Part TWO – A New World

The sky looked like a finished canvas, painted with navy-blue and glittering stars from nature’s colorful palette. An aurora had just begun to perform its mysterious dance within the atmosphere, lighting the arctic landscape with its many flashes of all the colors of the rainbow. A chorus of howls joined in, creating what sounded like a joyous opera in the starry evening sky. A pack of wolves was singing their praises to their Great Aniu, the great spirit of whom they worshipped as they lived their days on Earth. Not only were they praising the White Wolf, but they had just seen their previous leader’s prophecy come to pass – a young yearling born in the land of humans with only 25% wolf blood had accepted the life that Aniu had destined her to live, by becoming the new Alpha of the Kawa Clan. 

She looked as if she fit in perfectly with the other wolves of the clan, although her scruffy fur of mousy-brown made her easily stand out among the darker, more earthy tones of her pack-mates. Her beige markings were rough and jagged like her wild ancestors, but the design of her markings, especially by the light-brown blaze on her muzzle, obviously reflected her dominant husky genes – although she looked wild, she did have more husky in her than wolf.

As the celebrating began to cease and the group of wolves started to prepare their families and companions for the next stage of their exodus, a red-brown wolf let out a quiet growl. As if he could sense his Clan’s agitation, with a mighty leap, he landed in front of a few young wolves that were about to take off into their new land. His white paws with his claws fully retracted allowed him to stand firmly on the ice as he prevented anyone from leaving the safety of the icy stab.  

“No one takes a step off the ice!” The growl crawled out of his mouth, his eyes burning like wildfire.

“But we’re here!” A she-wolf growled back. “This is our land now!” 

“Yeah!” A young male agreed. “It’s our right!”

“Yes, you are right, young one, but we should let our new alpha take the first steps on shore.” Scarlet, the reddish-brown wolf, spoke. He paused to calm himself, but quickly continued to explain his reasons, allowing his chivalrous nature to show through. “It’s only natural for the leader to quickly survey new territory before the rest of the Clan.” He looked back at the light brown female’s bright eyes of yellow and blue, seeking her approval. “What do you think, Aleu?” 

“Hmm . . . you’re right, Scarlet,” Aleu agreed. “As the Alpha, it’s only right for a true leader to care that their Clan arrives in a safe territory. I’ll bring a couple of surveyors with me, in case anything should happen.” She turned to Scarlet with a surprisingly straight look. “Scarlet, I trust you to stay here to watch the rest of the Clan in my absence. Make sure no one sets foot off the ice before I return. Okay?”

He nodded in agreement, although he wished to remain by her side. “Don’t worry, Aleu. I’ll stay right here.” 

Satisfied by her choice of her temporary replacement, she turned to the group of wolves that Scarlet was talking to moments ago. “Nuk,” she called the navy wolf to her attention. She had remembered how he and his companions had helped bring her onto the slab of ice earlier that evening, so she felt they were worthy enough to help her this time. “You and Yak will come with me and scope out the land. Sumac will stay with Scarlet to help watch the Clan while I’m gone.”

Nuk, knowing that it was an honor to be assisting an alpha on an important mission, straightened up his posture, lifting his nose to the air. “Yes, Ma’am!” As he nudged his companions to their positions, the large wolf turned to Scarlet, giving him a winking gesture before following Aleu off the edge of the iceberg. 

“I promise we’ll be back soon!” Aleu shouted back to the rest of her Clan as she and her two companions stood on a piece of rocky shore. “I trust you will take good care of everyone, Scarlet!” She giggled at the red wolf’s adorable smile and then turned to the bluish-gray wolves beside her. “Come on, let’s explore this new world!”

As the three wolves ran into the lightly misted forest by the rocky shore, the red wolf gazed back at the trio with a sigh. “May Aniu bless your steps, Aleu,” he murmured a silent prayer into the softly whispering wind, smiling slightly. “and may return you back to me soon.” 

Sumac let out a hyena laugh and patted Scarlet on the back with his paw. “You like Aleu, don’t you, Scarlet?”

His white cheeks suddenly turned pink. “What? No!” Scarlet turned to his friend. “I only want to support her, so that she performs to her full potential . . .” 

The tan wolf gave him an unconvinced stare.

“Okay, okay. You caught me, Sumac.” He lowered his head, his face flushed. “I think I’m starting to fall in love with her. I mean, my father always told me I would know when the right one came along . . . and I think she’s the one.” 

“Yeah, yeah, Scarlet,” Sumac spoke with a chuckle.

“I’m serious! Really!” Both he and Sumac turned around, walking through the remaining wolves that waited on the ice. “I really want to get to know her better! Wait,” he remembered the first real talk that he had with Aleu only minutes ago. “She asked me if I was going to teach her some skills on living in the wild! That might be how I can get closer to her!” 

Sumac scoffed. “You think you can get close to her so soon? Just by being her tutor? Kind of scandalous, don’t ya think?” He laughed with a slight snort.

“Nah, not really,” Scarlet blushed again. “Is it?” 

All the skinny tan wolf did was nod his head as the two of them returned to their watch.

Back in the forest, the three wolves scurried through the snow-covered wood, sometimes dodging fallen branches and bushes along the way. Their breaths were steady as they paced themselves through the mysterious and unknown terrain. Their fleet paws lightly crunched the frost-bitten ground, now blanketed with a carpet of dead foliage and fallen pine needles encrusted with the white and crystal-gray colors of winter. Every so often, the two males stopped at a nearby tree to leave a fresh scent marker of where they had been. The mousy-furred female tried her hand at leaving a marker too, although she still remained clueless about them even after her companions explained why they did it; personally, she thought it was a disgusting way to show a trail, but soon realized that it was an effective way to warn other wolf clans of their presence on the new territory. After about another ten minutes of traveling and marking their trail through the forest, all three of them halted at the edge of the wood – not only just to catch their breath from their nonstop trek, but also to gaze with awe at the spectacle that surrounded them at the very moment. 

It was a spacious river, nudging against the muddy edge of the forest glen. Thanks to a beaver’s dam of wood branches, a small lake of crystal-blue water lay motionless, formed beside a flat rocky shore on the other side of the silent trio, reflecting the almost hidden yet still sparkling forms of the lunar objects above them. A couple of towering mountains rested by the river bank with its rocky paths and caves, sheltering the lake and adding boundary to the forest’s edge. The calming rush of a nearby waterfall crashing atop a pile of boulders refreshed the pool, in which the three wolves felt parched and lapped the cool water with their tongues.

“This is . . . our home now, isn’t it?” Yak looked up after drinking, breaking the sudden silence. 

Nuk nodded. “It seems safe enough to me! Shelter, lots of water, and,” he paused and sniffed the air. “Mmm, I smell food! It’s perfect! What’s your decision, Aleu?”

Aleu said not a word. Her eyes were closed as she took a deep breath and slowly exhaled it out, opening her eyes and looking at her new surroundings with a new perspective and a smile. 

“Let’s go get the others now. It’s time to lead them home.”

Back on the ice, the rest of the Kawa waited restlessly for their alpha’s return. Several of them paced around their large temporary home, either with anticipation of reaching their new home or with impatient frustration of why their leader was taking so long to return. Although Scarlet and Sumac remained the calmest of them all, no wolf – not even the bubbly, light gray that called her “sister” - could settle one dark-gray female’s impatience and rage. 

“Why must we stay here and wait?” Riza started an uproar, aimed at the two males in temporary charge. “I’m not gonna wait for some tame-born to tell me that this place is safe!”

“Riza . . .” Lorna whispered quietly, sitting and watching nearby with a look of sadness in her eyes. She was beside a dark-brown she-wolf with white markings and a large belly that made her stand out; the light-gray nuzzled the other female, drying each other’s tears for their fellow pack-mate. “Oh, I wish I could tell her how I feel . . .” 

“Then you should,” the pregnant female encouraged Lorna. “She needs you now, and you know that. You two are twin sisters, after all.”

“But . . . but, Mom! She won’t listen to me at all!” Lorna broke down into tears, leaning against her mother’s shoulders. “I don’t know what to do anymore . . .” 

Lorna’s sorrow-filled words were drowned out by her older twin’s fiery argument with Scarlet.

“Riza! You must have faith that Aleu will return. She is your alpha, and you should show her the appropriate respect!” 

“Oh, come on, Scarlet! Just because your father was the former alpha doesn’t give you the authority to tell me what to do! And I’m sure as hell not going to listen to that damned tame-born alpha either!”

Scarlet let out a growling snort. “How dare you say that about Aleu!