calm down, each scar has a story behind it, maybe your Aunt Destiny will tell you them someday” interjected Balto. Personally I was not looking forward to recounting how I got my scars.

“And lastly but certainly not least we have Kaila, my little girl” a smile was erupting as he said that. “Oh stop it daddy, I know I’m the oldest”. Kaila blushingly pointed out. Kaila was the only pup that seemed to inherit physical traits from their father. She had a coat mixed of brown and grey that had a darker tone than Balto’s; she also had his golden lupine eyes. Balto sat and stared with great pride at his and Jenna’s creations. “Alright you two, time to join your mother outside”. Kaila and Copper yipped in delight and agreement as they headed for the back door. “So what do think?” questioned Balto.

“Their adorable Balto, little bundles of joy each and every one of them” After all of the introductions I took a peek outside; it was getting late figuring that Cyan would be finished by now and waiting for me. “Say Balto, it was great meeting your family but I should probably call it a day”.

“Alright Destiny, stay safe” he replied.

Balto and I went out the backdoor as we went our separate ways, him to his family, and me to mine. As I began making my way towards the forest across the hillside Balto had called to me: “Oh yeah Destiny I almost forgot, tell Cyan I said Hi!” My memory recalled something that I had forgotten about throughout the course of the day. “OK I will! Cyan says hi to you as well!” I said. We exchanged glances as we both smiled and headed our separate ways. Upon reaching the top of the first set of hills, I turned back and watched Balto join Jenna and the pups frolicking around. I knew I wanted to feel that form of unity; it was just a matter of time I thought.

After climbing up the first hill I started dashing back to the forests not wanting Cyan have to wait another second. The sun had begun setting on the horizon, leaving the sky consisting of a ball of faint yellow accompanied by shades of orange all around it, the sun was growing weary and so was I, though this day wasn’t as physically draining as past days, it was a lot to swallow.

By the time I had reached our cave it was night, with nothing but moonlight lighting the path. Approaching the cave my ears flicked up to the sounds of a faint chewing noise. ‘I guess he got hungry waiting’. The thought of food made my stomach rumble making me realize that I hadn’t eaten anything all day either. Entering the cave the mouth of the cave I saw two beady bright blue eyes gleaming at me. “Destiny!” shouted Cyan in joy, though some of the phrasing was butchered as he had something in his muzzle. Within moments he bolted towards me and leapt onto me causing us to roll as ball of fur around the cave.

After the momentum finally gave away we, unhooked from each other laughing. Getting up I noticed blood drops splattered on my fur, I gave out a panicky yelp “You okay Cyan?!” Cyan momentarily got up and was still chuckling; he came into the light where the moon could reach revealing himself with a half-eaten, bloodied snowshoe hare hanging from his muzzle. He dropped the remains in front of me and nuzzled into my neck murmuring “Don’t worry Des, it’s not my blood” I breathed a sigh of relief as I looked at the kill. “I have to admit though, this is kind of embarrassing to bring back only a single hare but this is all I could really find out here, being so close to a town has probably scared the wildlife out if they haven’t already been hunted out, not to mention hunting alone is a lot trickier than I thought” he continued on with his list of excuses. I stepped toward him and nuzzled him with the top of my head against his neck in satisfaction and gratitude. “It’s fine Cyan, better than nothing right?” He closed his muzzle at that point and smiled, and I returned it. “Besides hunters scaring away the wildlife? I think we may have scared them away” I said with a grin. “Say you’re not too tired yet are you Cyan?” “I’m wide awake and I can guess where this is going” He trotted over to the mouth of the cave. “Come on I know you’re just dying to tell me about your day” he chuckled, we both made our way outside of the cave and bathed in the moonlight on top of the caves entrance as we – well I talked and ate. As the night went on along with our mingling, it eventually had to end as we went back into the cave and cuddled into each other’s side exchanging glances. “I love you Destiny”, “I love you too Cyan” and with that we closed our eyes and feel into a blissful sleep in each other’s embrace.

*                            *                            *

A strange, but familiar voice started calling out to someone. “Shannon! you alright girl?”

‘Hmmm…?’ I drowsily thought as a hand stroked my back.

“That wolverine didn’t hurt you too bad did it girl?”

‘Shannon…?’

“C’mon Shannon, I’ll take you back and fix you up good so we can get back to hunting” continued the mysterious voice.

‘Is that… Mark…?’ I opened my eyes out of curiosity only to find myself in a small wooden cabin. The very same cabin I stayed in for a couple of months after my encounter with the Winter Storm Pack Rebellion… and him… Jaydor.

 I shuddered at the thought. Refocusing on the cabin I was in, everything remained the same from when I had left it. The same fireplace, the same rocking chair Mark would sit on, and the same old Mark… it had stayed exactly the same as when I left it.

“Hey there Shannon, finally up are ya? Hope you didn’t get too hurt with that wolverine. Would’ve left me even more lonelier” Said Mark in his old trembling voice.

That’s right; I left only a few weeks prior to finding Balto. Leaving Mark all the more lonesome I gathered. I felt guilt for leaving him behind when I did, after living together for months… but how did I get back here? I scanned the cabin again and it was missing someone. Cyan was missing. I started to panic: ‘Where’s Cyan?!’

Starting to lose my composure, the cabin suddenly went blurry while pictures of Mark’s gentle face started fading into the black. Mark muttered one last thing before disappearing: “Go on, Shannon”

And in a flash I was back to reality, my eyes adjusting to the newly found sunlight that entered our cave home. Hearing a faint snoring noise beside me, I checked to find Cyan snoozing. ‘Cyan? Check. Cave? Check. Reality? Check’. It seemed that my past was haunting me through my dreams while as I started to get a little annoyed by them. ‘What’s next?’ I thought to myself. ‘Dreams of Shadow and Fire-Eye?’

My dream of Mark did raise a concern to me; ‘I wonder what he’s doing now…’ He was a nice, gentle old man who nursed me back to health. Of course this was when I was “Shannon” though. An identity I assumed for his sake.

Cyan’s body started to move, namely rolling onto his back yawning while he stretched his paws up into the air. Rolling back over so he was on his belly, his eyes averted to me as his body relaxed. “Morning Destiny” said Cyan with another yawn breaking in the middle. “Morning to you too Cyan” I replied. “I can see you had a goodnights sleep”

“Heh, you can say that”

We greeted each other with a peck to each other’s cheek. “So what’s the plan for today?” inquired Cyan

“Well, you and I are going to visit Balto, and then we’ll be on our way” I replied

“Wait what? We’re leaving already?” asked Cyan in a confused tone.

“I’ve already asked him about his life, I told him mine. I met his family, now all that’s really left is for him to meet you” I explained.

“Meet me? But you literally just found him two nights ago”

“I went searching to find out if I was alone in the world”

“But as it turns out, there are actually two individuals with me in life; my brother and well… you” I said blushingly. Cyan returned the affection by nuzzling me on the chin. We made our way outside the cave to see the world seemingly come alive. The sun was up from its overnight slumber and shined high above the ground as the trees in the forest started to gently sway from a morning’s breeze.

“And as you may recall from last night, I met his family” I said.

“Jenna, Dusty, Chase, Copper, and Kaila” listed Cyan.

“That’s them… but that was only half Balto’s family. His entire first litter were scattered around Nome with their own lives already and when I saw Balto and Jenna together with pups… well I want that. I want to experience that feeling”

“Either way, we had to leave someday right Cyan? You said it yourself; the local wilderness could hardly sustain the two of us, let alone a pack”

‘… not to mention how odd human towns are’ I thought. I’ve been raised as a wolf and