[Thanks for all the reviews and Faves!, but I really,really could use a Beta reader or two! Please drop me a line if you can!] [And for BS readers- sorry about the awkward formatting and mid-word breaks!]

Aleu and Niju

Burned Forest Riverbank

She awoke sore, hungry but most of all thirsty. The inky cloud had subsided and let the morning rays stream through the burned riverside forest. Everything smelt like the color black.

His form surprised her as she approached the better half of the bank. The side they slumbered on had burned bits and debris in it. Smelling burn was enough; she didn't need to taste it, again.

"Oh! …Why are you still here?" She didn't sound demanding, but curious in a tired voice.

"I'm waiting." He sat tall by the bank, he had a naturally proud build.

"For what?"

"You."

She was taken aback. "Me?" Bejeweled blues opened wide. She dipped her supple frame down into the stream.

An adorably pink tongue lapped loudly and he was surprised by her ravenous thirst. Not that he had been any less thirsty when he awoke. She spoke again, once she raised her head and let her tongue catch the water running from her chin. Her voice sounded slightly suspicious. "Why?"

"Because I need you." That earned him an incredulous glare- at least as much of a glare as Aleu was capable of.

"Don't flatter yourself halfbr-" No. He'd better not go there, or start using that word. He didn't know how long it would take them to reach the clan, assuming her cooperation. She had better cooperate. She left his clan in a very irresponsible way and now they needed him, or at least somebody to lead. She made that clear last night. He really did need her, then she could go on her merry way back to whatever she was rambling about last night. He didn't want her to throw another little tantrum- he had to watch his mouth, and his temper.

"Aleu." He corrected himself as fast as he could and proceeded from there quickly. " The clan needs a leader, now. Without one they're disorganized and lost. Understand?" His tone slightly condescending.

He continued. " Take me to them, tell them that you've put me in charge. Explain to them that you couldn't handle it…Or whatever you told me last night." He rose towards her. "They might need a little convincing, but it'll be better for them in the end."

He sounded a tad bit too confident. Ugh. But Aleu felt it was better than his usual flagrant arrogance. In truth, she had mixed feelings about leaving the clan solely in his paws, but she just wanted to be done with it. Clean her paws of them all and go back to where she probably belonged. Or keep looking elsewhere.

Aleu sighed deeply and her ears fell back. That'd mean she'd have to go back. Leaving her position to him from here was tolerable. However going all the way back, confronting them, telling them how she had failed them, and how they'd all be taking directions/orders from Niju for the foreseeable future felt nearly unbearable. But what if they didn't listen to him...? She knew Niju was strong, but he wasn't that strong. He couldn't strong-handle all of them into listening…Then what would they do? No! She just couldn't think about it. She needed to forget and return home, they weren't her responsibility anymore.

"Do you hear me?"

She felt like her mother... She was more than a house-dog! What was happening to her? "Okay, I'll…" Her voice was a little hoarse and she stopped to clear it. "I'll take you to them. I'll tell them…I don't know what I'll tell them. It wasn't meant to be, I guess."

Aleu felt her conviction return. She suddenly felt very selfish for wanting to just disappear into herself, as if she was letting down her father personally. Sure, he lived as an estranged loner, distancing himself from the harsh words and judgments made against him in Nome. But when Nome needed him, he was there. He was more than there- he was the hero. She may not be leaving them in the right paws, but she was going to make sure they saw her return. They could have easily lost all faith in her, not that there had been much of it lately. But in the chance that the promise of her return was enough to keep them together, and optimistic- who would she be to rob them of that faith?

Letting the clan see her off may even be enough to give them hope that Niju wasn't so power hungry and vengeful that he would kill all who didn't oblige. She really wasn't sure. But his current diplomacy lead her to believe that he really was trying to do all he could to save the clan now. "I'll tell them Aniu was wrong."

Niju's fur bristled. "Don't say that!" He barked at her, suddenly testy.

Aleu backed up and slid against the jagged boulders that the stream wore away.

"What! Why?" She had a demanding glare in her eyes as only she could.

His tail dropped back to normal height and his fur relaxed. "Because some clan members believe that Aniu is never wrong. Saying that would crush their hopes, or cause them to get very defensive with you, enough to outright rebel against you." He informed her curtly.

She looked perplexed. " Wait…But that would mean that I should be leading them!" Her mouth turned into a little frown as she was lost in thought.

He gave her a subtle smirk. " That's entirely possible. You may just feel you don't quite meet the Great Aniu's expectations. Also possible." He was towing the line between insults and drawing conclusions with her.

Her brows knitted in a glare once again. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying she's not wrong for making you the "chosen one". She just demanded too much of you too early, you weren't ready. You said it yourself and I must agree with you there. But the clan needs me. Now is the time for action. The clan cannot wait for you to become ready. Aniu can make a path, but you don't always have to follow it. Sometimes it's better in the long run if you don't." He was growing impatient with her slow reluctance.

"How can you know that?" Her eyes narrowed as she subconsciously challenged him.

She sounded dangerously doubtful and it worried Niju. But he wasn't worried just because she doubted the validity of his words and him becoming alpha- it went far beyond that. He cared for the clan, he cared so much it turned him violent against those who would bring harm to it.

He would always lead by example; in what he thought was the right direction. The clan was out of time, and he needed to act now. He knew how to save them, if they wanted to survive- they'd follow his lead. He'd forgive them for not listening to him the first time. It only made him angrier with Aleu, though. She was playing with their lives in her immature quest to "find" her pretty, little, self.

" I wasn't born yesterday, Aleu." He spoke coldly, he wasn't about to tell her how he had come to know about Aniu's ways.

The answer would be pretty clear if she used her head to think on it. Nava. Obviously. Before she could retort, he had turned and began to lead the way- without direction at first. Just getting things moving. "Let's go."

He began to walk along the stream staying on the bank. He was heading down river, knowing the stream must feed into the ocean.

"Niju! Wait!" Aleu called after him, catching up. "What about the fire?"

"It's probably burned out by now. They never last." With her caught up he broke into a run, expecting her to follow. He was a bit hungry, but he could eat when the clan caught its first caribou, he told himself.

Nothing looked familiar, they realized some hours later. They had run silently along the stream, they had run too fast, driven by foolish competition.

Anytime she run in front of him, he ran to put himself in front and she followed- by sundown they were pretty well lost and exhausted. The burn had been a big one, and it was impossible to navigate even for Niju, though he'd never let on how lost he was. In the end it had become pretty obvious. Everything looked the same. Smoldering, black and dead- there were no landmarks, and no scents to trace. Just the smell of fresh ash, which flooded the olfactory senses. They didn't seem any closer to the sea.

When they stopped, it was because the log they had run across was too badly burned and had collapsed beneath them.

"You…You're lost, aren't you?" Aleu breathlessly accused him while detangling her body from his. They'd only fallen about 10 feet, but it was enough to wind them more than they were already.

"No! I'm just…"

He glanced around the lifeless forest floor. Nope- still not a damn thing was familiar, especially not with the impending darkness. Forests in the dark, he'd been through them before…he just wasn't too sure about this particular area.

He scoffed. "Bah! It all looks the same!"

Aleu was relentlessly kicking a hornets' nest by adding "Well if you were lost- why didn't you stop? I mean, I thought we were going in circles, but I thought you would know better."

She could see him tense in the fading twilight rays.

She persisted. "Maybe if you'd slowed down and let me try and help, we wouldn't be lo-" He rounded upon her- she'd let the hornets

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