It had been a few weeks ever since Sami and Tala had given a birth to their puppies respectively and with that, it all looked like that the alpha females of each wolf pack were going to remain unseen from the outer world until their puppies were old enough to start exploring the outer world by themselves.

Since it was evident that neither Saku nor Faro wanted to be far from their mates all while both females and their offsprings were at their most vulnerable, someone else had to lead the hunt in their name and sure enough, that responsibility was taken by Hunter in Saku's clan and by one of the stronger males in Faro's clan.

That morning, in early February, as the season of snowstorms was dying down, it was now safer to stay outside and hunt on longer distances. This was Hunter's responsibility to lead the successful hunt and provide the food for the entire pack, the alphas and their only puppy. In fact, they were done with the hunt and it was a very successful one!

"Come on, we can do this! One, two, three, pull it up!" Hunter led the hunting party back to the den as he and few other wolves were pulling the dead elk up the hill, providing the great amount of food for all of them. As they made a small stop, one of the wolves was burning with the curiosity, like a fierce fire, to ask: "Hunter, when will alpha Saku resume the lead in hunting? I mean, you're a great leader, but…"

Hunter stopped for a moment as the wolf had given him a good reason to think about this. He could feel in his voice that he was not questioning his lead, but it was rather that if any other wolf pack would come across and find out that alpha was not in charge of hunting, it'd stir a controversy and possibly bring a shame to them.

"We'll have to give him some time until so. You do realize that he wants to spend a lot of time with his daughter Aniu or in this case, my niece?" Hunter gave him an answer to think about in return and seeing that there was no other choices, the wolf decided not to say anything else as Hunter repeated: "Alright, one, two, three, pull!"

Without stopping and asking dumb questions, it was all done in short time as Hunter could manage all by himself to pull the dead elk into the prey storage cave and once letting off the neck of the dead animal, Hunter left the dark cave and told the wolves to get back to their activities as he had one thing in mind right now, something that was going to bring a smile on his cheerful face.

"Hunter, you're back!" Tala called for him as soon as he stepped out of the cave and Hunter smiled to his sister. It had been like few days ever since she started going outside by herself and Hunter was starting to get used to that. He smiled to his sister and asked her: "Tala! I'm still feeling surprised to see you outside again. Where is Aniu, by the way?"

"Oh, she's right there! She is playing with Saku, look!" Tala beckoned him to look at the woods towards southeast as Saku was seen happily skipping in the snow all while the snow white female wolf puppy Aniu was giggling and holding on her father's head. The laughs of the father and the giggles of the daughter echoed in the den.

"This is so much fun, papa! Faster! Faster!" Aniu was heard yipping as she was riding on her father's head. All while Saku's joyful laughter was heard all over the place as he told her: "Alright, my little Aniu! Hold on tight, because we are going… really FAST!" And he was truly fast as Aniu held closer to his head so she wouldn't slip off him into the snow.

"Tala, you and Saku have a precious daughter. This makes me wish I had a family on my own right now." Hunter admitted to her, having that warm feeling that one day he'd have a female on his own and with her they'd share the laughs and joy when he was going to be a father one day and even Tala's voice echoed in his thoughts on that: "You will, Hunter. One day you will!"

As Hunter had sighed, Saku and Aniu have come closer to Tala, who then asked: "Having fun you two?" All while Saku was exhaling and inhaling to regain his breath and energy, he nodded with the grin on his face all while Aniu yipped: "Yes we do, mama!" And she jumped off her father's head to hug her mother by her right leg.

"Aniu, you're a such sweetheart, do you know that? And guess who else is here with me!?" Aniu raised her look to see Hunter coming to her sight as he amusingly told his niece: "You think that I, your uncle Hunter, will miss all the fun happening in here?" Aniu's small fluffy tail wagged as she saw her dear uncle next to her: "Uncle Hunter!"

She then let off her mother's leg to jump around her uncle with lots of excitement. As Hunter couldn't follow her entirely where she was jumping all around, he knew what he had to do so he laid down and rolled with his back in the snow as he laughed in joy. All so that little Aniu could jump on his belly and tickle him for the happiness of them all!

Now that Saku and Tala watched their only daughter play with their uncle, she leaned against him on his shoulder to catch the scent off him. All this felt like a wonderful dream to both alphas, there was no denying it. Tala's dreamy voice even said: "Saku, look at them! Aniu may look like me, but I can see that she loves you two a lot!"

"It's like we're her favorites, Tala. Nah, I'm just kidding!" Saku joked as he knew that it'd make Tala feel left out because how little Aniu was fond of her father and uncle the most. The little one could not leave her mother out as she was the one who gave her all the love, warmth and food she ever needed.

"Saku, this may be one of the days when Aniu should meet Faro, Sami and their triplets!" Tala realized what time it was. Saku had that in mind clearly for some time as he knew that Aniu would be thrilled to play with Saku II, Taku and Nita one day. All while he asked his mate: "I wonder what's up with Faro, Sami and their puppies right now?"

With him wondering about them, it was also pretty lively in their neighbouring pack. Especially considering the fact that Faro and Sami had triple the fun than they had since they had to take care of Saku II, their older son and a black one, Taku, their brown son and younger one and the youngest one and the only female, Nita, the white one.

"Tag, you're it!" Nita, the dark blue eyed puppy, softy patted her eldest sibling, Saku II, whose eyes were the same as his mother's, by his shoulder as she and Taku, with the same eyes as the older namesake of his brother, had made a run for it as they could hear Saku II's mischievous laughter echoing by the rocks as he had given the chase to his siblings, climbing up the hill. All while they were under the supervision of their parents, Faro and Sami. "Come back, you two!"

"Look at them, Faro, they are our precious little mischiefs!" Sami was amused by the playtime her triplets had as they were slowly following them from behind, wanting to make sure that they were not so overprotective. All while Faro had whispered in her ear: "Like when we were little, Sami, they know how to have fun!"

"Ahhh, you got me!" Taku was heard as Saku II was close and fast enough to pounce his little brother so the giggles of all three of them could be heard and followed with Saku's: "Tag, you're it, brother!" However, instead of Nita making a run for it, she had her view focused in the distance and she was pretty much standing on the top of the hill.

"Wow! Saku, Taku! Come! Take a look!" Nita called for her brothers to join them and both brothers paused the game of tag just to see what Nita was seeing. It wasn't until both of them were heard gasping: "This looks so pretty!" and "Whoa!" This led to their parents to discover what they were looking at and they had seen it coming.

The puppies gazed at the forests in the distance, covered with snow, each one of the trees. The mountains were seen in the distance and their peaks were also covered with the thick layers of snow. There was one valley in the distance that was whitening with all the snow and this led to Taku to ask: "What is all this out there?"

"That, my son, is the outer world, outside the territories of our clans!" Faro was heard as he was climbing up the hill with Sami to finally reveal himself to his pups. As they stood behind them, wanting to make sure none of them would fall down the steep hill, Sami spoke with the voice that sounded enchanting: "The outer world out there is far bigger beyond your imaginations, Taku!"

"Really? What is out there, mama?" Nita asked her mother as she and her brothers all knew of was the territory under her parents' rule and the stories of Saku and Tala's neighbouring territory. Sami answered to her only daughter: "There's everything out there you could never imagine in your dreams, Nita! You and your brothers are too young to know, but one day, when you're old enough, you will go on adventures to discover the outer world by yourselves!"

The puppies all howled in excitement as the thought of going on adventures out there did sound pretty exciting, but as they were very young, they had to cherish every moment of their puppyhoods. Saku's mind was burning with curiosity, which led him to ask his father: "Papa, is the outer world like this everywhere?"

"Not exactly, Saku II. I mean, it is cold and snowy for the most of the part of this landscape, but some parts of the outer world are far more different than you'd ever imagine!" Faro explained to his eldest son, which could lead to him imagine various environments, even with the ones where the snow would never, ever fall.

"Mama, papa, did you see all that outer world by yourselves?" Taku asked, since the snow, taigas, frozen lakes and river, rocks, snowy hills and mountains were the only things he could ever imagine as the world. Sami sat down with her mate and revealed: "We have not seen the entire outer world, but your father and I did come from the different parts of it!"

"Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh!" All three of them howled as they found that backstory pretty exciting and hearing them howl, Sami and Faro could imagine how strong these three would become in the near future. Faro even laid down so his head could be closer to his puppies and there he'd ask them amusingly: "Would you settle down with the story of me and your mama meeting back then?"

All three of them gazed one another and hearing the stories of the outer world were exciting for them to hear and all three sat down and panted in joy, being ready to her the story of their parents meeting. Even Sami laid down next to him and glancing at her mate for a second, she whispered to them: "Your papa will begin the story and I'll chime in!"

While narrating their backstory to their puppies, one clearly did not expect that all three of them would fall asleep as if they were listening a bedtime story in the middle of the winter day! Knowing what this could mean, Sami helped up with carrying the puppies by putting the sleepy Nita on Faro's back as he was carrying Taku in his jaws and she was carrying Saku II in hers.

They descended down the hill all the way to their cave, where they could put the puppies down. First Sami placed Saku on the ground, then she grabbed Nita and tucked her close to her brother and by her chest so Faro could tuck down Taku by his siblings. All while Sami gazed at her triples with her grass green eyes and musing: "Don't they look adorable when they're asleep, Faro?"

"Yeah, very!" Faro couldn't deny it as his precious three little balls of fur were cuddled together, protected by mother's love and father's care from the dangers from the outer world. Now it came to Faro to tell his mate: "Sami, I think this is the good time for our puppies to meet Saku and Tala's daughter Aniu! I should go over there to let them know about this!"

"Oh yeah! I've been longing to meet little Aniu myself!" Sami realized how great that all sounded, also revealing that she'd never meet her old friend's daughter and it was possible that Tala hadn't met her triplets yet. Faro was already at the entrance of the cave to tell her: "Don't you worry, my love! You won't be disappointed!"

Leaving her mate all by herself for a short amount of time, Faro headed towards the frozen river and after sliding to the another side, he made it past few obstacles until he'd reached the entrance to his destination away from the fallen trees and rocks and he spotted the brown alpha nearby, shouting: "Saku! Saku, over here!"

Saku turned his head and there he could easily notice Faro. With the smile on his face stretching upon this sight, Saku amusingly greeted him: "Faro, hey! I thought you were with your triplets!" Thus the answer had come: "I was, but they're sleeping with Sami right now. Speaking of which, I don't think I see little Aniu in here."

"She's playing with her uncle Hunter. You know, she's pretty fond of her uncle!" Saku said this and ended it with a delightful laughter while thinking on that. Even Faro could picture in his head how Hunter was giving her free rides on his head, but of course, he moved on to the main topic: "Say, I've been thinking something. Better to say, Sami and I have. I think this is the time our triplets were to meet with your daughter. What do you say?"

Since Aniu had no siblings, having her to play with the puppies her parents and uncle would definitely trust, this was something new and also beautiful to think about so of course, Saku answered: "You're right! This is going to be a wonderful moment for my daughter to play with your puppies! When do you suggest they should have their playtime?"

Even if it was around noon right now, it seemed like today was not the day because it was winter and the days on the north of the world at these times were too short. Therefore, Faro answered him: "We can have them meet tomorrow! Since you have plenty of clearing, I think it'd be our honor to come to your territory and have my puppies play in here!"

"Then that's a deal!" Saku liked that idea, picturing various kinds of fun time these four puppies were going to have. Faro was satisfied with Saku's response as he was now going to return to his mate, but not before him saying: "Now don't forget to tell Tala, Hunter and little Aniu that I'm saying "Hi!", alright?"

"I won't! And don't you forget to say "Hi!" to Sami and your puppies as well!" Saku amusingly replied to him before the two friends shared some more laughs and then Faro was gone behind the trees and rocks and all while Saku headed to his mate, his best friend and his daughter to tell them everything about the following day.

The next day came in the blink of an eye. While it was a snowstorm that night, it was not a terrible one and when the morning had come, the weather out there had become relatively calm and clear. The alphas and Hunter eagerly awaited for Faro, Sami and their triplets' arrival that noon, which was creeping behind the corner quite quickly.

"Now, now, Aniu, we've got a little surprise for you!" Saku mused to his daughter as she was on top of his head, being all excited and curious at the same time that she could not conceal it: "Papa, what kind of surprise is it? Is it something fun?!" Tala was amused how excited her daughter was and she whispered to her: "Now, now, Tala. If your papa were to tell you what it is, then that would no longer be a surprise, right?"

"Yes, mama!" Aniu agreed with what her mother just said and in that moment, the smile on Hunter's face stretched as he noticed two familiar figures approaching them, which he mentioned: "Look, here come Faro and Sami! Aniu, you do remember your parents' friend, Faro, right? Well, the female next to him is his mate Sami, like your parents are!"

"Oooooooooohhhhhh!" Aniu howled excitedly as Faro and Sami were closer to them and Faro opened the introductions: "Hey, you three! Hi there, little Aniu! Do you remember me?" Aniu leaned closer to Faro that she ended up blocking her father's sight, for which he snickered in an amusement when she said: "Yes, you're uncle Faro! And who are you?"

Sami was both thrilled and excited now that she had a chance to meet Saku's only puppy and she started: "Awwwwwww, aren't you one adorable little white female? I am Sami, Faro's mate, and you must be little Aniu!" Aniu loved how warm and kind this adult female was to her and she replied excitedly to her: "Yes I am!"

Now Tala jumped off her father's head down on the ground so she wouldn't have to block his view and she landed softly and safely down on the snowy soil. All while Tala was looking at this, she had asked them: "Faro, Sami, you didn't forget to bring them with you, did you?" The idea of them forgetting their triplets had not crossed their mind when Faro cheerfully spoke: "Alright, you three! Down you go! You've been hidden for long enough!"

And indeed, while Tala and Aniu could not notice anyone on Faro's back, Saku II, Taku and Nita popped out as if they had been concealed pretty well behind and all three of them landed down safely as they had observed two familiar faces from before - Saku and Hunter. Then they had noticed one new adult face - Tala.

"Look at you three! You are so adorable!" Tala mused when she noticed the black puppy Saku II, the brown puppy Taku and the white puppy Nita, who wagged their tails, stuck their tongues out to pant in happiness and smiled to the adult white female. It wasn't until they'd heard the voice belonging to Aniu: "Hey there!"

It was at this moment when Aniu had spotted three puppies equal to her age and so did they, with the amazement in their eyes when they had noticed one white female puppy with the golden eyes watching them curiously and excitedly and it wasn't until she politely enough introduced herself to them: "My name is Aniu, what are yours?"

Saku the Second was the first one to have the honor to introduce himself: "Hi! My name is Saku! Believe it or not, my mama and papa named me after your papa!" Both Saku II and Aniu gazed at Saku, who smiled to them both warmly and amusingly. Then, it was Taku when he said: "How was your name? An...eye you?"

"A-nie-you." Aniu had him corrected as he was confused at first how to pronounce her name at first and then Taku repeated: "Anieu… no, Aniu… wait, I got it now! Aniu! Oh, I am Taku, by the way!" As practice would make everything perfect, there was no doubt in this case and Aniu liked how he was trying actually as she said: "It's my pleasure, Taku."

And now the two female puppies gazed at one another and it was amazing to both of them how they looked alike, although Nita had dark blue eyes in comparison to Aniu. Nita got the chance first: "I am Nita, Saku and Taku's sister!" It sounded like as if Aniu liked her name and she giggled before saying: "Nice to meet you, Nitti! You and I look alike!"

"It's Nita, not Nitti. But sure we do!" Nita corrected her in here, which was most likely an unintentionally mistake coming from Aniu, but all was well now. All four puppies got to meet each other and even Nita raised on her rear legs to place her front legs on Sami's leg to ask her: "Mama, can we go play with our new friend Aniu? Please?"

Even Saku II and Taku joined forces to give that innocent puppy look to their mother and father and Sami amusingly spoke: "That is why we've come here in the first place! You've got all the clearing for you four to play!" Indeed, this was a pretty good day for them to play and the snow covered meadow was calling for them to have fun under the icy blue sky.

"Alright! The last one is the rotten egg!" Nita commenced the playtime as she made a head start towards the meadow, with both of her brothers and Aniu following her behind. All while their parents respectively and Hunter had them under their sight. These puppies had no worries in their lives and with them playing out there, it seemed like they were the most innocent creatures in the world at this point.

"Would you look at them? Even if Aniu has no siblings, I can see from there that she's having lots of fun with your triplets!" Tala commented this scenery as Saku II was the one who had to tag the next puppy he'd get first, including Aniu herself. All while she leaned on Saku's shoulder, as he was sighing blissfully, for a good reason.

"At least Aniu has someone to play with, and so did all three of you. Unlike me." Saku commented, remembering painfully how he had faced neglection and was ignored by his own family for being a runt. Hunter, standing next to him, spoke the words that compensated his sorrows: "But you have become a father to a beautiful puppy! Your family might have thought that you'd never succeed, but if they were here, they'd be proven wrong now!"

Suddenly, a loud yelp came from one of the puppies and both Saku and Faro headed there to see what had just happened. Coming closer, they had noticed the brown puppy bending his paw by himself with the pained look on his face all while the white puppy, Aniu, backed down, bending her tail and lowering her ears in shame.

"What happened here?" Saku asked first, noticing that Aniu was feeling ashamed for something she'd just done. Faro looked at his son and noticing there was no wound or anything, asked: "Taku, my son, what's wrong?" Taku, while having no bad intentions towards his playmate, said: "Aniu bit my paw!"

This was followed with the gasp from Saku and then the look he'd given to his daughter, expressing disappointment and then, his response: "Aniu, I know you're excited to play with them, but you can't just go bite someone! You know that someone could get hurt!" She realized her mistake in here as her excitement had overstayed the welcome for a bit.

"I… I'm sorry, papa! I didn't mean to bite Taku in his paw!" Aniu shivered, fearing that her action would have left some consequences. Still, there was no way that Saku would be mean towards his beloved daughter, not even when Taku stood on his paw and walked up to Aniu and he did something that broke the tension - licked her cheek.

"There, it's all forgiven to you, Aniu." Taku had no intention to hold grudges against anyone and when she had been forgiven for this, she nuzzled him to express how thankful she was, all to the delight of Faro and Saku, with the former saying: "That's what I love to see, you two! I see you've been both taught well in this situation!"

"Taku, Aniu! Come, you're missing all the fun!" Saku II called for them as he tackled his sister on her back and tickled her by rubbing his paws on her belly, her giggles echoing in the clearing. Aniu and Taku wasted no time but to head straight there and have all the fun, all while Sami, Tala and Hunter came to the fathers.

"You know, I've never been this more concerned for Taku. Unlike his brother and sister, he seems to be a bit weaker than them, as if he is a runt." Faro explained his concern, fearing that Aniu's bite would have had his son injured and recover for a long time. Hunter, however, simply answered: "At least he carries on with his life as a puppy, just like our friend over here!"

That friend he'd been talking to was Saku, of course, whom Hunter was smugly looking at. Sami, however, was not glancing at anyone but at Saku's left front paw as he memory flashed in front of him and before revealing it, she asked him: "Saku, do you remember when we were just few months old…? Probably not, especially how the hair on your leg had hidden it."

"Huh?" Saku was puzzled by the form of the words she'd used as he looked at his front left leg, not understanding what was going on. Sami then opened the doors for the memory to break free: "Well, I might have guessed that you don't remember that time, but when I've heard how Aniu just bit Taku by his paw, I remembered doing that to you once back then!"

"You bit me in the paw when we were just few months old? Well, I can't say that I remember it was you, but I remembered how my leg was hurting me for a few days and no one offered to tend my hurt leg." Saku's memory on that event was blurry, but the pain was not. That pain was larger as no one in his family even bothered to make his feel comfortable.

"But if anything, Sami, just like Aniu and Taku, I forgive you after years of that event, alright?" Saku amusingly smiled to her just to make sure that forgiveness was something everyone should offer to one another, learning from his daughter and her son. There was no denying it, all other adults around them knew it was "Forgive and forget" at this point.

The smile on Sami's face indicated that her memory, while remaining deep inside her head, undiscovered for a long time, had emerged, she'd start feeling bad for that deed. Thankfully, she had no longer to worry about it as she could enjoy the view of the puppy playtime in the company of her mate, her old friend, his mate and his best friend, all on this beautiful chilly February morning, deep in the snowy taigas of Alaska.