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Tosca looked up at the bright sky and thought what Farren said over. She'd never thought of it that way before... but speaking of families, she remembered hers. They sat in silence for a few more moments then Tosca sighed.
"I probably need to head back. My sister got injured and I should get a good night sleep in case I need to take care of her"

Farren smiled nodded. "Yeah, you probably need to head back." he said. "You need to take care of your family." He began to walk past her to go back across the river, but stopped for a moment. "I'll be back here tomorrow night if you'd like to talk. I like talking with you. Goodnight." He hesitated for a brief moment, then gave her a small kiss on the cheek. With that he crossed the river and disappeared into the night.

"Goodnight" Tosca said, pleasantly surprised. Tosca took one last look at the sky and started back up toward the den. From what she could see, no one was awake, and that was just what Tosca was hoping for. Without a sound, Tosca tip-toed past her siblings and settled down on the cave floor next to Kai and Una. Soon, she was in the same deep sleep her other siblings were wrapped in.

The hours crept by slowly as the moon moved across the night sky. It soon would be dawn, but Twilight still had not returned from the Southern forest of the territory. Finally, dawn came as the sun slowly climbed into the sky, flooding the den's cave with light.

For a change, Tosca's eyes were the first to flutter open. She raised her head and yawned. Since she was the last one to fall asleep, she'd expected to be the last to wake up. Kai was still sprawled on the cave's floor and with a grimace, Tosca noticed her leg looked worse then it had before. She looked at the back of the cave, expecting to see some outline of Twilight through the dark cave, but nothing caught her eye.
"He must already be awake..." she mumbled to herself. "Or hidden really well back there"
The tawny wolf stood to her feet and walked to the front of the cave, stretching as she did.

Yuma slowly blinked, his eyes bleary with fatigue *** he rose and yawned widely. When his vision cleared he saw Tosca awake and at the entrance to the cave. He smiled and walked up to her. "Good morning, big sis." he said. After a moment of stretching he gave her a confused look. "When did you go to bed last night? You look really tired."

"Good morning" she greeted. "Honestly, I have no idea... I guess I just couldn't fall asleep last night"
Tosca's eyes drifted over to Kai.
"I thought one of you guys would be awake before I was"
Tosca glanced to the back off the cave but still heard or saw nothing. Shaking the thought out of her head, Tosca observed outside the cave again. Even though the sun was shining bright, the dark clouds that seemed to be billowing miles away threatened with snow.

"Looks like were in for a storm" a familiar voice said. They both turned to see Twilight walking up to them.

Yuma cocked his head. "Dang, you look even worse than Tosca." he said. "Guess you didn't get any sleep either?" The black wolf shook his head and went inside.

Tosca exchanged glances with Twilight and followed him back into the cave.
"What happened?" Tosca asked. "You look like you didn't sleep at all"

Hearing her siblings talk, Una woke up as well and glanced back and looked around to see what was going on. She caught sight of Twilight and grimaced. He looked even worse then normal...
"What happened?" Una repeated, looking between her tired looking sister to the ruffled Twilight.

The black wolf laid down and closed his yellow eyes, with only his faint outline to be seen in the shadows of the cave. "Nothing happened." he said irritably. "I just had a rough night is all. Now I'd appreciate it if you'd leave me be." There was a threatening undertone to his voice that said that he would not tolerate being disturbed in any way, and so Yuma instantly shrank back.

Tosca raised a brow but kept her mouth shut. Una threw a look at the black wolf but also knew when it was time to hold her tongue.

For the next two weeks, Tosca secretly met Farren every night by the river, talking about what they wanted to do, what had happened and what was going on in the other's packs. For a while, everything seemed fine despite the occasional irritability of Twilight. But Kai, who had been hopping around since the trampling, seemed to be getting lazier and more tired. It didn't seem worrisome yet, but Tosca assumed that her younger sister was healing.

After another week it became very clear that Kai was actually getting worse. Yuma awoke one morning bright and early and turned to see if anyone else was awake. Twilight was gone, most likely on one of his all-night field trips to the Southern forest. Again. Then, Yuma noticed something else. Kai was shivering badly, and the wound on her leg had turned black around the edges. There was an unhealthy look to it that just didn't look right. At that moment, Twilight returned. "Hey, Twilight, could you come here?" he asked. "I think there's something wrong with Kai."

The black wolf frowned and walked over, examining the white she-wolf. "This is bad." he said quietly. "I'm no healer, but that looks like an infection to me. Wake your sisters." The younger wolf nodded and woke Tosca and Una immediately.

Tosca got to her feet immediately and Una was up not a second after.
"What's wrong?" Tosca asked, searching around and finding her younger sister a shivering mess.
"Hey Kai... are you with us?" Una asked anxiously, nudging the nearly white wolf.
"I'm... okay" Kai answered, trying to keep the whimpering tone out of her voice. The poor wolf didn't move. She didn't even open her eyes to answer. "My leg feels kinda funny though... and so does my head... and my stomach"
"What do we do?!" Una asked franticly.

Twilight sat and mulled it over. "She is obviously very sick." he said. "I'm not sure what it is, but it doesn't look too good. The disease may even prove fatal." The others gave him an absolutely mortified look, Una practically on the verge of tears. The black wolf sighed. "I'm sorry, but I am no healer. And unless any of the rest of you are, I'm afraid there is nothing we can do.

Kai's blue eyes shot open and she stared fearfully up at Twilight. Tosca bit her lip and looked at her younger sister. Hadn't Farren said something just the other night abut a healer or something? If she was right, she bet she could help...
"I think I know where to get someone..." Tosca said quietly as five pairs of eyes darted to her. Tosca looked up, searching from face to face. "I'll be right back"
Tosca darted out of the cave, not waiting for an answer and sprinted down the hill toward the river. The tiny flakes that had started to float down were stinging her eyes as she ran, but Kai was the only thing that mattered to Tosca now.