remotely resembling a stick.  Instead, she had definitive curves, though her paws did look tiny, for one of her species.  White teeth gleamed as her gray lips parted.  "Hello.  As I'm sure Fae has already told you, my name is Nessa."  Her voice was soft and sweet, flowing like a gentle stream and just as quiet.  It warmed as she spoke the beta’s nickname and this caused a small shift from the male.

"Nessa, would you mind keeping Aleu company for a short while?  Evvie was…well, let’s just say she’s got a rather fiery disposition today.  I’m taking her and the others to scout the area."  Yeah, she certainly was a little inferno.  The brown and white wolf’s face fell into a frown as he spoke this, almost timidly to the bluish fae.  At first he’d been gazing directly into her eyes, but suddenly he’d shifted his eyes lower, as if he were speaking to the tiny blade of grass that sat there.  "I’ll leave Nuk with you two, also.  He seems to have taken a fondness to Aleu rather quickly.  And I’ll probably leave Brava, Styx and Sumac as well.  They’ll be able to back you up, in case danger arises."

The fae grinned and nodded, although Faelan couldn’t see it. "Alright, I’d be happy to keep the Alphess company.  Just be sure you let us know when you return."

Faelan looked up into her eyes for an instant, nodded, then walked off quickly without another word to them.  A quiet chuckle came from Nessa as she watched him trot off, clearly a little flustered.

While the scouting party was away, Nessa and Nuk taught Aleu the finer points of fishing in the nearby river, a tributary from the body of water they’d crossed to reach this new land.  After failing six times in succession to catch a fish while Nessa and Nuk had each come away with two, the young hybrid had given up for the day.  Not long after that, a low howl reached their ears and Nessa grinned in response, tipping her head to one sides before raising and walking with Nuk towards the origin of the noise.  Aleu followed them, shortly after to be met by Faelan and the rest of the scouting party, hanging behind him.

"We were just searching around quickly, so we don’t have a whole lot of detail to go on. However, we’re dangerously close to two different packs where we are now, and with the positions their territories are in, we’re on a rather small patch of land.  It’s too open here as well; humans and other creatures could easily find us.  Prey will see us coming before we have the chance to hunt.  We need to move on soon and find a new territory."

The group of three, which had by then been joined by Sumac, a dark brown fae and a black male with strange gray markings, nodded to the beta.  Aleu hung her head again, feeling guilt for taking them away from the safe lands they’d always known as home.  There had been no border issues there.  But, there was also no food there, now.

"But, I do have some good news," Faelan continued with a grin.  "We found a small grouping of caribou just outside of one of the pack’s territories.  If we hurry, we might just be able to grab a good meal before we start looking for our new home."

To these news, there were joyous cries from the wolves, and several rubbed noses against friends’ faces excitedly.  Aleu raised her head quickly, looking around at the other nervously and then to Faelan, curiosity and fear both present in her eyes.  The beta excused himself to go and speak with her while the rest of the wolves buzzed with excitement.  "You don’t have to come along with us if you don’t want to. We all know you’ve never actually hunted before, and if you’d like to take more time to learn how and just stay behind for now, it’s ok."

But the light brown hybrid shook her head and smiled nervously.  "No, no.  It’s as good a time as any to learn when you’re in desperate need of food, right?" Faelan made a strange face in response to that and Aleu faltered.  "Err, what I meant by that was, no time like the present.  I’m already in the wild, I might as well learn how to be wild."

"Hmm, alright then.  As long as you’re sure."  He turned away and the usual hunting party, Nuk, Evvie, the dark brown female from before, Micah, Leila and Yak stepped over to him.  He looked at them all, hesitating at Evvie.  "Leila, I want you to stay behind this time.  Aleu needs to learn how to hunt, and most importantly, learn how to work as a member of the team.  I’m going to be teaching her."

The female scoffed as he called her out, rolling her eyes at his reasoning, but moved back without fighting him about it.  The rest of the hunting party turned and took off, Faelan and Aleu speeding to catch up with them.

It didn’t take long to reach the small gathering of caribou, only half a mile from where they’d left the others.  The hunting party hid scattered among sparse bushes and shrubbery, carefully watching the grazing caribou they were currently downwind of.  So far, the beasts were calm and didn’t seem to have noticed their presence.  Faelan tilted his head ever so carefully to the left and Evvie and Micah crept silently the way he’d indicated, flanking the caribou.  Simultaneously, Nuk, Yak and the brown female flanked on the other side, though the female split off from them, circling around the formation.

Faelan’s muscles tensed as he watched the group, waiting for a sign. Within moments he heard a hacking sound and his gaze darted to a thin buck off to the side.  It appeared sickly, certainly easy enough prey for the small group to bring down, even with a beginner amongst them.  A quick look to either side told him that the others had realized their target had announced himself.  With a sideways glance to Aleu, he raised his paw and pointed quietly, mouthing, Wait for my signal.  The light brown hybrid nodded, her own limbs beginning to tremble with anticipation.

The dark brown female crept up, her stomach low on the ground and head almost on her paws as she did.  The others subsequently edged forwards as well.  Faelan opened his maw, turning to Aleu.  No words had issued from his mouth before she moved her paw onto an annoyingly crunchy leaf.  The total silence was shattered by this shockwave of sound, almost like a nuclear explosion to all of the grouping’s occupants.  The caribou’s heads were up and with several loud bellows they’d begun to run. Faelan made a noise between a squeak and a growl, plunging from his crouch into a gallop after them.  The others sprang from their positions as well and gave chase, but despite their quick reflexes, the sickly bull was already gaining speed with the rest of the herd, and in the middle, leaving him unavailable for assault.

The wolves slowed to a stop, only Aleu panting after the short race.  Her head pounded with the rush and noise of the hunt, but her heart fell as she realized what she’d done.  Her ears thrummed so much and her eyes blurred so that for a moment, she didn’t notice a greenish gray and brown figure stalking up to her with a high-pitched scream.  Of course, this was fortunate, as she also missed some of the insulting names the fae was now shouting in her general direction.

" – filthy dog!  You just cost us our only chance at a meal for the moment!  We don’t even know when the caribou will be this way again, and much less if they’ll be in the territory we have to move to anytime soon!" Aleu shied away again, as she was verbally attacked for the second time that day.

"Evvie!  Enough, back off!" Faelan’s sharp voice shouted over the rising clamor as Nuk tried to get over to protect Aleu and Micah began growling.

"Well, she did foul us up pretty - " the dark brown female began, but was curtly cut off by the Beta.

"I’d appreciate it if you kept your comments to yourself for the moment, Brava. We all know we have to teach her and that she’s not used to this.  Just because we lost a caribou it doesn’t doom us to starvation.  We’ll find something else to eat before we head out. Now I suggest we all begin moving back toward the rest of the pack.  Now."

The Beta huffed angrily and glared at them all as they lowered their shoulders and tails and began to trot off, Evvie still scowling at Aleu as though she were some sort of infectious parasite.  He huffed again as they got a little farther away and then looked to his Alphess.  "I’m sorry.  I should have told you to stay behind this once.  I couldn’t risk not having Evvie in the hunting party – she’s one of the swiftest runners we have.  And perhaps I should have clarified a little more before we began."

Aleu finally relaxed, her legs still shaking a little due to the build up of adrenaline and the shock.  She nodded numbly and then replied, "I j-just can’t seem to g-get anything right."

Faelan frowned and shook his head.  "No.  Perhaps I’ve just been a poor teacher."  He glanced up at the sky, noting the low position of the sun.  "We should head back now, it’s getting late."

"Alright."  The pair started after the rest