On my Own

" Well thank you for that, Takarra," Mudpelt said slowly drifting to sleep. Kuna got up and went over to Takarra and laid by her. Mudpelt liked this scene. A pack, a mate, and all the friends she could ever want.

{( Next Day now, btw, its late fall)}

Takara opened her eyes, seeing blurry shapes of red and orange outside the den, and as she blinked a few more times, her vison cleared and she was more awake. Careful not to wake the others, she climbed down from her spot on their backs to the den entrance where she looked out at the small clearing, filled with leaves, and the few shapes of wolves laying curled up in the bushes and leaves. She turned back itno the den and gently placed a paw on Kuna's side. " Common, time to get up, already sunny out there." She said.
Keovi was beggining to stir, he lifted his head and yawned, then flicked his ear to remove a small beetle on it.

Kuna awakened to find Takarra nudging him awake.
" I don't think I've ever woken up to find something so beautiful in my vision," Kuna said lovenly. He looked to Mudpelt who was still sleeping peacefully. He then looked to the steadily rising sun. The day was warm enough even though the night before had been cold. It looked like the pack had made it all right.
" Do you think we should wake them, so we can get on our way," Kuna said. He wanted to feel the familiarity of the clearing.

(i'm making nighwalker into a yearling now)

Nightwalker ears twitched he could here movment within the den but he ignored it trying to keep himself a sleep. but the noise continued followed by the voices of Takara and Kuna, he sighed and open his eyes. he slowly stood up and looked at the two animas, "you know what a hate my ears? its hard to stay asleep when i can hear just about every sound you make. well i'm going to be the only forced to wake up so early." He prodded Deilila with his paw "come on get up Delila." Delila yawned and lifted up her head "its time ti get up already" she changed into a mouse and climbed to the top of Nightwalkers head. "maybe you could have slept longer if those two weren't so making so much noise. anyway lets go out Dilila maybe the feeling the sun on my fur can wake me up." said Nightwalker

Kuna bristeled as Nightwalker complained.
" Know your place pup," Kuna spat at Nightwalker. Did he have no respect for the two wolves that had willingly taken him into there pack?

Mudpelt stirred. The sound of arguing had stirred her. She awakened reluctantly. She just wanted to lay next to Keovi's waem fur forever. She got up trying not to stir Keovi.
" Whats going on," Mudpelt questioned the anima's and the wolf as she padded over.

Nightwaker turned his head to the sound of Mudpelt's voice, "nothing is going on those two just woke me up with the noise they were making, i really wasn't quite ready to get up yet so i'm a bit cranky right now. anyway i'm heading out" he turned and walked out of the den, he could feel the falling leaves under his paws and the sun's warmth on his fur. he laid down just a few feet away from the den.

Iceheart leapt up. She called good morning to her leaders, and then taking a deep breath of air "I imagine the leaves have all changed color" she barked dryly. "I'm going to catch some breakfast." she yipped and bounded into a world of color. The leaves crunched, and she knew she'd want help."she called to Ky, and they were off. She brushed past Nightwalker, her fur tingling and she blushing.

Ky noticed what Iceheart did, and made note of it. He changed into a fox, and bounded off, soon returning with the scent of a fawn.


Iceheart accepted the news, and followed Ky. They soon came to the fawn, and easily killed it. They brought it back to the den. She presented it to the leaders. "you can eat it all. You eat first, and there won't be enough for everyone. I won't eat, but everyone else can. She walked out and lay down in the sun, and her belly unvoluntarily grumbling.

" Thank you, Iceheart," Mudpelt gladly ate from the fawn. She had been feeling very weird lately. For the last week she had been tiring easily and been more hungry. Mudpelt thought about and decided think about it more later. After Mudpelt finished her share she went over to Keovi.
" Darling, you can't sleep all day," Mudpelt said lovenly as she nuzzeled him. Kuna sat by Takkara. He had felt what Mudpelt felt, but one difference was that he knew what was happening to her. He'd let her find out though.

Takara smiled, pawing at Kuna gently in the head. " Oh stop it. " She followed him quitly out of the den and watched as Nightwalker and iceheart were just dissapearing through the leaves. " Eh, he always seemed pretty grumpy. Keovi can deal with him later." She yawned. "Speaking of whom.." She went back inside with Kuna and mudpelt and helped Mudpelt wake the fluffy mass by jumping onto his head. " Ya, you cant sleep all day, its a beautiful Autumn day, there's hunting to be done, things to sniff, squirrels to chase!" She sand into his ear. Keovi growled at her playfully, opening an eye just as much to see her and push her down. " Good Morning, Mudpelt, sleep well?." He yawned widely, his white teeth gleaming. As he sat up, he licked a few stray bits of fur from Mudpelt's head, smiling sleepily at her as he observed the effect. Sunlight was starting to brighten up the leaves outside the den and light up the hollow in the tree. He rose to his paws and crawled out into the open, stopping halfway to watch Iceheart emerge from the leaves with a fawn. " Oh, thanks Iceheart. Your pretty good at hunting for a blind wolf." He said, eyeing up the fawn hungrily. Takara could care less for once, and decided to curl up next to Kuna again, enjoying what time they had in the clearing before Keovi or Mudpelt lead them off again.

Delila jumped off of Nightwalker's head and truned back into a fox " you know she likes you." Nightwalker didn't really care or wanted to talk about how Iceheart felt about him. she has been under him since he was a pup, it was annoiying. Besides he had other things his mind he has only been in this world of a little over a year, he has done a lot in the time and has changed a lot also even if he doesn't show it all the time, he can't just suddenly start being nice thats just not him. For the last few days his mind has thought about nothing else but the wolf that he first met when he was still just a pup. the wolf that saved him from drowning when he foolishly tried to fish in the lake. it seemed kind of funny now, how he thought he could some many different things when he was only still just a pup. he treated that wolf badly even though she did save him, then he thought about how he used to treat Delila even though she always looked after him. she just wanted to see him achive his dream that he is still working toward.

he sighed as he thought about the things that happened in the past. "Deilila... you know that you mean a lot to me right?" Deilila tilted her head to the side "of course i do... but where did that come from." Nightwalker just shook "don't worry about it. Deilila i think it may be time to visit an old friend."

" I did," Mudpelt said following Keovi out. She sat by kuna and Takkara as Keovi ate. It was weird but Mudpelt was still tired, even though she had slept peacefully. She had dreamed of her days as a pup and her mother watching her. She had then seen Keovi walking beside her...then she had woken up. The dream was strange but not something to worry about.
" I know she is a godd hunter," Mudpelt said absentmindedly.

"an old friend... who do you mean Nightwalker?" Delila asked. Nightwalker stood up and looked down out her, "don't tell me you have already forgoten about Dawn and her Anima." Deilila shook her head, "no i have not forgoten i just never herd you refer to them as friends before." Nightwalker moved his muzzle closer to Delila's, there noses almost thouching, "is that a problem." Deilila smiled him, "of course not" she changed into a mouse and climbed up Nightwalker's head. "good, we still have to talk to Mudpelt and Keovi first to get permission to leave. not so sure how thats going to go since Mudpelt is expecting pups soon but i have to give it a try, i never really thanked Dawn for saving my life. all i need is just a few days....." he walked in to the den and could smell the strong scent of the fawn that Iceheart had caught for them he walked right up to Mudpelt and Keovi and sat down. he looked at each of them as if his eyes could see when he said of their names, "Mudpelt, Keovi there is someone i need to find. i owe this person my life and i need to repay my dept to this wolf, what i want to ask is..... would it be alright if i went looking for this wolf it shouldn't take me more the a few days to find her."

Keovi's ears perked as his eyes followed Nightwalker's inside the den. " Another wolf? Like who?" He asked, both curious and a little hesitant. " if you leave our territory, then I'll have to warn you, the other lands beyond ours are inhabited by another pack now, I'm not sure how well they may take it to you visiting. However if your only traveling around Satili Forest, I have no objection to that." He stated, taking his gaze off the yearling to take some more of the fawn. Takara glanced to Delila and tilted her head in a questioning look. She didn't bother to get up though, she didn't plan on loosing her spot next to Kuna. Outside sunlight was now bathing the leafy clearing in a calming orange glow, and the red and yellow trees around them only glowed brighter. Though there were a few clouds in the sky above, it seemed the day would turn out comfortable enough. Some birds were singing on the high branches above the wolves, interrupted only by the rustling sound of wind through the tree branches.

Mudpelt listened as Nightwalker asked permission to leave.
" Well that was susprising," Mudpelt said turing to Keovi. She saw the sun rising and knew she wanted to get home. The place was nice but it held too many lonely memories.
" So Keovi, when do you think we should leave? I think Nightwalker could follow his way back to our camp," Mudpelt said. She hoped she wasnt sounding to demanding.

"the wolf i am looking for is called Dawn" Nightwalker said simply "i will have to leave this terrotory to find her, he scent is no longer in this area. i already know that territory is occupied with another pack, its faint but i can smell the scent markers from here. but i'm sure i can Dawn there." he stood up "so if you allow me to i would like to go look."

"Well then I guess you can go, I think you realize the dangers of trespassing so I won't lecture you on that. When you get back I'm sure you can find your way to us with that nose of yours. " Keovi finished, turning back to him for the moment before getting up and streaching in a bow. " Ya it was, I sisn't know he knew other wolves beside those here. Like Iceheart. "He added to mudpelt. " You want to leave now, after were all done with this fawn? Looks like it's almost finished off anyway." he sniffed it. Wagging his tail now, he added. " And then we can go back to our camp. We need to make some dens for everyone, I know a big old tree down there with a hollow under the roots we can fix up. " Takara yawned. " fine, let's go. " She murmured sleepily after getting to her paws and heading for the nearest tree to travel via branch hopping. ' Sure you can trust Nightwalker to acualy come back?' Takara's worried thoughts came to the great plains wolf. ' I think I can.' He answered back, turning his golden gaze on the black wolf, and watching him curiously. ' Well we'll see now won't we?' He thought.

Suddenly he remembered The other white wolf sleeping some distance away. He silently sent Takara to go and make sure they were awake. Her tiny brown form jumped through the branches, running along the wood and using her sharp claws to dig into the bark. When she reached the large rock she made her way to a lower branch and called out," Hey, your leader wants ya up now, they're all headed towards the lake now, just as a heads up." She said, sitting down for a moment to wait and see if they heard.

Kuna changed into a flying squerll so that he could travel with Takkara. Mudpelt was still deep in thought as everyone started to get ready. Kuna hopped down and stood by her willing her to understand.
" Oh, Kuna I know there's something different about me, but I just can't put a claw on it," Mudpelt said racing her mind for the answer.
Kuna saw the struggle in her eyes and gave her a small hint.
" You know Icehear acts like Nigtwalker is her pup, dont you think," Kuna prodded.
Mudpelt wondered what he meant by that, and then, it hit her, like one of Keovi's most warming breezes. She remembered her mother telling her what it had felt like when she had first known she was with pups. Tired, hungry, hyper, and longing for familiarity.
" I'm with pups, Kuna," Mudpelt said in a hushed overjoyed whisper.
" No duh, sweetheart," Kuna said leaving Mudpelt to think some more.
He walked up to Takkara as she was waking up the other wolf.
" You know sometimes I think Mudpelt acts a little too brainless," Kuna said jokenly. " Did you notice thats she's expecting," Kuna asked conversationally. Maybe it was just him that had noticed since he was her anima.

Iceheart knew that Nightwalker was annoyed with her, so she must act annoyed as well, even though the way he acted burned like fire. She had heard what Kuna had said, and she knew that Kuna was wrong. She growled grumpily "i don't care whether you go or not, Nightwalker" She turned to Mudpelt moodily "great. When do we leave. If your'e going to have pups soon, then we should go soon, or we'll be stranded."

Nightwalker bowed his head to his leader "i will be back as soon as i feel my debt as been repaided." he turned and was about to walk out of the when he heard Icehearts tone, it confussed him she was always so upbeat but he ingnored it and contuned his way

( Kuna didnt really mean that he just saidf that as a hint for Mudpelt )

a pair of gold eyes suddenly shot towards Iceheart, Keovi's pelt was prickling irritably at her words. " Watch your tongue, omega. " He growled. " Mudpelt is your leader too, if you choose to disrespect her there will be punishment. " He warned. Yards away, Takara felt his unease. She glanced back through the trees through squinted eyes. " Huh, keovi's upset about somethin." She said but her gaze returned to Kuna's. " But he can handle it. Ya know, I thought I noticed something different about Mudpelt. I can't wait for the pups though!" She said happily, closing her eyes and nuzzling into Kuna's soft fur. " I know Keovi will be so proud. And I'm just so glad we met you and Mudpelt." She said softly. Opening one eye she glanced down at the wolf on the rock impatiently.

Keovi was now stepping towards Nightwalker, his dark tail was held out as he smoothed down a few stray pieces of fur on his head. " Ok, be careful, your a handful as is, I don't need you hurt as well as blind." He said jokingly. " Well I'm sure you'll be fine, just don't mess with wolves you know you shouldn't. " He said more seriously. as he turned to leave, Keovi felt a uneasy feeling of worry pass over him. He was always intrigued by the pup since he met him, but now he was responsible for teaching and guiding him too. He tried to push the thoughts away as he turned back to the group.

(i know that, but Iceheart doesn't)

Iceheart dipped her head, "sorry" She kicked herself in her head. You must obey the leader!! and be kind and never mean unless you are revolting!!!! She turned to Mudpelt and asked kindly "what can I do to help?"

Arrow, had been listening in to all of this with Zena "May i do something to help as well?" He asked

Keovi glanced at both Arrow and Iceheart, thinking through some plans in his mind quickly. " I guess you both can. Mudpelt needsa den first." He said, looking over to her and back, his gaze slowly moving away towards the trees, where he tried to see through the branches to the lake. " After she gets a nice den, you can dig your own dens near that spot. We'll take you down there now. You alright, Mudpelt?" He asked, glancing back to her, and tilting his head slightly.

(Wolf mothers normally dig their own dens, and find them too.)


Iceheart dipped her head in respect. "yes leader. I will do my best to dig the den."