her humans aren’t home all the time any more than yours are.  So when they’re not there and you’re not there, she has nothing to do.”

Toby nodded slowly as this sank in.  He remembered the time when Luna had been in the hospital for the very accident that had started this whole mess.  She had begged him to visit her as often as possible, and apparently her relatives had visited her too.  Even with so many visitors she complained about how maddening it was when she was all by herself, and without her around to play with, Toby had suffered some of that madness.  “So in other words, she’s trying to find something to do with her time?”

“Well like I said, I’m not positive on any of this.  But I think it’s more of an empty space than empty time.  There’s a hole in her life, and she needs something to fill it.”

Toby thought hard about that.  “What if I try spending more time with her?” he suggested.

Terry furrowed her brow.  “I’m sure she’d appreciate it, but try not to overdo it.”

“Why?”

Terry smiled an odd little smirk.  “I used to have you around twenty-four seven, remember?  I almost lost it.”

“I’m not like I was then!” he protested.  “I’ve grown, I’ve matured, I’ve…”

“I know you have,” Terry interrupted.  “If you were the same now as you were then, we wouldn’t be having this discussion.  But take my word for it, she’d go crazy just like this morning.  Any female would if her mate was always hovering around her.  Just look at what’s happened with Pete.”

Toby thought about what he had seen of Pete’s behavior with his various girlfriends.  It was true, he did tend to hover, and he never managed to keep a girl around very long.  He had even heard Luna comment that when she had dated him during her bout of amnesia, he had been unbearably clingy.  But then he thought of something else.  “Didn’t Pete’s dad live in the same house with you?”

Terry closed her eyes for the space of about five breaths, still pained by the memory even now.  “Yes he did, and we also got into a fair number of spats.  Your father and I have argued now and then too, both before and after we became mates.  Any two dogs will have times when they don’t get along, even a pair like you and Luna.  That’s why you can’t go trying to fill every single place in her life any more than she can try to do it to you.”

Toby nodded, imagining what it would be like if Luna tried to take Charlie’s place in his life.  “Yes, I see what you mean.  So what can I do?”

“Just be there when she needs you,” she replied gently.  “That’s all anyone can do in a case like this.”

Toby nodded, pretending he understood.  The truth was, he felt more confused than ever.  “Thanks Mom,” he uttered sullenly.

Terry rewarded him with a smile, albeit a sad one, and nuzzled him.  “I don’t know how this is going to turn out, Toby, but if I know you two then you’ll figure out some way to pull through it.”

Toby nodded.  “Thanks.”  A nagging pull at the back of his mind told him it was time to be elsewhere, so he excused himself and departed.

Terry stared after him.  ‘I wonder if these mood swings…’ she thought to herself.  Then she shook her head.  ‘No, it must be the stress of finding out she’s barren.  But if I didn’t know better…’

In spite of his mother’s advice, Toby felt compelled to go and settle his earlier dispute before it had time to fester.  He found Luna at her house, lying in her basket inside despite the warm sun outdoors.

“Luna?” he inquired.

She lifted her head and looked at him.  “Oh.  Hi.”

Toby inwardly frowned.  Luna’s words were flat, drained, like someone who had just been a vampire’s snack.  He took a deep breath.  “I’m sorry about this morning,” he began.  “I should have been more understanding.”

She smiled weakly.  “It’s alright,” she told him.

Toby breathed a sigh of relief.  ‘So far so good,’ he thought.  But a tiny voice inside told him not to belabor the moment, so he decided to quit while he was ahead.  “Well, you probably want some space right now, so I guess I’ll be going.”

He turned to leave, but Luna’s voice stopped him.  “Wait,” she called.

He turned and watched as she lifted herself to her feet.  “You still want to go to the ice cave?” she asked.

Toby thought carefully about this.  Don’t hover too much, his mom’s voice echoed in his mind.  Still, Luna had brought it up.  “Only if you want to,” he answered.

Inside, Luna wasn’t sure if she wanted to.  She was worried about running into another family, afraid that she might not be able to take it a second time.  ‘But isn’t that what being mates is about?’ she thought to herself.  ‘Depending on each other when we can’t get by on our own?’  “I want to,” she insisted.

Toby stopped as they passed by the hospital.  “You know,” he commented thoughtfully, “I bet it would look really nice if we went there at night with a lantern and the…” he stopped, and both of them turned their heads.  “What’s that sound?” he asked.

Luna tilted her head.  “A dogfight?” she asked out loud.  They followed the sound to an alley and a scene of utter madness.  Street dogs were locked in deadly combat, biting and tearing at each other.  Neither of them had ever seen anything like it since the revolt of Nick Carson’s dogs.

“What’s going on here?” asked Toby.

“I don’t know,” answered Luna.  “I’ve never seen the street dogs fighting before.  Aunt Chase always keeps them in line.”

Toby stared and the melee.  “Well either they’re having one heck of a drill or…” Both of them winced as one dog grabbed another by the neck and heaved him against the wall.

“That’s not a drill,” Luna concluded.

“And we don’t know which side to fight for.”

One of the dogs took a blow and fell back, standing beside a female.  As he did so, he bumped an unsteady load of old, nail-loaded boards leaning against the wall.  The boards swayed, and started to come down.

“Look out!” Toby shouted, but it was too late.  With a crashing sound like a rhino charging through a tool shed, the propped-up boards fell on the two dogs.  They had enough time to let out a frightened yell before the boards and their rusty nails silenced them forever.

The dogs stopped at the crash, and only then did one group realize that there were more dogs than before.  “They’ve got reinforcements!” one of them shouted, mistaking Toby and Luna for backup on the other side.  “Let’s get outta here!”

The lesser group beat a hasty retreat, followed closely by Chase’s troops.

“Think we should go after them?” asked Toby.

Luna shook her head.  “I think Aunt Chase’s troops have it under…” she stopped as her ears detected a faint whine.  “What’s that sound?” she asked.

Toby perked his ears up and swiveled his head for a moment, then sniffed.  Following his nose to an overturned trash can, he inserted his head.  “I think there’s some kind of animal in-OW!”  He quickly backed out, a few drops of blood adorning his snout.  “I don’t know what it is,” he grumbled as he rubbed his muzzle with a paw, “But it’s got a great set of teeth.  The thing bit me!”

Luna came alongside him and peered in from a distance.  Two small eyes peered back from a thin face, attached in turn to a hunched-up brown body.  The animal ended in a tail with brown and black stripes.  Its scent was so clouded with garbage that it took Luna a moment to realize…”

“It’s a puppy!” she exclaimed.

Toby stared at it.  “Either that or a baby raccoon,” he noted.

Trying to ignore the stab of pain that she felt whenever she saw a pup, Luna tried to coax the pup to come out.  “We won’t hurt you,” she promised.

“Go away!” yipped a small, high-pitched voice.  “If you touch me, my mom and dad will kill you!”

Toby and Luna exchanged a worried look, then glanced at the dead dogs in the alley.  “Is your mom brown and your dad black with some patches?” asked Toby.

There was a brief silence from inside the can.  “Yeah, that’s them.”

Luna clicked her tongue and sighed.  “I don’t know how to tell you this, but they’re not going to be doing any killing.”

“What are you talking about?!” demanded the pup.  Curiosity overriding discretion, she came out of her little bunker.  As soon as she spotted the bodies of the two dogs, her eyes bulged.  “Mom!  Dad!”  She ran over and began to nudge them as tears leaked out of her eyes like a faucet just barely turned on.

“It’s no use,” Toby told her.  “They’re dead.”

“Toby!” snapped Luna, giving him a reproachful look.  She turned and walked towards the weeping puppy.

“What did I do?” wondered Toby aloud.

Luna sat next to the girl pup.  “I’m… I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

The puppy lay down.  “It’s all my fault,” she cried.  “I’m the reason it happened!”

“Now hold on,” Luna gently rebuked.  “This isn’t your fault.  It was an accident, I saw the whole thing.”

“They were fighting,” sobbed the pup.  “They said they wanted me to grow up to be free instead of having to be part of some army.”

Luna raised an eyebrow.  ‘So, her parents were rebelling against Chase?’ she pondered.  But this was no time to concern herself with politics.  “Listen,” she said softly.  “Can you tell me your name?”

“Arrow,” replied the pup.

“Where do you live?” asked Toby, feeling the need to take charge.

Arrow sniffled.  “With the others,” she replied.  “In an alley not far away.”

Toby nodded and looked at Luna.  “I suppose we should take her back,” he reasoned.  “Maybe she has relatives who…” he stopped at the