Blazed -- Vindari and the Pups.

Blazed strolled purposefully along his borders, marking places that need to be marked and checking the status of surrounding Packlands. He hadn't seen hide nor hair of anyone but Vindari and he thought it was time to bring the pack together. When his father had once been an alpha, he'd annually taken his pack on a ritual pilgrimage, just letting the newer pack members get a chances to assimilate to the rest of the pack. Blazed had decided this pilgrimage would be good for his pack and once he was in the midst of the Packlands, he lifted his artfully crafted pate to the sky and rose up a song of a pack gathering. The aphotic male's voice climbed to his low but powerful and meaningful tone as he waited for others to join him.

In the middle of the pups' playground, a lump of gray, black, and white fur could be seen. Upon closer inspection, you would discover four, one-month-old wriggling pups 'attacking' their aunt. Suddenly Vindari froze, so did the pups. Vindari's cranium shot up and her auds flickered forward, drinking in the call of her brother. The pup sitter rose and three of them tumbled off while the oldest, and clearly the most dominant pup, Cavalier, leapt to his feet and tilted his head, his blue eyes twinkling. Vindari tossed her cranium back and let fly her reply, her voice soaring high above her brothers, taking such a high octave, it was difficult for the human ear to receive. Cavalier looked on in awe and determination and steadied himself firmly on all four paws. The little dragga threw his small head back and put forth his own call with such force that he almost threw himself off balance. All four of the pups had been working on their howls and all they had been able to force out was a couple of long barks and loud whimpers and no one expected this, least of al Aleron. The youth's voice soared to its highest, only a couple octaves below Vindari's and gave the necessary motivation to his sister Rouge to have a go. The black and white hued pup furrowed her brown and shouldered her brother Cavalier aside, if he could do it, so could she. Vatani and Aleron, the youngest of the brood, whispered excitedly. When it came to contests of will and endurance between Cav and Rouge, you could expect a great show. Rouge bounded up to the bluff overlooking their den and took a shot at a howl. The first didn't turn out to well but the second try nearly knocked Cav off his feet in surprise. The drappa pup put all her effort into the call and climbed the ladder of octaves quickly, taking a note high above Cav's and Vindari's. The competition was ended abruptly when Vindari whirled around and caught Vatani up in her jaws and the black and gray pup automatically went limp to lighten the load for her aunt. The youngest had hurt herself a few days before and was not fit for the first day of their journey. The white femme bounded off in the direction of Blazed, Aleron, Rouge, and Cavalier hot on her heels. Cav glared at Rouge as they sprinted. "I was supposed to be the only one who could howl! I'm gonna be a alpha one day and I havta be the first to do that stuff." Rouge rolled her eyes and Aleron jumped to her rescue. "If you can't fight like her, who says you're gonna be a great alpha? If anyone's fit for the responsibility of an alpha rank, its Rouge." Aleron's amber eyes flashed challenge but Vindari cut in and kept the bickering from escalating to the next level.

Blazed ended his howl after quite a while and set about to waiting for his pack. The pack needed to assimilate to each other in order for ranks to be given out. He had already come to the decision that Heero was beta material and although it was normally a hereditary position, Blazed trusted and had much faith in the young adult. The alpha's icy blue eyes lit up upon sight of his offspring. The young wolves were racing to their sire, Cavalier determined to tell him that he had howled first, but Aleron beat him there. "Dad! Rouge howled real high! It was higher than Vindari's!" Cavalier leapt at his father and tugged on his ear playfully. "I howled too, dad, even before Rouge! Aren'tchya proud of me?!" Blazed playfully pinned Cav to the ground and grinned. Blazed was at comfort around his little ones, despite the fact that they brought back memories of his mate. "I heard I am very proud of you.." He paused and grinned at the frowning Rouge, "..both." He added. "So where are we going, pops?" Vatani queried, wriggling out of Vindari's jaws. Blazed gave what was considered a wolf 'shrug' and explained to them the reason for this call. All but Cavalier lost interest in the tradition and ended up romping around, growing impatient.

Heero

The young adult Heero came charging up the game trail to meet Blazed's call. Hoping for something interesting to do with his time. Heero stopped to take a drink by the river while he pondered what the gathering was for. Heero came up with some interesting ideas but none seemed possible. Heero let out a long howl of frustration. Finaly Heero started his way back, but stopped when he heared a new high pitched howl wondering what it ment. Could it be a new wolf, did another wolf die, or is it just the pups praticing. Full of curiosity Heero sprinted the rest of the way to Blazed's side. Whatching what the pups were doing made Heero remember what it was like to be a pup. Heero was very impatiant to no what was going on. "Blazed, why have you called us here, are we moving, are there invaders coming to fight us for our teritory?" Heero started to run around in circles for there was finaly something to be done.

Blazed

The alpha brutes auds absorbed the song of frustration Heero sang, his eyes scanning the territory for the other male. When his blue orbs, a mutation common in their bloodlines, alit on the new beta [though Heero did not and would not know of his promotion until the pilgrimage had ended], he couldn't help but let a wolfish grin flit its way across his features. The fervor this wolf possessed was of an admirable amount; he was certainly fit to be his right-hand man. "Be still, Heero, we have nothing to worry about but getting to know our own pack. My father annually took his pack on what he called a rite of passage for the newer additions. He took the pack on an entire scourge of the harem, not leaving any corner un-searched and unmarked. It brought our pack closer together, like that family that it was. My hope for our pack is that we can achieve the same outcome. This pilgrimage will also serve to make the new members aware of our territory's position and the borders of our neighbors." Blazed's eyes flashed, for their closest neighbor was a friend to the Lurkers, and then not to far away, another pack had sprung up, wielding the same friendliness to the ever growing pack of half breeds and dogs. The brute was not one to tolerate mingling with dogs, which was how half-breeds came about, and not to mention that Blazed disliked the inferior dog. That was where he and his brothers had come to recognize their differences.