Karai

The silver female pads into Sedge Creek TT, head held low and tail trailing the ground in defeat. She avoids the main part of the pack lands, afraid that they will see that she is coming from the breeding grounds, and with no mate. She curses herself silently once again for letting her guard down. Seeking a secluded place, she finds a clump of bush and trees, and sits painfully, her broken rib and bruised pride pining dreadfully. Her good orb shines wetly. The Sky's Orb reflects off her coat, making her glow white against the night, white as had been her innocence before.....

She shakes her head, cursing silently to herself and fighting the old instinct to run and never return. Her shame blinds her in ways that her battle scars never could, and she wonders if the pups might be better off if she "disappeared" once they were born, and left them to the generosity of the pack. Surely the pack could not turn away innocent pups? Perhaps it would be better that they never knew their mother. Perhaps...

She shakes her head again... too many maybes, too many possibilities, and no answers. As a young wolf she thought only of eating, sleeping, and attempting to become part of a pack. All these new thoughts, ideas... all these... questions. The Questions shadow her heart.

Maw opens and releases a cry of shame and loss to the stars, the mournful tones rising upon the crisp, cold air of the night; the anguished call of a soul lost in the darkness of her own heart.

Zhener

The wedge-tailed eagle, very far from his original home, spotted the she-wolf from his place high in the sky. He was not often up at night, but he was terribly curious about the nocturnal animals, so he rested during the day and, here he was.

Zhener spiraled through the sky on a six-foot wing span that held him in the air with ease. He came to the ground with a thud and folded his sepia-colored wings to his side. Bobbing and tilting his sharp head this way and that, the eagle wadled towards Karai.

"'ello, who are you? I'm Zhener." he spoke outright, being too talkative for his own good sometimes. And too trusting. "'ave I met you before? I met so many volves... too many to keep track of. You are part of zhis pack, ja? Vith Moon Spirit?"

The Hunter

She chuckled to herself and said in a quiet soft voice "Oh trust me Zhener. Shes with this pack. And she has some secrets to tell. So out with it Wolf. Whats the big secret?" She cirlced around the fae her yellow eyes gleaming with mischief. She looked so different from Aaka and Moon Spirit. But in a way they were related. She smirked and nearly danced. Aaka was ticked at some humans. Moon Spirit would be taking care of pups. And she may have a new pack to stay with. This winter was good.

Zhener

Uh oh, this could get him onto Karai's bad side. With a new subject to arrouse his interest, Zhener went on to pry innocently at the wolfess to learn her secret. He didn't know and hadn't even thought that it might be a painful one for her.

"Vhat is zhe secret? You found good food? Maybe found... found 'nother volf to bring to pack? Vhat is it? Vhat?" he bobbed his head and spread his wings ever so slightly in anticipation for hearing this secret. "I teel you secret of mine, ja? And you," he looked to The Hunter, "You tell us secret too, ja? Ve all share secrets. Good fun!"

Karai

She raises her head, looking kindly at the slightly daft bird, and can't help smiling a little. She is puzzled by the other wolf's gruff manners, but she has always been a little sensitive, and so decides to ignore what appears to be an affront on her honor.

Her head goes back down in submission to the other wolf, and a respectful nod to Zhener. She smiles a little sadly at the bird, and shakes her head. "My secret is darker than any words can encompass. I would not shadow your souls with it."

Karai

Seeing in their eyes that they will not be satisfied until they are answered, the wolfess takes a deep breath and begins. "You ask for my secret. To tell you that I must tell a story, for in truth my LIFE is a secret." She looks away for a moment, but turns back to begin the tale. "I am Karai, new to this pack, rank subordinate. I came to this pack starving, and the generosity of Moon Spirit surprised and bewildered me. She required only my submittance, and allowed me to stay. Bewildered me, yes, for not everyone has been so kind to me."

"My mother was a member of a pack outside this valley: a beta female without a mate. She was ambitious, needed no mate or pups to make her happy. Then one day, she felt a need to find a mate, and visited her packs breeding grounds. She was forcebred, and had five pups. She died in whelping, and we were left alone. I was the runt, the one no one expected to survive. My brother and sisters died that winter, but I somehow managed to survive. Still, I was illegitimate offspring, and I was chased from the Pack Lands. I think that was when I got these scars," she says, indicating her left eye and shoulder where no fur grows. "I'm not sure. I don't remember much. From summer to summer and winter again, I lived entirely on my own, feeding myself and under my own rule. Finally game got scarce outside the Pack Lands, and I had to seek out a pack. That is how I came to this valley."

"Moon Spirit, as I have said, welcomed me to the pack, and I began life anew, I thought. My past was past, and gone. I could begin again and it would never haunt me. So it was, until I began to search for a mate." Her voice catches, and she shakes her head, waiting for speech to return to her. "I was foolish. I let my guard down. I was..." she clears her throat again, "forcebred. And I carry pups. Pups who shall never be a part of a pack because of their illegitimacy. Pups that will be.. just like me.. alone..." She hangs her head. "I fear for them Zhener," she cries, turning to the bird, forgetting the other wolf's prescence. "In my old pack, all pups not belonging to the alphas are turned out or killed. I fear..." and she trails off, unable to voice her fear.

Zhener

His sharp, dark eyes grew serious as he listened, realizing this was no light matter as he had been so quick to assume. He quiet his bobbing about so much and stood almost perfectly still, besides of few turns and dips of his head.

By the end of the story, and especially at the end of the story, his all out happy and inquisive attitide switched to defense and outrage. He was greatly moved by the words and her plight, "I svear, I vill not let zhe pups be harmed." Zhener hunched his wings slightly, letting his voice carry a hissing tone to it as if some enemy were near at hand, "Zhey vill be safe 'ere, Karai. I vill make sure. No von gonna keel or eat zhem." Perhaps that last statement was not the best he could have made while trying to assure Karai. But thinking of eagle chicks and all he knew, Zhener thought Karai feared the most that her pups would be eaten. In truth, he had killed dingo and fox pups before for food. But after arriving at this valley, he quickly made friends of wolves and, as if they were part of his own species now, he would not harm their young.

Karai

Though the silver female was unsure why, the bird's words comforted her, for she believed in his sincereity to do as he said. She believed that he would do all in his power to protect her pups. She smiled at the strange creature. He did not seem so daft now. He was a wolf in her eyes, albeit one with wings and a beak. His vow gave her new confidence, a feeling she had rarely experienced in her short, difficult life. Trembling much less now, she knew what she had to do. Throwing back her head, she howled for her alphas.

The Hunter

She listened quietly and said "Moon Spirit is having pups of her own. Her and Azul will be back soon. Trust me. You pups will be safe. Moon Spirit was always to kind. Trust me. She will make sure that no one in the pack comes near your pups." she growled softly. Aaka was the only one who wasnt soft like her.

Karai

The silver female smiled at the other, mentally scolding herself for making so rash a judgement of this female. Clearly she had a kind heart, if a rough exterior. (In a way,) Karai thought to herself, (she is much like me in that respect.) She smiled quietly, gratefully, at her new friends. She raised her head and stepped out of the shadows of past betrayment and fear, allowing herself to bask in the light of the Sky's Orb. Here then, was home. Here she could stay, and raise her pups, and give them the kind of life she had always wished for. Here, she could learn to live again.

Karai

Turning away from her friends, the wolfess heads towards the den.