night. When we get to Nome I know that I will be spending way too much time with my friends and family than looking at the stars at night.

Farris: We are your friends aren’t we? 

Aleu: (a small chuckle) Oh Farris, you already know the answer to that question.

Farris: I know… It’s just that we almost lost you a few days ago and I tried to let it go, but it’s hard to.

Aleu: Farris, we have been best friends ever since I have joined the clan. You welcomed me with open arms when I first joined. And we are only friends so don’t get any ideas.

Farris :( laughing) I know, you don’t have to worry about that… But as your friend, I take it as my job to be worried about you, and to protect you.

Aleu: Oh Farris, that’s very sweet, thank you. You won’t loose me, I promise.

            They went up to give each other a friendly hug.

Aleu: You guys are like a whole other family to me. I would never want to leave you.

Farris: Thank you for being such a great leader and a friend to us all.

Aleu: You’re welcome. But I should be thanking you.

Farris: For what?

Aleu: Everything.  

            Hearing this made Farris smile. He didn’t realize that he had given Aleu so much. He was more than glad being her friend and would do anything for her. He really thought that the thanks should be given to her, not him.

Farris: You’re welcome Aleu…Are you going to bed soon?

Aleu: Yeah, in a few minutes.

Farris: Ok, well don’t stay up too late. We have to get up at dawn; you said it yourself.

Aleu: I know, I will. Good night, Farris.

            Farris paused for a while.

Farris: (In a quiet sweet voice) good night, Aleu.

            Farris walked the other way then stopped to look back at Aleu as she watched the stars. Farris put on a smile and then walked back into the cave.

_ 

            Niju did not stop through the night to rest or slow down. He had so much confidence it gave him strength. He pressed on as hard as he could so he could get there a little bit after morning. When it was dawn he was almost there… in fact he was quite close to where the clan was.

Chapter 4

            As the sun started to rise over the ground, Aleu woke up. And saw that it was very close to dawn. She saw Farris about five feet away from her and saw that he was waking up. She got up and walked toward him.  

Aleu: (whispering) Farris…Farris wake up.

Farris: (In a tired voice) well good morning to you too. 

Aleu: Shhhh!  

            Aleu looked around to see if anyone had been woken up. 

Aleu: You have to be quiet. 

Farris: (now whispering) I thought that we wanted to wake them up. 

Aleu: I know, I will.

            Aleu gave a quiet laugh. Farris looked at her with suspicious eyes.

Farris: Oh no. I know that look. What are you going to do? We need to wake everyone up.

Aleu: Oh, we’ll wake them up alright. 

            Aleu climbed up to the top of a small set of rock stairs in the cave to a big flat boulder. Farris widened his eyes and went up with her.

Farris: Oh no, you’re not gonna- 

Aleu: (With a smile) Oh yes. And you’re going to help me. 

            Farris caught up with the idea and decided to be a part of it. They were going to push the boulder off the edge to a wide and clear enough spot to make just enough noise to wake everyone up, and then jump off and yell at the top of thief lungs, “WAKE UP!” They started to push the boulder and then Farris stopped.

Farris: Are you sure we should do this?

Aleu: Of course we should. If we just told them to wake up it wouldn’t be enough. Every one would be walking slowly and lazily through the rest of the trip.

            Farris stopped to think about it for a second, and then smiled as if he were to say, this is going to be good. They kept pushing and then it finally fell. Covering their ears they watched the boulder drop to a big, BANG!!!!!        

Chapter 5

            Niju heard a very loud bang coming from one end of the forest. It sounded like a thick gun shot. Niju rushed to find out where the sound was coming from. He ran as fast as he could trying not to loose the echo of the bang that he heard. Then he caught a scent that smelled familiar.

Niju: (Sniffing)…The clan!

            Niju caught the clan’s scent. He was in no hurry to find them, for he knew he would have to be cautious. They didn’t know that he had changed yet, so he took his time trying to find them, besides, the scent was too strong to loose. 

_ 

            Once everyone heard the boulder crash to the floor of the cave, everyone wake up as if they had woken up from a nightmare. They didn’t have one yawn left in them.

Aleu: Wake up!!!

Farris: Time to get up!!!  

            They all looked at them like they have gone mad. Yak sat up tiredly and scratched his ears.  

Yak: (whining) Aw. Why did you do that? I was having a very pleasant dream.

Nuk: Are you two out of your minds! We were sleeping! 

Sumac: (panting from shock) Yeah. You make big nose and scare us half to death.

Aleu: Well are you still tired?

Nuk: Uh…well…um

Aleu: Exactly. 

Nuk: Alright so we’re not tired anymore. But that’s only because you guys had to be so loud.

Aleu: That’s the point.

Farris: We knew if you guys were woken up by something loud then you wouldn’t have any tired left in you. 

Nuk: What do you mean? We would have been just fine if you just asked us to get up.

            Farris looked at Nuk as if he were to say, Yeah right.

Nuk: Ok so we wouldn’t. But why do we have to get up so early, what is the rush?

Aleu: We are close to Nome. If we got up early than we would get to spend more time.  So let’s move it!  

            Since they were woken up by such a loud noise, they had no trouble getting up. They all headed to the water close buy to get some fish. Aleu wasn’t hungry so she waited back at the cave. 

Aleu: You guys go ahead. I’ll meet you by the cave.

Farris: Are you sure?

Aleu: Of course. Go ahead.

Farris: Alright.

            Aleu looked back at Farris as he walked away, and shaked her head with a smile. He sort of reminded him of her father a bit, always worrying. Then she thought about what he had said last night. She appreciated that Farris cared, so she tried to let it go.

            Aleu headed toward the side of the cave and waited. Then she caught a smell. She put her nose in the air and sniffed.

Aleu: I’ve smelled this scent before, but who is it from? 

            Aleu walked away from the cave and farther into the woods. As she walked she kept sniffing. She knew the scent but she just couldn’t put her paw on where it was from. As she walked further it got stronger and stronger and then she started to walk faster. 

            As Aleu caught Niju’s scent Niju caught hers at the same time and they were both getting closer to each other. They were both walking fast to get to the source of the scent. As they weren’t paying attention to what direction they were going in, they bumped into each other from the back unexpectedly.  

They both looked at each other in surprise with the same expressions on their faces. But a few seconds after, Aleu’s face turned from surprise to anger and started to growl at him. Niju started to back up with an almost frightened look on his face. He turned around to see if he would trip on anything while he was walking backwards. Seeing nothing, he turned back around and noticed that Aleu was running to him. This scared Niju, as he was knocked over on his back with Aleu standing over.

            Niju’s eyes were wide open and his mouth dropped, breathing heavily. Aleu stared at