a puppy.

"It's not fair, my brothers and sister's get to visit mama and papa, but…" she was stopped mid sentence noticing she was looking too much at the negatives again. She shook her head "never mind, I guess its not all bad, no more being babied by papa, I can actually go to my wild roots of the wolves like my ancestors before me, and I have you. You accept me for who I am Taku, and I thank you for that." she walked over to him and nuzzled his chest. Taku blushed a little "you're welcome, hey look they're back!" the pack had just arrive back to the cave with food. "just in time, a bad storm is approaching." one of the wolves said. "good job everyone." Aleu shouted to her pack.

The wolves looked at her with a strange look. "Yeah no thanks to you." a black and blue wolf laughed. "I just so happened to catch a couple of deer." Aleu said proudly. "Heh, you couldn't catch deer nowhere then five meter's" one of the Russian accented wolves proclaimed. "First of all, that's anywhere." Aleu corrected. "and second, what do you call this?" she retorted, stepping back to show the clan her catch. "a grown deer and her calf. With a little help of course." she added looking and smiling at Taku. "did you really do all that?" the black and blue wolf, known as shade asked. Aleu and Taku nodded. "yup. Now come on lets eat."

After their meal the clan decided to call it a day. Every wolf assigned their own spot in the cave, taku picked the very back in the corner. "Hey uh, Taku?" Aleu approached with a hint of shyness "may I…sleep next to you? I mean I'm usually more comfortable when near those familiar to me." Taku smirked "Of course. I understand." Aleu smiled back and laid next to her friend. "As a pup I always slept with my father, he lived in a broken down ship. but as I grew older, I wanted to distant myself from him, so I slept either on the other side of the corner or downstairs."

"I see. It's natural for children wanting to be distant from their parents from time to time, but when they get farther away apart, they begin to miss one another." he sighed. Aleu cocked her head sideways "huh?" the auburn wolf looked back and smiled "One of my grandfather's old sayings. That shaman always knew what to say." Aleu thought for a second "shaman? You mean Nava was-?" "my grandfather, yes. I miss him just as much as you miss your father."

"what about your parents?" the beta turned away from the alpha. "I never knew them, the old one says they ran off as soon as their litter was born." Aleu's smirk then turned to a frown. "But its ok. I've grown up to be a great warrior, wouldn't you agree?" he turned back facing aleu with a smirk. "Yes, you really are quite amazing." the two laughed. But were quickly silenced by the thunder roaring outside. "well, good night." he finished the conversation. "Yeah, good night."

'no! wait! Please don't! stay away!' the female wolf screamed running away from an hovering ominous silhouette. 'what is it that you want?'

'caw, caw!'

she turned around continuing her pace, trying your best to not slip over and fall. she gasped and her running went to a screeching hault seeing a pack of wolves starring at her. 'Aleu…' the female looked behind her to see a household, emerging from inside was her parents balto and jeana. 'mama? Papa!'

'caw, caw!'

'what are you trying to tell me?' she looked back in front of herself to see the wolves still starring at her. She felt the ice bellow her begin to crack then suddenly, she fell into the cold icy water, but not ending there, the silhouette started hovering closer and closer to her 'no, NOOOOOooo-'

"-OOOooo!" gasping for breath she looked both ways, scanning the area. Taku was still by her side, and the rest of the pack were still there. 'what was that all about?' was that suppose to mean something? "Oh yes indeed my curious friend." that voice "muru?" the little spirit field mouse chuckled "indeed." smiling at her spirit guide, Aleu layed her head on her front paw to face him eye to eye. "that dream you just had was indeed suppose to mean something."

"like what?" Muru shrugged "perhaps about your current thoughts. You're in-between, you're homesick yet you want to stay here. Sometimes you can't have your cake and eat it too.' Aleu quirked her head sideways "aroo?" the little rodent chuckled at her cuteness "hehehee, it means you can't have the best of both worlds, meaning you can't always get both ways, or homes in this case. This fact goes for everyone. Remember that."

Finally getting the point she sighed and closed her eyes "I see, well it was nice seeing you again," as she was about to finish, she noticed Muru's spirit had already disappeared. "Muru."

Aleu was the first to wake up and and get out of the cave. She did a quick stretch and let out a big yawn. After which she decided to take a little stroll around the island. "a walk does sound nice." she said aloud.

Meanwhile back in the cave Taku was squirming trying to get back to sleep but was unsuccessful. 'may as well get up.' he decided while yawning. Getting up and stretching, shacking, doing all he could to get fully awake. 'maybe something to drink will help. Say where's Aleu?' he pondered the thought and decided to sniff her out. Sticking his nose around sniffing out the air trying to capture her scent. It didn't take too long to find it, he had never smelt something so, sweet. 'better get going before she runs into trouble, she's quite the stubborn one.'

The young female wolf sighed as she looked on at the beach. It reminded her too much of her father's home. 'Papa.' she closed her eyes thinking back at all the things they used to play together. Sure they argued from time to time, but doesn't everybody? Its only natural to balance out the good with bad. She would always smile when he gave her a little nose rub, or when he pet her or that one time when he gave her a piggy back ride. All those were really good times. 'Papa, I'll always be your baby. But now, here, I'm a wild animal, free from hunters and neglect. I have friends here now and some of the clan members are starting to like me. I may not have a human like my brothers and sisters but maybe I'll get someone who's just as good. I hope you'll get to meet him one day papa. Heh, I just hope you won't be rough on him.' as she finished with her train of thought a familiar red wolf came by and sat by her side.

"Nice view huh?" "mhm. I'm feeling so nostalgic right now. If only this were the same spot as my father's home It would be perfect." she sighed. Taku frowned a little "well, no life is perfect. Tell me Aleu, what are your thoughts on the wild so far?" Aleu's face lit up, a sign that Taku's idea of cheering her up was working. "Its wonderful, I love it here, I feel so wild, so at home. But, home is also were family is…" Taku moved closer to Aleu "We are family, we are wolves, we share the same blood." Aleu smiled and licked the beta's cheek. "You're so sweet." the auburn wolf blushed a little. "erm heh, yes well, we should head back to the others, see if they're ready to catch breakfast." she nodded and followed after. "say has anyone ever told you that you have a very soothing scent Aleu?" 

---------------------------

"My name is Aleu, daughter of the hero of Nome; Balto. When I ran away, my purpose was to find a home. But as I progressed, I learned that I needed to find out who I was, what I wanted. All my life I wanted a home, to be treated like my brothers and sisters, like a dog. But then I realized that's not what I truly wanted, its what I was told to want. Now I'm beginning to understand who I am, and what my purpose is for being here. I want to lead this clan, continue the wild roots of my ancestors and continue the cycle of life for generations to come."

Some wolves howled at her speech, as if it were an applause. "We cannot be entirely sure if the ice bridge will form again or not. So just in case, if we're to continue living here for more generations, then we are to let the young live and there by multiplying and spawning more for us to eat later on. First we assign different schedules on how many times we'll eat in a week. We've already hunted a total number of four times in two days. So we'll have to cut that in half by hunting less than what we've already have. Then the next step, we'll stop from there and let the young survive and at least let two or three adult caribou survive with them. Then back to the top only we'll hunt a different group. To tell them apart, we'll mark the first group with our scent. Be sure to bite them only once so we can tell which group is which."

Aleu's plan sounded strange but it was worth a shot. After all whats the worst that could happen? its not like they'll warn each other and hunt the clan down out of revenge. "Now everyone, you've heard our leader's plan. It's your decision to follow it or not. If your with her, walk up here to her side, and if not, stay where you are we'll discuss of a way for that side to cooperate. You have ten minutes to decide." the Beta