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The others, with the exception of Kai got up to follow her, but Twilight stopped them. "No. Let her go. She knows what she's doing." he said. Rowtag grunted and sat down again, but the others were still restless.

Yuma sighed and paced back and forth. "But where would she go? Who is she talking about?" he asked himself. He wished he knew.

Tosca rushed to the riverside, eyes scanning the opposite banks. If she howled, the whole other pack was likely to hear her! The river gurgled underneath a fairly thick sheet of ice and Tosca thought of one more idea. Her parents had always said she was sneaky...
Nodding to herself, Tosca began to slowly navigate across the ice. It seemed like no one was on the other side so as long as she didn't make a sound, maybe she could find Farren. Placing paw after paw carefully, Tosca made it to the opposite bank and took a deep inhalation before slipping through the bushes and stalking through the underbrush.

Farren was out on patrol, walking along the riverbank, although his mind was else where. His mind was ever filled with visions of far away places and adventure. But lately, his thoughts had also been on Tosca. He suddenly was snapped back into attention by movement in the bushes. H crouched low and swiftly moved forward. he waited for a minute for the best time to strike, then he jumped forward and was shocked to find himself face to face with... "Tosca?"

"Good, it's you!" Tosca started, not at all phased. "I need your help... you said you had a healer or something, right?"
Tosca glanced haphazardly over her shoulder then turned back to Farren.
"Remember how Kai got hurt? Well we woke up this morning and she looks sick. She won't get up, she's shivering even though the cave is really warm and she's so weak she doesn't want to open her eyes"

The red and white wolf frown and shook his head. "Wait a minute. You want me to go and get Frida to come and help your sister.?" he asked. He sighed and thought quickly. From the sound of Tosca's voice, it sounded serious, but his father would never approve of this. Farren sighed and looked up at the tawny she-wolf. The look in her eyes sent a wave of sympathy through him. "Oh... Ok. Come on. Follow me and keep quiet." he said, starting off through the underbrush.

Tosca nodded her head and followed. Thoughts raced through her mind, but none involved the danger she bet she was in now. All she thought of was her poor sister.

Meanwhile, Una watched worriedly outside of the cave. Tosca had run straight toward the river... then Una had lost track of her. If she got caught by the other pack, they'd have a new problem to deal with. Sighing frustratedly, Una returned to lay down next to her younger sister who had stopped shivering, but now seemed to be in a deep sleep. It was easy to see that no one felt like talking. The only sound that echoed off the cave walls was the heavy breathing of Kai.

After awhile, Yuma and Rowtag got up and walked towards the entrance. "We're gonna go see if we can't find some food." he said. "We'll be back later." The others just nodded, and the two left to find food.

Farren slowed down after five minutes of running. "Ok. We're almost to my pack's home. Hopefully my father will listen." he said. Then, they emerged from the trees into a clearing.

There was a cliff, only slightly bigger than the one in Tosca's territory, that held three caves. Two of them were on the ground, while the third was part way up the cliffside, and could only be reached by a small, ledge-like path that rose from the ground to the entrance. There were twenty wolves in the Riverside pack, not counting the Alpha and Farren. All of them Turned to look at the newcomer and began whispering amongst themselves.

Then a voice rang out from the third cave entrance. "What is the meanin' of this?" it yelled. Ares, alpha of the pack stared down harshly at Tosca. "Who are you?" he asked.

Tosca didn't blink. Of course, inside, her heart was beating so fast she was sure everyone could hear it, but her father had taught her that appearance was everything.
"I'm Tosca" the she-wolf said in a steady, unafraid tone. "And I am in desperate need of help. I'm the leader of the neighboring pack and my sister has been severely injured"
After she had finished, Tosca stared with an unwavering gaze at the huge wolf before her.

The large grey wolf raised an eyebrow. "You are the leader of that new pack?" he asked. "I though that other female was. I believe she said her name was Una?" The other wolves had all gathered around by now staring t her with a mix of curiosity, suspicion, and a twinge of sympathy over her plight.

Tosca ignored the other wolves around her and didn't move her blue eyes from the largest.
"She's misled you. Una has thought she was the leader, but my pack has chosen me. But back to my other sister. Would you be able to help me?"
This time, once she was done speaking, Tosca glanced around her, observing that any chance of getting away was rare now. If they decided she was no good, there wasn't a very good chance she'd be able to escape.

Ares scratched his chin. "Yes, we could help you, but why should we?" he asked. "You're a great deal more respectful than your sister, I'll give you that, but I don't see any reason to send our healer to your pack for anything. It's not our problem, after all-"

He was suddenly cut off. "Oh, come on Ares, have a heart, would ya?" an old wolf said as he stepped out of the crowd. He had grey fur and striking green eyes, that held what looked like a small spark of insanity. "I say we should at least let her explain the nature of her sister's illness." The alpha looked extremely annoyed, but backed away, respecting the older wolf's judgement. The old wolf look to Tosca and nodded. "Go ahead, young'un."

Tosca nodded her appreciation to the older wolf, trying to restrain the hint of anger that had started to swell at Ares' words.
"Well she was trampled by a deer a while back and it was swollen and cut, but nothing bad from what we could see. She hasn't been able to walk on it since, but hasn't acted any different until this morning. Now she can't get up at all, is shivering uncontrollably and is in pain"

Another wolf, a tan female of about three years, walked out of the crowd. "I've seen such infections before." she said, turning to look up at Ares. "It is easily cured, but if left untreated the wolf will die. I find it no trouble at all to go and treat her, if you'll allow it. It is a horrible way to die."

The alpha, clearly seeing that the old wolf, the healer, and even his own son, by the look of things, were siding with this wolf, it wasn't worth the effort arguing. "Very well. Frida, you and Farren will accompany her back to their territory and deal with this. Come back as soon as your work is done." The other wolves bowed their heads in recognition and respect.

Tosca found it hard to show respect to the leader who had almost let her sister die, but bowed her head anyway. However, as she did, she didn't take her cold eyes off the leader until she turned around to lead Frida and Farren away.

Back at the cave, Kai's breath had slowed down even more. Una, in desperation, was trying to clean the wound again, but it was clear that it wasn't doing any good. Tosca had been gone quite a while, and Una was starting to wonder if her sister really had been attacked by the neighboring pack. Suddenly, the sounds of snow being thrown through the air and something running caught the everyone's attention. Before they knew it, Tosca had shot into the cave with two unfamiliar wolves.

Twilight, hidden at the back of the cave in the shadows, went unnoticed. Farren sat and caught his breath, panting heavily. Frida, though also tired, caught sight of Kai and winced. "She is far along in the stages of the disease." she said. "It may take her awhile to recover."