family.” A thin stream of tears broke her serious face, staining the path on her white fur a dark shade of gray.

 

Shadow remained beside Aleu’s unmoving form with his tears soaking her fur. He accepted his Alpha’s condolences with a slight bob of his head, but it stayed low to his mate’s body, refusing to speak a word to anyone. He silently took a vigil by his mate’s side, hoping and praying that this was all but a dream.

 

However, Aleu had been unconscious for over an hour now, but that wasn’t Shadow’s main worry – she still wasn’t breathing at all and no one could feel a single throb of a heartbeat. No one could revive her, no matter how hard they tried.

 

From the looks of things, Aleu was already dead.

 

Why, Aniu? Why? He thought amidst his tears. Must you take everything I hold dear away from me? Shadow bawled loudly, releasing a mournful wail yet again as the salty drips trickled down, forming dark rivers down his face. Why did you have to take Aleu away?

 

“Five pups . . . all dead . . .” Melody’s eyes were close to over-pouring with water. “It’s . . . it’s . . .” She couldn’t bear to say anymore as she heard Shadow’s cry; Melody leaned onto Timbre’s neck, who offered some comfort through their difficult loss, as well has allowing her to let out all of her tears.

 

“It’s . . . just tragic . . .” He completed his mate’s sentence with a heavy-hearted tone, respectfully closing his eyes to allow himself to quietly join his mate in mourning. It wasn’t easy for him to see or hear Shadow either – he had lost two of his own children before, but they were killed in the line of duty to their Clan; there was no real way that Timbre would truly understand how Shadow was feeling about Aleu’s miscarriages. “Such an unexpected loss . . . especially to lose her as well . . .”

 

Meanwhile, Balto and Jenna were together in the same cavern, keeping watch over their daughter and the pups that she sacrificed herself to give birth to. Obviously they were deeply saddened by the result – they were both hoping for another set of voices that would soon start barking and yipping the words “Grandma Jenna! Grandpa Balto!” – but to lose their first-born child as well, . . . they were suffering through the worst tragedy that they had ever had in their family.

 

“Aniu wouldn’t allow something like this to happen to Her Clan, would she?” Jenna asked Balto – both of them were equally in tears.

 

The wolf-dog shook his head. “I don’t know,”

 

“Our daughter . . . she’s died before, hasn’t she?” the husky sniffled. “but she’s always seemed to come back . . . Oh, Balto!” Jenna’s slender and now wet muzzle buried into Balto’s gray-brown neck, allowing him to gently comfort her.

 

After a few moments, Balto began to speak. “But I remember . . . I remember when Aleu–” He lowered his eyes and head, weeping in memory of his eldest daughter. Jenna nuzzled him in comfort, calming each other with their scent and touch. After a few moments, Balto sniffed and continued. “She told us the tale of how she saved the Talbourne from the island, remember?”

 

“Ah, yes,” Jenna remembered. “That was the day when Dusty and Kodi’s pups were born.” She sighed at the memory, but allowed her mate to finish.

 

“Well, I remember Aleu had said she learned that ‘everything happens for a reason’ and that ‘all things have a purpose’ . . .” Balto tried to smile with closed eyes, reminiscing about the long journey that his beloved child had endured throughout the years since her birth. Tears easily trickled down his cheeks. “She spoke of losing ones that she grew close to then, even the ones that she had only befriended for a short amount of time . . . and yet, it all had a purpose to happen.” His voice cracked. “Perhaps this was just her time to join my mother, . . . I guess . . .” He lowered his head and wept.

 

My God, this seems so unfair . . . So unfair . . .Balto felt Jenna’s presence beside him, and together they mourned over the loss of their daughter.

 

 

 

Back at where Saba was, her red and white mate – who fatefully was also her brother – came to join her in vigil. They were both from the same litter as Aleu, but did not originally follow the wild heritage that they all inherited. For siblings, Saba and Everest were closer than close, but when he left to follow the dog-sledding dream, Saba lived as a regular house-pet, wondering if the longing she felt for her brother was really meant to be. Their relationship had only strengthened when Everest was presumed lost after a sledding accident, but four years afterwards, they suddenly reunited in the wilderness and allowed their forbidden love to blossom, not knowing that others would begin to suspect what was going on.

 

Eventually, the truth of their love came out, but by the time a sentence of separation was announced, it was already too late – Saba was pregnant with Everest’s pups.  Three pups were soon born from her – a gray daughter, Sunny and two red sons, Rife and Tram – but the law was against them a month after their happiness. After following the order of their eternal punishment, they secretly met at night to take back the pups they left behind in Nome, and flee into the wilderness where the laws of Nome had no effect on their love. Unfortunately, it was hard to defy the law, as well as their parents’ wishes, but their love for each other exceeded life itself. Once they agreed to take Nature by the paws, Aleu graciously allowed her siblings to join the Talbourne Clan, living life wildly and freely as wolves.

 

Of course, no one ever saw the future that would await them.

 

“Saba, do her children know?” Everest asked her solemnly. “I’m sure Shadow’s not in the proper state to tell them right now.”

 

She only shook her elegant white head amidst her tears. “No. They’ve been training for the next watch, but . . . I don’t know how anyone can manage to tell a child that their mother is dead . . .”

 

“Ah-hem . . .” Everest let out an attention-grabbing cough, reminding Saba of what had happened in their family. “Don’t tell me you forgot that I had lost you?” He scoffed almost angrily. “My God, Saba . . . Telling our own children that you were dead was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do! I . . . I . . .” The memory of hearing his children’s cries of disbelief began to come back to him . . .

 

“No, that’s not true! . . . I want to see Mommy! . . .”

 

Tears thinly dripped down his face. “I wanted to be strong in front of them, Saba. I wanted to . . . but I couldn’t . . .”

 

“Oh,” Saba leaned her muzzle over to him, nuzzling him in comfort. “I’m sorry . . . I’m so sorry for not understanding quickly.”

 

It’s my fault, Everest - there’s been lots of other things that have captured my focus, she added to herself. I haven’t exactly had much time to be a mother to our pups or a mate to you ever since I returned and took the position of Alpha . . . Her gaze suddenly went to her sister’s body – she still looked regally beautiful, even in death, but one would think she were merely in a deep sleep. Saba could only sigh.

 

Damn it, Aleu . . . you’ve left me even bigger paws to fill now that you’re gone . . .

 

“That’s why I know he’s taking it as hard as I did when I learned of your death,” her mate explained. “Shadow’s a strong wolf and a gallant fighter, but what he’s going through right now is something that will even tear the strongest dogs apart. Whenever a mate loses their other half, it just . . . it breaks them up inside. One may wonder how someone can even survive and bear another day without the one they love with all their heart.”

 

Saba was silent. She remembered that time when she learned that her brother . . . her soul-mate . . . was considered lost. I didn’t want to believe that he was gone . . . I remember that feeling of loss . . . and hearing that he was dead made me want all the hurt and pain to go away . . .

 

I wanted to kill myself that night . . . I just couldn’t live in a world without your sweet, smiling face in it . . .

 

“I understand more than you know,” Saba replied with a quiet voice and tears streaming from her orange-golden eyes. “It just took me a while to remember that pain, but your sorrow over me was the same as when I thought I had lost you all those years ago.” Her head went closer to the ground as she wept. “I wanted to die and leave this cruel world where you would never see me again . . . but somehow, I . . . I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t take the last leap.”

 

“It’s a good thing that you didn’t jump,” Everest murmured into Saba’s black-tipped ear. “I never would have what I have now – I never would have fully loved you.”

 

Through her tears, Saba found the strength to smile back at him. “And we wouldn’t have each other . . . or our kids.” And I never would have discovered my own destiny here as Alpha of the Talbourne,she added to herself. While she was dead, Aniu herself trained her for an unknown purpose, which soon was revealed to be taking Aleu’s place in the Clan. She lifted her tear-stained muzzle up to meet his, touching noses sweetly.

 

“But back to the subject at hand,” Everest ended the nearly-intimate moment with a slight cough, realizing that a period of mourning was not to best time to be lovey-dovey, especially in the presence of a grieving Shadow. “I’ll ask Shadow if I can tell Thunder, Sheik and Lima about what happened . . . He needs more time to recover, and I think he’ll be fine with close friends and family by his side for comfort and remembering her.”

 

“Go ahead,” Saba nodded, understanding how much this meant to him. “I’m sure

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