beat her, and... er..." Aleu was deep in thought. "Something I've never heard of... with her..."
    Holly's head snapped up a little, but said nothing, tears falling from her fur.
    Clara laid Holly down and lay beside her.
    Aleu lay several feet away, trembling. His eyes were vacant, the way they were when he remembered his past.
    "Why would your father do something like this, Holly?" Clara growled.
    Holly whimpered. "I don't know... But I heard Aleu's story from one of the pups in your first litter, so I asked him to help me." She licked a scratch on her paw before continuing, "And he did, for many moons. He would come and move me to a new hiding spot every day. He told me that you teased him because every time he saw a male with a female, it reminded him of me and made him angry."
    "You're safe now."  Clara glanced up at Aleu.  "Hunt him down.  Punish him.  Holly didn't deserve this.  I'll send a patrol."
    Carefully, Aleu sniffed the air. "I have a feeling we don't have to hunt him down. I think I can hear him coming this way, and I can definately smell him coming this way."
    Clara bolted away from Holly.  "Keep her safe!"
    She ran and launched herself on Holly's father.  "You will die!" She shouted.  "Putting YOUR OWN daughter through this!"
    Holly darted behind Aleu and lay, cowering. Aleu could remember when he would have done the same thing, rather than fight.
    Holly's father swiftly got out underneath's Clara's grasp.  He knocked the breath out of her.  Her shoulder ripped open, and blood gushed out.  She lay motionless, in pain.
    Aleu's eyes flashed with anger, and he rushed forward, scratching and clawing at Holly's father in a blind range. Hot tears streamed down his face as swipe after swipe was traded with the smaller wolf.
    Holly screeched.  "KILL HIM!"
    Aleu sat upon the older, smaller wolf. He had meant to set him free and let Clara banish him, but there was a sickening crack, and the wolf's eyes clouded. He was dead.
    With a gasp, Aleu backed away from the corpse, quivering. He had never killed another wolf before.
    Clara wheezed and blood pooled out from her shoulder.
    Running to attend to Clara's wound, Aleu thought about the kill. It was horrific, to him.
    "Aleu," Clara coughed.  "Get some cobwebs to stop the bleeding."
    Swallowing, Aleu said with a quavering voice," Yes, Clara."
    Clara looked into the trusting eyes of her friend.  "You saved me."
    Aleu stared back. "But I just killed somebody," he said haltingly. "I didn't mean to kill 'im..."
    "Aleu..." Clara tried to get up.
    "No. Stay down." Aleu ran, then came back a second later with the cobwebs she had requested.
    "Sometimes..." Clara winced as Aleu put the cobwebs on.  "... You have to kill someone.  He almost killed me, and he tortured Holly.  Don't you love her?  You save her and I."
    Aleu paused, sobbing silently. "I didn't mean to... I was going to send him away..." He spoke quietly, almost as if to himself.
    "What you did was shocking, yes, but to save two she-wolves."
    Aleu padded away, into the forest, with tears streaming down his face.
    Clara struggled to get up.  She did... Barely.  But, she ran after Aleu.  After only a few feet, she fell.  Tears popped out of her eyelids, quickly dripping to the ground.
    Sitting just out of sight, Aleu let the tears come. He was scared. Scared because he had killed somebody.
    Clara's white face was streaked with tears.  Rings circled her eyes, and she tried to get up again.  She yowled in frustration, sadness, and pain as she fell to the ground.  Holly rushed to her Leader's side, licking the top of Clara's head.  Clara screamed and tears came flooding out.
    Aleu heard Clara's screams and tried to go help, but wracking sobs knocked him back down.
    "Aleu!"  She howled.  "Please...!" She sobbed.
    Aleu stay exactly where he was. He could be seen from the clearing now, but he simply lay on the ground, his light brown fur ruffling in the breeze.
    Clara waited for a response.  Nothing.  She sobbed again.
    Finally, with a slow, purposeful movement, Aleu pushed himself to his feet. He strode over to Clara and nuzzled her gently. "I think... I need to leave for a while."
    Clara looked up.  "No!" She wailed.
    Aleu tried to comfort her with a lick to the head. "Just for a little while. I need to calm down a little, is all! I'll be back soon!"
    Clara watched her best friend pad away.  The tears were returning...
    Clara let him go.  "Goodbye, my friend."
    The wind buffeted the she-wolves' fur.  Clara hung her head, and Holly whimpered.
    Clara padded away.  "Let's go, Holly."
    Holly paused.  "What will we do?"
    "We'll give him as much time as he needs," Clara swallowed hard.
    Holly sighed and caught up.  "Okay,"
    Clara looked over at Holly and frowned.  "How do you feel?"
    Holly winced.  "Starving.  I can barely move..."

Aleu padded the first direction to pop into his mind: the direction of Chicago's land. He hoped that Clara would decide to follow him, but it wasn't likely.
Aleu paused at the border. He glanced back, not seeing Clara, but still hoping beyond hope that she would come. He sighed and shuffled into Chicago's land. No sooner had he crossed the border than a tiny dark mass slammed into his side.
The pup tumbled, bouncing off of Aleu, then jumped up and pounced towards Aleu again. Aleu simply watched, amused.
Finally, Aleu stepped to the side as the pup pounced, causing an instant miss and a facefull of dirt. "One of Chicago's, I'm assuming?"
The pup snarled viciously, an effect ruined by the tiny child's growl that emenated from his throat. "Darned right! I'm going to knock you down and send you crying to your mommy!"
Aleu watched the pup bounce of him a few more times before responding. "My mommy's dead."
The pup paused before continuing the bounce off of Aleu's side rhythmically. "I'm sorry to hear that."
The pup finally stopped. "Can't you at least PRETEND that I'm hurting you?!"
The next time the pup smashed into him, Aleu let himself fall over, narrowly missing a rock with his head.
The pup grinned. "Oh, wow! You're a great actor!"
Aleu groaned and sat up, still pretending to be seriously injured.
Aleu half-grinned. "You like my acting? It really saved my neck when I was younger. Maybe some time I can tell you stories about-" He was cut off as a large, redish-brown blur slammed into his side, knocking the wind out on him and sending him flying to the side, to slam his head into a tree.

'I wonder how Aleu is....'  Clara thought.  'I miss him already.'
Clara felt a mournful howl creeping up her throat.  She slid her head back, flattened her ears, and howled.  She was so upset!

Groaning, Aleu opened his eyes. The pup stood over him, a concerned look on his face. When Aleu had managed to get him focused into one being rather than three, he sat up.
"Stay down, or she'll hit you again," warned the pup. "My mother is not pleased that you're here."
Taking the pup's advise, Aleu stayed down. "My head...."
Aleu's ears pricked as he heard a distant howl. Close by, there was a loud reply. "Clara's sad... It's because I left."
There was a sudden intake of breath, and the wolf who had slammed into Aleu appeared. "YOU know Clara? You will take me. I'm simply DYING to meet the wonderful wolf I howl to at night!"
Aleu didn't hesitate long. He sat up, but fireworks exploded behind his eyes. He yelped, and heard it echo from the mountains distantly.
After a breif examination, Chicago said, "I'd better call for help." She raised her muzzle to the sky and howled a desperate note.

A single tear slid down Clara's cheek.
Clara so badly wanted to hear a howl.  Any howl... To tell her everything was okay.
Clara got no reply.  She whined.
Clara stop whining and pricked her ears.  She knew this howl!  It was Chicago!  Calling for help.  Clara quickly slid her head back, howling, telling Chicago she would come.  Clara looked at Holly.  They had been right in front of the Clan.  Clara ran with all of her heart, frost off of the trees dripping down her neck.  She ran so fast, her skin underneath stung.  She soon