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birth earlier, so she had to make sure that Aleu was still okay after this sudden change of events.
“I’m fine, Mom,” Aleu answered back, her voice was stronger than when she originally returned to life once more. Of course, she didn’t want to reveal the truths of her return to the living – never having children again, never being able to be revived again . . . They don’t need to be worried about those things, she thought. If I tell them about that, I know I’ll be protected all the time again. I want to still be me, and I’m not a wolf who always has to be under someone’s high protection all the time . . .
“Well, that’s a relief,” her mother leaned up to nuzzle her daughter. “After all that’s happened today, at least something good has taken place.”
“You mean, . . .?” Aleu’s ears lowered. She knew they were meaning about the pups she risked her own life to deliver. “Did any of them move? Did even one make it?”
Melody slowly shook her head. “I’m sorry, Aleu. I licked all of them, hoping that it would be enough to revive them, but . . .” A slight tear dripped from her face. “Oh, Aleu . . . I failed them . . . I should have done more to save them . . .”
Aleu could only nuzzle her sister in comfort, speaking with a soft sense of acceptance in her voice. “Oh, you did everything that you could, Melody. It’s hard, but we can only do what we can – it was all out of our paws, and I knew that I could trust in you to take care of them, even if they weren’t meant to live. At least they are with Aniu now, eternally resting by her side in warmth.” She licked away her tears with her tongue before speaking again. “Where are they? Can I see them?”
“They’re right here,” Jenna led Aleu’s muzzle to her belly lined with teats. There they were, the five pups she had birthed before fading to the point of death.
“Oh . . .” Aleu nuzzled each one gently with her nose, hopeful that perhaps . . . perhaps there was a chance that one of them was merely born asleep, not dead. “They’re so small . . .” As she nudged them, tears of weeping seemed to glint down her cheeks.
“It’s a shame that it had to be this way, though,” Balto touched his daughter’s brown-gray shoulder with his nose. “Shadow was having a rough time with losing both you and the pups.”
“That is true, . . . but at least you’re okay, Aleu,” Shadow licked his mate on the neck as she continued to try one last time to check for any movement with the pups. “You’re back with me and that’s all that matters. We can always have another litter together once you recover from this, and things will return to normal.”
Aleu lightly gasped, stopping right before the fifth pup after hearing her mate’s words of having more pups. Too bad I’ll have to hurt his feelings when I break the news about my deal with Aniu,she thought. As long as I stay away from the subject of this being my last revival, everything should be fine . . . I hope . . . Aleu closed her eyes, just as her nose began to meet the cleaned form of the final pup. Please, Aniu . . . give me strength . . .
Suddenly, a whimpering cry silenced the crowd of wolves around the den, causing everyone’s gaze to soon find the source of the sound. It was quiet, but it was clearly the noise of a pup.
Aleu gasped softly, but only smiled at what she saw beside her. Aniu had set them two miracles that night, easing their sorrow-filled hearts and filling them with ecstatic joy.
“The pup . . .” Melody’s ears lifted, becoming the first to comment on this marvelous sight. “It’s . . . It’s alive!”
“O Praise Aniu!” Shadow wept with joy at the sight of what he saw by Aleu’s belly. “You have blessed us all with an angel this night . . .” As well as returning Aleu back to me, he added with relief to himself. This is the happiest moment of my entire life, I swear! Thank you, Aniu, for answering my prayers!
Although four pups remained lost, this one that remained was given another chance at life with a happy and relieved family. Naturally, the close family – Balto, Jenna, Shadow, Saba, and Melody – came near the sight, while Everest and Timbre remained by the three other children of Aleu’s, explaining to them what was going on and telling them that Aniu had given them a new baby sibling to help protect.
“How . . . how is this even possible?” Jenna gasped with joy and confusion. “She was . . . the pup was . . .” She was at a complete loss for words.
“You only have to believe and have faith, Mom,” Aleu nuzzled the squirming pup beside her. “Aniu must have brought her back to life, just like she had done for me.” She licked it lovingly, revealing the pup’s true color. It was the last-born pup, the cream-beige female. As the new mother groomed her all over, Aleu noticed that the pup’s only markings were a reddish-burgundy patch around the pup’s tightly-shut right eye and a brown-gray patch around the other.
Melody looked at the pup curiously. “Hmm, those eye-patch markings weren’t there before when I cleaned her once she was born,” she noted to her mother. “I wonder how they just showed up all of a sudden . . . That’s rather strange, isn’t it, Mom?”
“Yes, quite strange indeed,” Jenna replied. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“Maybe it needed to dry, I guess,” Aleu responded with a smile. Actually she began to wonder about those herself. She hadn’t seen those markings on the pup when she first the lifeless pup at her belly earlier.
However, she remembered what her fallen sister and niece had told her when she first arrived in the cave . . . and somehow, she noticed how each patch resembled the fur color of each of them – the red one was for her sister and the brown-gray was Melody’s daughter. Thank you, Aniu . . . thanks for the second chance, she thought as the pup wriggled towards her teats and began to suckle for milk.
“I think she’s beautiful, Mom. Don’t you think so, Shadow?” She turned to her mate, who only watched beside Balto with the largest smile of all.
“She’s perfect, Aleu,” Shadow murmured, leaning over to nuzzle Aleu first, then the tiny pup. “Huh, she’s got a little bit of both of us, doesn’t she?”
Aleu chuckled lightly. “I think so. Still, those markings over her eyes are rather peculiar . . . but they make her unique.” Her warm smile only grew. “I like that about her. What do you think, Papa?”
Balto was too proud to speak. All he could do was grin like a happy grandfather should, but soon he spoke. “Well, she’s different, but she’s a chip off the old block. She’s the best of both of our worlds, isn’t she?” Of course, he was commenting on the red and brown-gray eye-patches, each reflecting his and Jenna’s fur colors. “One for each of her grandparents away from the Clan – my wild rugged brown and Jen’s stunning touch of burgundy, of course.”
“Yeah,” Aleu nodded, except her meaning of the eye-patches was something different.
“What are you going to name her, Aleu?” Saba asked, touching the nursing pup with her soft, wet nose.
“That is a good question,” Balto added. He turned to Jenna with a smile. “Personally, I like the name ‘Miracle’ for her.”
“Well, she is a ‘miracle’, that’s for sure,” Jenna chuckled back. “but we should allow Aleu to make that final decision.” I like the name ‘Wonder’ myself, she added to herself.
Meanwhile, the surprised mother had no real clue how to choose. What am I going to name her? Aleu thought. That had completely slipped her mind – she had just come back to life, and now she had to give this miracle of a pup a name . . . It has to be something special . . . something that will make her great . . . something that will remind me of how wonderful Aniu has been to me and our family . . .
Wait! I’ve got it!
“Well?” Melody repeated. “Have you decided yet? What’s her name?”
Aleu only smiled, unafraid of their own responses. “I think I’ll call her . . . Jadze.” She paused, licking the pup once more over the forehead and hearing the whimper of the newly-christened child. “Yeah . . . that’s what I want to name her – Jadze.”
(Prologue & ACT I – completed 6/16/08)
To Be Continued in ACT II - Curse . . .
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