now.

The two furry blurs, one brown and one white, ran north of the pack and then turned to chase the gigantic antlered creature back south again. The moose kicked it’s great hooves towards the two wolves, but they skillfully ducked and dodged the blows. As soon as the beast was close enough, Sirius looked at Lakota and Aniu and jerked his head to the right, and they set out to take on the moose from the eastern side. With a swish of his tail the alpha male directed Sarai to come with him and Kaila to attack from the left. The two bounded off to take the prey head on, and Kaila ran and veered to the left, trembling at what she had to do.

Soon she was running alongside to the moose, and ducked to avoid it’s great antlers crushing her or it’s huge hooves pounding her into the ground. She could see the rest of the pack starting to attack their prey, yet still she hesitated. How could she do this? She had never willingly killed anything before. But this moose meant food, it meant life. Another part of the family lullaby ran through her head.

‘Somewhere in time, the truth shines through,

And the spirit knows what it has to do,

Somewhere in you, there’s a power with no name,

It can rise to meet the moment, and burn like a flame,

And you can be stronger than anything you know,

Hold on to what you see,

Don’t let it go, don’t you let it go,’

Kaila suddenly realized that that was exactly what she would have to do. She lunged at the moose and closed her jaws around the skin on it’s neck. It reared up and bellowed, the sound searing through Kaila’s ears, but she hung on valiantly with iron jaws. With her wolf instincts guiding her, she started to twist and roll on the moose’s back. Pressing her paws up against the moose’s rough, wiry side, she tugged her prey down to the ground. It rolled over and tumbled to the earth, bawling for all to hear. Kaila coughed as dust settled in her eyes and throat, but she could hear her pack taking care of their soon-to-be meal.

The moose let out one last bellow, and then it stopped moving and the dust cleared. Kaila saw the other wolves circling the dead animal, and their faces showed nothing but respect for her. The tension in the air was as thick as river mud.

Sirius came up to her and placed a heavy paw on her shoulder. “Kaila, that was the best performance I’ve ever seen of any wolf,” he said quietly. “You have gained my respect as a great hunter, and I think everyone else agrees.”

Kaila gazed around at the furry faces before her, and she could see pure pride in Aniu’s eyes. Her granddaughter had done her proud. Even Lakota nodded towards Kaila, those green eyes sparking with amazement and respect. Kaila knew he didn’t think she was ‘just a town dog’ anymore.

As always, Sarai burst out with a yip of excitement to fill the stillness, and soon all the wolves were dancing around Kaila, jostling and talking and laughing over the great success of the hunt. There was a sudden need for celebration.

To add to the celebrating, there was a moose to eat. The meat would last for several days. The pack dragged it back to the den where they all ate their fill. Kaila felt happy and glad that she had finally gained a place in the pack, and that she had finally gained some respect. Now she wasn’t just a town dog , she was a full-fledged wolf-dog, and the most skilled hunter in the Anvil Creek pack.

That night, Sarai and Kaila sat on the grassy slope on top of the cave, watching the stars. As the other pack members slept in the cave, the two sat and pointed out the constellations.

“There’s Sirius,” Sarai said, pointing with her paw at the bright star. “It looks just like the white spot on our leader.”

“No wonder he’s called Sirius,” Kaila pointed out. “Hey, I see the Big Dipper!”

“That’s easy,” Sarai said. “Let’s see if you can find Draco! Oh, look! The Northern Lights!”

Sure enough, there in the distance, glinting on the horizon, was the rainbow of the north. The colors danced and shimmered, and Sarai began singing quietly under her breath. Kaila recognized the song as ‘Reach for the Light’.

“You know that song?” she asked. Sarai stopped singing and looked surprised.

“Yeah, Aniu taught it to Lakota and me, and she used to sing us to sleep with it. She said HER grandmother taught it to her. You know it too?”

Kaila nodded, and the two voices of Kaila and Sarai sang out in unison.

‘Reach for the light,

You might touch the sky,

Stand on the mountaintop, and see yourself flying,

Reach for the light,

To capture a star,

Come out of the darkness, and find out who you are.’

Both stopped singing, and Kaila stared at Sarai. Kaila had heard something beautiful, and she knew it wasn’t her own voice.

“What?” Sarai snapped, annoyed that Kaila kept staring at her.

“You have a beautiful voice,” Kaila said lamely, but she knew it was true. She had heard Sarai’s voice over her own, and it was amazing. High, but round and peaceful and silky, like a small bird flying over the wide world. If the Northern Lights could make a sound, it would have been Sarai’s voice that sang out of them.

Sarai scuffed one paw around in the dirt. “Well, my name does mean ‘wolfsong’,” she said, looking a little embarrassed but pleased. “But really, my voice is nothing special. You sang really good too.” Kaila smiled, but she knew who was speaking the truth.

Kaila turned back to the Northern Lights, and she thought sadly of home, and of a certain red husky who loved the Northern Lights. The blues and reds and greens spun and swirled, and Kaila wondered if that husky was worried about her, and if anyone was looking for her, particularly a certain wolf-dog named Balto.

Balto groaned and rolled his shoulders. He had spent last night in an old deserted fox den, and it was cramped, to say the least. He had caught a snowshoe hare to eat (he didn’t mind eating raw meat if he was hungry enough) and now he was making tracks to try and find Kaila.

Balto trudged on for awhile, trying to follow the weak scent that came and went. He wished that that snowstorm hadn’t flung the scents about. Kaila might have gone this way or not, even if her scent was there. Her scent was all over the place, and Balto tried desperately to track it, but it was almost hopeless.

After an hour of walking and bulldozing through snowdrifts, the scent suddenly disappeared entirely, and he gave himself up for lost. Looking around, he didn’t even know where he was. ‘If only I had made some kind of mark to find my way back,’ Balto thought, then smacked himself over the head a second later. The trees! Why hadn’t he scratched up some of the trees along the way? Stupid! Well, there was nothing to do now but to keep on searching.

He sniffed the area, and suddenly caught a whiff of something. Aniu! And Kaila again! But there were more wolves, and these scents were very strong, as if they’d passed by a short time ago. “Finally!” Balto said aloud to himself, and began tracking northward, hoping he would find Kaila soon.

After the morning hunt (a caribou was nearly caught, but it got away, and the pack had to settle for another carcass found down by Anvil Creek) the meat was dragged to the cave again, but Kaila noticed Kiowa was pulling weakly, and was not as fast as yesterday. The others noticed it too.

It had been Kiowa’s fault that they had not been able to get the caribou. She was too slow at chasing the animal, and she hadn’t been there to tackle it when an empty space was open for the creature to get away. The caribou had galloped away and left the pack in the dust, and Kiowa had hung her head in shame. It had been pure luck that Lakota had found the caribou carcass when the pack traversed across the creek, an old kill of some other animal’s, half-buried and frozen.

But now that they were in the cave, Kiowa was acting strangely, screwing up her face and breathing hard. The whole pack gathered around her and Sirius licked his mate’s eyes and muzzle. “Kiowa, what is it?” he asked worriedly. Kiowa looked up at him and half-smiled.

“I think…I think the puppies are coming,” she said slowly. Sirius sprang into action. “We must get her to the whelping den!” he cried, and immediately the whole pack surrounded Kiowa in one big wave.

Kaila slipped in beside Sarai and whispered, “What’s a whelping den?”

“That’s where wolves have to have their puppies,” Sarai replied, “It’s wolf tradition.”

Sirius took his place at the front and swiftly led his pack out of the cave and onto the tundra. The pack ran as fast as they could across the white landscape, and Sirius started up a happy howl. His deep, golden bass encouraged first Aniu, then Sage, then Lakota, then Sarai, then Kaila, and lastly Kiowa to howl all their different pitches and notes. The Anvil Creek pack announced to the world that puppies were about to be born.

The snow danced and swirled in front of them, and Kaila saw Sarai stick out her tongue and catch a snowflake.

As the Arctic sun turned ever so slowly and softly in the graying sky, the clan of wolves raced across the tundra. Kaila heard Kiowa gasp out in pain once or twice, but thankfully she kept going. The small sea of furry tails and pointed ears and big, blocky paws wound up the hills, through mountain passes, and over frozen streams.

Kaila could feel the tension and excitement mount as they neared the whelping den. Aniu called over her