over and she seemed replaced by a grey wolf pup with a curious mark on her forehead in the shape of a 'V'. She had called out those very same words to him, almost two and a half years ago. A face that he found he missed more and more each day. He blinked a couple of times and brought his mind back into the present. He gave her a rueful smile. "I think I'll pass, my dear. I’m battered and bruised enough as it is. But thank you for offering, just the same." he said. The black wolf settled to the ground and laid his head on his front paws as he watched them.

 

Kai smiled politely back, then spun around and tackled the closest wolf to her... which happened to be poor Yuma again.

 

Meanwhile, Tosca and Una had run off all of their extra energy and returned to plop down a few feet away from Twilight. "Now we should really start planning about where to go next" Una panted.

 

"Oh give it a rest" Tosca scowled. "We just woke up"Grumpily placing her head on her paws, the tawny wolf noticed Twilight out of the corner of her eye."What's got you distracted?"

 

The black wolf's yellow eyes flicked a sidelong glance at the brown wolf before he closed them and let out a contented sigh. "Nothing. Although your sister is right. We really should start thinking about where to go from here." he said. He got up and stood in front of the two of them. "So tell me. What's your plan?"

 

"Okay" Tosca replied.Una opened her mouth to order an idea, but Tosca beat her to it. 

"We need to look for a territory... so what do we need to look for? A river and a place with good hunting grounds. So if we follow a river, it could probably lead us to good territory, right?"

 

Twilight thought for a moment and then nodded. "Smart idea." he said. "Yes, you're right. The home den for any wolf pack's territory is almost always near some water source."

 

"So are we gonna go then?" asked Yuma as he and Kai walked up to the group, standing next to Rowtag. He was rubbing his should where his younger sister had playfully nipped him a little too hard, but other than that he was fine.

 

Tosca nodded and rose to her feet. Una uneasily rose to her feet as well, but she decided to let Tosca have a moment to lead. She was too tired to put up with her sister.Tosca started off, sniffing the air for any trace of  a nearby river. "Anyone smell water?" Tosca asked, looking between the wolves.Kai and Una lifted their heads and searched the air for a hint of moisture.

 

Twilight's sense of smell was very good, fortunately for them. It was only faint on the wind, but he could smell water. "I can smell it." he said. "This way." He began walking out of the grove and headed in a North-Eastern direction, following the scent of water.

 

Tosca followed confidently, leading her siblings close behind her and following the oldest wolf. They walked further and further away from the stand of pine trees and ventured into a flatter landscape. Mountains still hung in the distance, but they were miles away and much bigger then the siblings had seen before.

 

The black wolf continued to lead them on. The scent of water was growing steadily stronger by the minute and it became easier to get a lock on where it came from. And then they made it at last. A moderately large river stood in front of them. The more shallow parts near the shores of the river were icy, but the middle flowed water strongly. "We have arrived." Twilight said.

 

Tosca smiled at Twilight's discovery. "Good" she said. Kai surveyed the water while Una remained unusually quiet. "I don't think anyone has this territory either" Tosca exclaimed excitedly, sniffing the air and scanning their area. The tawny wolf trotted back and forth, sniffing for any scent at all of any wolf pack. When she got to the thinnest part of the river, a faint smell of another pack drifted across, but not another trace of the scent was on the siblings' side of the river. "I think this is our new home!" Tosca proclaimed. "But I also think we have some neighbors on the other side of the river."

 

The black wolf sat down and nodded. "I know. I can smell them." he said. "But they hold no influence on this side of the river, so you are quite correct. This is an unoccupied territory that is yours for the taking. And how convenient it is that finding good shelter will not be as difficult as we thought." Twilight pointed out a tall hill that was a rocky drop-off on one side, and at its base there was a cave entrance.

 

Tosca grinned. "Wow, that was lucky."Tosca glanced over across the river once more but ignored the scent. She was sure they wouldn't try to cross the river.

 

"So do we do something to claim it?" Kai asked excitedly. "We gonna howl like mom and dad used to do?"Not waiting for an answer, Kai threw her head back and howled. Tosca laughed and joined in, sending her own howl into the air.

 

Yuma, caught up in the excitement, joined in with a howl of his own, soon followed by Rowtag. They had a new home at last! Twilight, for his part, stood away from the others and did not join in. He had only ever howled a few times, and that was a life or death situation. He refrained from doing it again. He just watched the younger wolves celebrate their success. He was, after all, just traveling with them. He was not officially a member of their pack, and he doubted he ever would be.

 

Una didn't join in either. She hung back as well, pretending to be tired, but she really felt a surge of jealousy. She should've been the one to find the new territory. She should have led the pack there. She should have started the howl. "I'm going to go to sleep." Una mumbled, heading back toward the new cave. "I... my head hurts"

 

Kai wagged her tail and nuzzled her older sister goodnight. "G'night Una!"

 

Tosca watched suspiciously but she was too happy to pretend to be an emotionless leader."Uh... feel better I guess" the tawny wolf said half-heartedly. They had a territory now!

 

Twilight also felt a sneaking suspicion towards the she-wolf, but he said nothing. It wasn't his place and he really didn't care one way or another anyhow. Instead he turned his attention back to Tosca and the others. "Alright. You have your territory now. What's next?" he asked.

 

"Yeah, that's right." Yuma said. "What's the plan, boss?" he asked Tosca. He had decided long ago that he would prefer to have Tosca as leader rather than Una. She seemed to know all the right things.

 

When Yuma's words reached Una's ears, the she-wolf stiffened and bristled. She'd think of something tomorrow... it was too late now to do anything. She'd just have to try harder tomorrow to show that she was the better leader, not Tosca.

 

Tosca on the other hand, was overjoyed with this new prospect. Trying to hide her happiness, Tosca scanned the pack's new territory."We should explore the territory in pairs. On of us should stay here to guard the cave and the other four will go and find out where our territory stops. So who'd like to go with who?"

 

Yuma immediately jumped up and said, "Well I sure as heck wanna go! I'll go with anyone, doesn't matter to me." He was already pacing back and forth thinking with giddy delight of how much fun he would have out there exploring. Rowtag shook his head and sat down and motioned with his muzzle toward the cave. He clearly didn't want to go much of anywhere.

 

"Okay" Tosca said. "Rowtag can stay here with Una."Tosca glanced briefly at the cave, then scanned as far as her blue eyes could see. "One group will start heading east and stay near the border. The other group will head west and we'll eventually meet up in the middle"

 

Kai nodded, understanding. "I'll go with Yuma!" Kai offered. Yuma was by far, her favorite sibling.

 

"Alright, then Twilight's with me." Tosca confirmed. "It's pretty early still but if it starts to get dark and we still haven't met up, turn around and head back. If you get lost, howl."

 

Yuma gave a yip and immediately started out to explore. "Come on, Kai, hurry up!" he called over his shoulder. It wasn't long before he disappeared over a small hill. His feet seeming to carry him like wings carried a bird across the land.

 

Twilight shook his head as he watched the two youths go. Then he turned his attention back to Tosca. "Where to?" he asked. "You're the one in charge here. You lead, I follow."

 

On the inside, Tosca beamed, but on the outside, she held an emotionless face and nodded. The tawny wolf started on her way, starting off in the opposite direction that Yuma and Kai had disappeared from. The river that they had found split off into several smaller creeks and from what Tosca could smell, the same pack held the territory just on the other side of the creek even as they walked along. Who knew, maybe they were just a few young wolves too!

 

The black wolf could smell the other pack as well. He glanced along

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