the trees." They both frown up at the twisted branches before Gil continues, "This one, is basically and invisible, impenetrable wall."

"So… how do we get through?"

At that, Gilbert grins, "We make a door."

After a moment of standing there, Matthew moves to set the book down on the ground before the barrier, then raises his hands out and begins chanting.

Arthur is fascinated as the symbols in the book start to glow gold, and the barrier also becomes a visibly golden shimmering wall. The fur on his leg tingles as he feels the powerful magic coming from the teen beside him. This close, he can fully sense its nature; strong —though not as strong as his— and highly controlled, a stark contrast to the wild and barely managed magic of Alfred. He can feel the way Matt shapes it, tightly forging it into a point to pierce the wall.

They watch as a white line is cut down the now solid golden light of the barrier, only for it to close up behind itself a moment after appearing. Matthew tries again, concentrating harder, but no matter how hard he tries, the cut seals up again each time.

He sighs, dropping his arms and stopping. "I don't get it."

"What's wrong?" Al asks, childishly ducking under Arthur's belly to reach his twin, rather than simply going around.

"I'm not sure," Matt frowns, scratching the back of his head, "The spell should have no problem working, but the barrier seems to be self healing… almost as if…" he shifts from foot to foot, warily looking up at the once again invisible barrier, "It's alive…"

The brothers both take an unconscious step back into Arthur at that, leaving Gil as the only one to stand his ground.

"Well we have to get through. Three of the Order's elite members are hiding somewhere in here, plus who ever your mother said we need to find."

"I know but…" Matthew mumbles, trailing off.

Arthur looks between the three, seeing various levels of uncertainty and fear written on their faces as plain as day.

'Al,' he nudges the blonde with his muzzle to get the teens attention, 'I have an idea.'

"You do?"

He nods, tipping his head towards the barrier, 'Open the crack again, and I'll wedge it open.'

"Oh!" Al's eyes alight with understanding and he immediately passes the message on.

Moving forward once more, Matthew attempts to make an opening, a single white line a few inches long cutting down the glowing wall. Arthur watches carefully, waiting for the right moment…

There!

Just as the barrier starts to close up again, his eyes glow as he stomps his right paw forward; a thin pillar of ice instantly rises up to pierce through the gap. Just like he planned, the ice acts as a block, holding the gap open. With a gentle nudge of his head, he signals Matt to stop, taking over as he concentrates on expanding the ice in the gap, pushing it open.

The task proves a bit tricky and difficult, leaving Arthur panting from the exertion —it's been a while since he's had to pinpoint control his ice like this— but he manages it in the end.

The three humans are left staring up at a solid circle-ish shaped block of ice as wide as the wolf, seemingly only held up by the thin pillar at and angle that physics should deem impossible to maintain. Only the slight golden shimmer around the ice block is left to remind them that it's the barrier holding the ice in place.

"Okay…" Al says slowly, "Now what?"

Arthur won't admit it, but he didn't think that far ahead, he just thought he could hold it open.

But luckily for him, Gilbert seems to have an idea as he smirks and, much to Arthur's surprise, pats him on his side as the man draws his sword.

"We go through it." The man rotates his left wrist, flourishing his sword and making it glow orange. "Get ready."

With that, he steps up to the ice and cuts the little pillar off, removing it from the ice block. Both Al and Matt move to stand behind him, and Arthur get's the idea, shaking off his exhaustion and get's ready to jump.

In one swift, fluid movement, Gilbert pulls his arm back, then plunges it forward, piercing the centre of the ice. Heat radiates out from his Flame Blade and the ice begins to melt from the centre out, creating an opening. He draws his sword back as the ice continues to melt.

"Let's go!"

One by one, they jump through; Gil, Matt, then Al, and finally Arthur just as the ice can no longer support the barrier, cracking under the pressure and the advancing melt.

His paws land in damp soil, a cold wind ruffling his fur as the barrier seals shut behind them.

"We're here."

From somewhere deep inside the dark forest, a distant growl rumbles…

Authors notes: And we're back to Arthur's perspective. Our dear wolfy needs more spotlight, he is one of the main characters after all.

Still kinda filler, but we gotta bridge the gaps between A and B somewhere, but hey, you get the boys shirtless for a bit, so it's all worth it.

I'm still trying to show that even though Arthur has been with them a while now, and Al's explained most things to him, he still doesn't really get human culture. Because he's a wolf who just so happens to be able to understand a few people, he still very much views things as a wolf, even when that view is very different to the others.

Buuut, we've finally got to the Great Wilderness, and oooh boy, is stuff gonna go down here.

R & R people.

Until next time, stay awesome!