tugs she often used to keep them guessing and sharpen their reflexes. She's too busy thinking about Angel, she realized. She does that a lot these days. It wasn't that Star didn't care about her sister. She just wanted attention from her mother. But Angel's unhappy behavior and her not-listening were making Luna unhappy, which made Star unhappy. So if I can make Angel happy, she reasoned, Then Mommy will be happy, and then she can play with me. So she left the boys and Arrow to keep Luna busy and trotted into the next room to find Angel. She tentatively approached her sister, who might have been asleep but for the reek of hostility wafting from her fur. Star cleared her throat. “Hey, Angel?” she asked hesitantly.
Angel's head whipped in her direction and her eyes narrowed like a cat's. Star cringed like a kitten facing a Doberman. “What do you want?” Angel demanded.
Star gulped. “I... I wanted to know what's going on with you.”
Angel turned her back. “Mind your own beeswax,” she spat.
Star was almost relieved that Angel was no longer holding her in the fearsome gaze, and for a moment she considered heeding her sister's command. But instead she continued, “Everyone's wondering why you and Mommy and Daddy aren't getting along well.”
“They're too bossy,” came the snippy reply. “Does that answer your question?”
Star gulped. “Maybe you should just listen to them. They like it when I do that.”
“No duh,” snapped Angel, whirling around to face her and looking as if she might attack. “They like it because they like you. As far as they're concerned, you never do anything wrong. It's me they're always getting mad at.”
Star leaned her ears forward. “I don't think so. I mean they let you play with other puppies, but they want me to stay with them. I wish I had other friends like you do.”
Angel bared her teeth. “You know what I wish?” she demanded. “I wish that you would just stop talking to me and leave me alone!”
Star's chin began to quiver. Here eyes teared up, and then she turned tail and ran into the next room. Why did Angel have to be so mean?! “Mommy!” she called.
Luna's head jerked up at the sight of her daughter's tears. “What happened?” she asked.
“I was trying to talk to Angel and she just yelled at me!”
Luna rose to her feet. “What am I going to do with that girl?” she muttered under her breath. “Wait here.”
Luna went into the next room, where Star heard some loud scolding from her mother with intervals in between, not unlike you might have heard if someone is talking on the phone. She tried not to cry. She wasn't a baby, after all. Besides, she had never seen Luna cry except that one time when she almost fell off a cliff. And she certainly wasn't crying now. After a moment she seemed to calm down, and a few seconds later, she came in followed by Angel.
Star worked extra hard to will back the tears as they came up and sat in front of her, Angel's face every bit as sullen and unpleasant as before, and Luna's looking as if she just wanted the whole thing to be over. Luna turned an expectant gaze on Angel, who lowered her ears and hung her head as if she had been caught wetting the rug.
“I'm... I'm sorry,” the offending puppy said.
Luna nodded her approval and turned her gaze to Star. “Star?” she asked. “Do you have something to say?”
Star didn't feel at all better for the apology, but she knew what Luna was expecting out of her, so she said, “I forgive you.”
Luna rewarded this with a smile and a nod. “That's better. Now, I don't want to see or hear any more fighting, okay?”
Star nodded in agreement. “I won't fight,” she said.
“Yeah, me neither,” said Angel without much conviction. “I was just trying to get some space is all.”
“I see,” said Luna. She looked at Star and gestured with her head, indicating that they should go into another room. “Well, Star, why don't we let her have her space? Hopefully she'll be in a better mood later, and then she can join us.”
Star obediently followed Luna out of the room, thinking how strange it was that Angel got to have more friends even though she was so unfriendly. “Mommy,” she asked, “How come only Angel gets to play with other dogs?”
Luna pursed her lips in a show of inward thought. “Well, I wouldn't say she's the only one who gets to,” she countered, “But I do see why you might think so. What it really is is just that Angel found her friends, and you haven't yet.” Looking at her daughter with renewed attention, she asked, “Are there some dogs you want to play with?”
Star's ears drooped. “I don't know any,” she admitted weakly.
Luna smiled. “I'll tell you what,” she offered, bending down to talk to Star eye-to-eye. “Next time Angel goes with her friends, I'll leave the boys with Toby and we'll go find you a friend of your own. Deal?”
Star smiled and jumped up and down. “Yeah, that'd be great!”
Luna laughed, her smile spreading from ear to ear. “Well okay.”
As Star had hoped, the very next day Arrow walked in early in the afternoon to tell Angel that one of her friends was outside looking for her. Star overheard this and instantly ran to Luna. “Mommy, Mommy!” she barked. “Star's going with her friends now!”
Luna, who had been napping in a patch of sunshine coming through the window, yawned and stretched out her forepaws as dogs do, then rose to her paws. “Alright,” she said, “Let's get started.”
Both of them started out the search with enthusiasm. Star was bouncing all over the place, anxious to find someone to be her friend. Luna traveled at a somewhat more measured tempo, reasoning that it would be best if Star made friends as much on her own as possible. Unfortunately, there was one problem with that idea. Although they did run into a lot of dogs, many of whom evidently thought Star was a sweet little pup, it seemed that all of them were too old for her invitation of friendship. Luna tried suggesting that perhaps an older friend would be a good choice, especially an older girl who could serve as a sort of big sister figure, but Star was insistent that she wanted friends, or at least one friend, her own age, and preferably a boy. After all, that was what Luna had growing up. However, it seemed for some time that fate was not in their favor.
“Phooey,” snapped Star after almost an hour of walking through the streets. “We've been all over town and no sign of any pups my age to make friends with.”
Luna tsked and was about to agree when, looking up, she chanced to catch a glimpse of a small scrappy-looking puppy, his coat a regular paint spill of mixed colors, crossing the street just ahead of them. “I see one,” she said brightly.
“Where? Where?” asked Star, excited. Catching sight of the other pup, she ran toward him and froze, looking back at Luna. “How do I make friends with him?” she asked.
Luna shook her head and gestured with a paw. “Just go talk to him. Be yourself.”
But nobody likes me, she thought. Let's see...
“How did you make friends with Dad?” she asked.
“We just sort of bumped into each other,” she replied. “Now go...”
“Okay!” Star ran over to the other pup, aiming for a collision course. But instead of colliding as she had hoped, he responded by pulling up short and missing her by a foot.
“What the heck are you doing?” he asked.
Luna laid a paw over her eyes as she watched, shaking her head. 'That was worse than Grandpa's stories about Boris' flying practice,' she thought. She wanted to call out to Star that she hadn't meant it that way, but chose to hold her tongue. After-the-fact coaching wouldn't save a crash-and-burn, but immediate advice would make Star look strange – stranger, rather – and likely do more harm than good.
Star turned around, but to Luna's relief she didn't go for a crash this time.”Wanna be friends?” she asked.
“Huh?” he asked in confusion, ears leaning back. One paw was still poised in midair as it had been when he stopped to avoid the impact.
“My name's Star, and I'm trying to make a friend,” she repeated.
“Oh. Well, uh, sure, we can be friends,” he agreed. Then tentatively he added, “I guess.”
“Great!” she cheered. Then she paused, her ears cocked slightly and her lips pursed. “What's your name?”
“My name's Eska.”
“Okay. Hey Mom, I made a new friend! His name's Eska!” she called to Luna, even though by now she was only about three feet away.
“So I heard,” Luna chuckled. “I'm Luna, Star's mom.”
Eska looked back and forth between them. “You don't look like her,” he said.
Star's ears drooped, but Luna just smiled. “Well, she takes after her father.”
“Really?” Eska asked. “Well, that makes sense.”
Star still seemed bothered by her new friend's observation, so Luna ventured, “Are there any games you like to play, Eska?”
“Well, tag's always fun,” the pup
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