Aska

"You're fine," she said, but really she was begging. To Siv or to the gods or to anyone who could hear, "you're fine, right?"
Sivs eyes were milky white and dazed.
"I'm fine," she smiled up at her but her weak voice betrayed her words.
"Siv, siv open your eyes, listen to me," she begged again and Siv obliged, "you're an amazing alpha, and an amazing mother, and anyone who ever met you had luck on their side. Thank you for everything."
Siv fell asleep with a smile on her lips. Fearing it would be her last, the young wolf ran to get Sivs family so they could be with her one last time.
-
"She brought you here because she feels guilty," Hilding said nonchalantly, "I know you've been wondering. She thinks she has to solve everyones problems, it can get annoying."
Hilding was a rather puffy looking anz old wolf who never did much, but clearly he knew the alpha better than anyone.
"Why would she feel guilty?"
"It's the alphas job to take care of orphan pups, she was muttering about it yesterday," Hilding yawned.
"Come on, pup, we're going on a trip."
Why the alpha had to take a trip north in the middle of winter was beyond comprehension while they were struggling through the thick snow, but as night fell they seemed to reach their destination. For hours and hours the snow had hung heavy above them as a roof, and now they stepped out into a clearing, the bluish black night sky opening up to them, crisp as ever with so many stars. Even though it was the middle of the night, the area was bright. The full moon was shining on the snow, illuminating everything, and in the middle of the clearing was a round lake that reflected the sky like a mirror. Small candles were littered here and there around the lake, and glistening decorations hung from the trees.
"Welcome to moonpond!" Siv announced, and then hurried off to talk to people.
"Alpha grew up here. She visits every full moon," one of the guards following the alpha around explained to her.
She decided to explore the area on her own. They seemed to be celebrating the full moon. She was inspecting some icicles hanging from the opening of a cave when she heard commotion. The alpha was arguing with someone. It didn't seem like her, she was very brisk nowadays in a way this pup hadn't noticed before when the alpha had visited Craggy valley, the pups hometown. Or maybe it wasn't her hometown. She could clearly remember arriving to craggy valley for the first time, being greeted by the wolves. She could remember being treated like an outcast by most, except Tyra. But Tyra was busy taking care of all of the wolves living there, she was the lead of Gerds family, so she ruled over all of Craggy valley. With the leader position and her own pups to care for, there wasn't much time for an extra puppy. But the pup didn't mind, she could handle herself and even went on her own trips, no one could tell her what to do and she liked it that way.
She sniffed the air as a familiar scent hit her. She perked up her ears and looked around. Stunning.
The pup ran up to the grey female. When Stunning saw her she lit up.
"Hi little cub!" She burst out and ruffled the fur on her head with her big paw, "did you find a name yet?"
The pup had met Stunning in the forest on one of her trips, Stunning had been worried about a little pup trying to travel all alone and escorted her back to Craggy valley, though she said she understood the longing for adventure.
"No.." The pup felt flustered, "how did you get your name?"
"What, you don't think it suits me?" Stunning pretended to be mad but then chuckled, "my mother thought it did! But she might not have had the best imagination; my siblings are named Wonderful and Handsome."
"Oh," the pup didn't know what to say, it sounded sad to be given a haphazard name. Stunning seemed to notice her shift in mood.
"Oh pup, I was just joking! It's tradition to name your pups in Härds tongue, like my oldest brothers are, but my litters father was an outsider named Elysian. My mother found his tongue, the new tongue, to be beautiful so she named us names that she found fitting. I guess she really did find us stunning, wonderful and handsome!" Stunning explained and the pup smiled in relief.
"What about your older brothers?"
"In Moonpond it's tradition to give your pup a name that you want it to aspire to be, especially for wolves of Skades descent," Stunning started.
"Woah, you're related to Skade?"
"Uh-huh," Stunning didn't seem to mind being interrupted, "so my mother named my brothers hoping they'd grow up to be kind and caring, and she named the eldest after their father, Jens."
The pup was silently thinking of something she could aspire to be.
"Hey look, there they are!" Stunning got up and started walking toward a group of wolves, "want to meet my family?"
Stunning basically attacked her siblings and a brawl left only one wolf still standing, Siv was watching them with a smile.
"Siv?" The pup asked "are you Stunnings sister?"
"No, dear, these are my pups," Siv chuckled, the pup gasped and looked at the pile of wolves. Siv must've also been busy, just like Tyra, with raising her family and taking care of the entire pack.
-

Siv was dead. But the new alpha was nowhere to be found. Somnolents seat, normally the home of the non-royal wolves, was now full of the most important members from the four royal families.

From Gerds family; The chief, Tyra, was accompanied by the siblings Edgar and Eloise - they wouldn't go anywhere without eachother - and it was meant that Stina was supposed to join, but as Stina was old and had bad joints, she had sent her daughter Hanne instead.

From Vårs family; The chief, Bolla. The elder Edla had her young son Cinder with her as support. Igulfrid, daughter of the previous chief, Eldar, was the more favorable of his rather unpleasant offspring.

From Skades family; The chief, Alva, had luckily brought with her the family elder Balder, who was always a delight to have around. Unluckily, Alva had brought with her as many of Sivs pups as she possibly could, and their prescence was commanding to say the least.

From Ulls family; The chief, Nilla, was fairly young. With her was Hulda, also a young wolf, Järvsson, the elder who was also the son of the esteemed late chief Järv, and a yearling named Ivar.

"We're not even sure she's from Gerds descent," Henna scoffed after Tyra had suggested they find the young alpha who had gone missing.
"We could choose a new alpha, one that we all agree on," Bolla didn't sound sure of her own words as she brought up this suggestion, and she wasn't, but she would soon regret even saying it.
"You would disrespect Sivs choice?" Banke, Sivs son, almost growled.
"I love the pup she chose, but it's true that we don't know her true origins," Tyra brought up. Bolla sighed in relief as the attention was taken off of her.
"And you don't trust Sivs intuition? You think she would choose a stranger as the alpha of the pack?" Jens didn't growl, but his demanding eyes were scarier than a growl.
"That's not what I meant," Tyra started explaining and a debate started between her and Jens. Alva, with her grey unassuming eyes, stood in the background, seemingly displeased with her choice of support.
"I think Bolla has a point. The alpha has gone missing, if we can't find her we will need a new alpha in any case," Alva said and brought the attention away from herself expertly by asking Bolla, "what do you think?"
"We're not choosing a new alpha," Igulfrid knew Bolla was weak to Alvas influence, so chimed in to save her elder from the wrath of Sivs sons, "lets just make a search party and go find her. Nilla?"
Nilla looked up and shrugged, to which Igulfrid scoffed and turned away.
"How would we find her?" Järvsson sighed.
"We have no idea where she went," Bolla also sighed, seemingly the only two who agreed despite their families.
"Let's ask around for her," Ivar chimed in. Being the youngest wolf there, he immediately got judgemental and sceptical looks on him by the others, but he stood up tall, not letting their gazes minimize him.
"We can't do that, because we don't know her name," Jens looked straight at Tyra, placing the blame on her.
"It's our fault," Tyra hung her head and accepted her mistake, but Hanne looked away.

The wolves did not debate all night, but as they took a break they chatted amongst eachother.

In Ulls family, Ivar was trying to convince his elders to care more. Nilla couldn't come up with any soutions at all, Hulda didn't want to disrespect her chief, and Järvsson was sure that the alpha was long gone by now and speculated on how they were going to save themselves as the pack disintegated.
In Vårs family, Igulfrid was berating Bolla for taking the bait and letting herself be stepped on. Cinder was busy taking care of the elderly Edla. In the night, Bolla was visited by Alva who gossipped with her about how this was a hopeless case, that the others were just as incapable of choosing a new alpha as Siv must've been, since the alpha that Siv chose can't be a good alpha if she ran away from her duties. Bolla Sighed and nodded.
In Skades family, Sivs offspring were pacing around, still upset that the others would disrespect their mother and the whole packs late alpha like this. Alva agreed with them subtely, trying to think of a way to get them on her side, which was much harder than manipulating the other families. She knew Bolla would continue to influence Järvsson, who would then influence his whole family.
Gerds family might have been the most conflicted. Eloise and Edgar were very little help, and Tyra was pacing around. It seemed that no one was on her side, not even her own family.

None of the families knew exactly who this new alpha really was. Tyra knew her as a pup that one day arrived at Craggy valley without a family. Skades family only knew her as the wolf that Siv chose, a pup they had met but not gotten to know. Ulls family didn't know at all who was the chosen wolf, and neither did Vårs family.
In the abscence of their chiefs, the four cities were facing their own troubles. In Craggey valley the bears had noticed the lower number of wolves and started moving in closer to the territory. Near Moonpond, a pack of arctic wolves had wandered too far south. Sinewy river was effectively run by yearlings, they had quite a fun time. In Ember meadows..

Cinder had to escort his elderly mother home. Though she was the elder of the family, she wasn't much help in this issue and she wanted to be in her own home when she inevitably would meet her end.
Cinder had to send someone else to represent vårs family. He didn't really know his cousins but he asked one of them, who quickly declared that she couldn't because she wasn't a descendant of Vår. Cinder was tired from the trip and realized he had assumed she was his relative only based on the blaze on her forehead. He apologized.
"So who are your parents?" He decided to politely strike up conversation with her to make up for his rude assumption.
"I have no parents," the wolf responded.
"I'm sorry," nearly dying of embarrassment with his conversational skills, Cinder excused himself to go to sleep. But the next day, when he wanted to find her to apologize, she was gone. Little did he know this was the alpha everyone was looking for. But she did not know of her own status, all she knew was that she needed to get away from her so-called family and everyone else for that matter. She could handle things on her own.
-
Apparently a wolfs own swearing and yelling wasn't enough to drown out the sound of another wolfs sneaking steps. The unnamed wolf had scented something familiar, and she couldn't brush this weird feeling in her chest. The other wolf had jumped her, pinned her down and questioned her about her intentions, but not before introducing himself as Ivar. The unnamed wolf didn't like having him so close, because his scent made her feel weird, so when he demanded that she follow him to his pack she agreed just so he would step away.
"It's not that far, you'll like the place, I'm sure," Ivar told her. He held his head high and didn't seem concerned at all about her running away, clearly confident in his capabilities to catch her if it happened.
"You don't get a lot of wolves around here? Cause I promise I was just passing through," the unnamed wolf tried to explain.
"It's not that. Honestly, we are looking for our alpha. She went missing," it sounded like he was leaving things out, but the unnamed wolf didn't really care.
Ivar wasn't sure how much to tell this wolf. He didn't know if she had something to do with the alphas disappearance, if she was the alpha, if she was just some random wolf. The chiefs and elders at somnolents had acted arrogant and ignored him, treating him like a pup. He wasn't much older than a yearling, but most wolves at Sinewy river were very young. When word came that the younglings at Sinewy were in need of an adult, Ivar happily obliged to be the one to go home.
As the two wolves emerged from the thick forest out onto the beach with the sparkling and thrashing river, the sun shone upon them and all the pups and yearlings in the area looked caught red handed, trying to scramble together to not get in trouble. Ivar went to check on them, and lecture them, leaving the unnamed wolf to her own devices.
"Fermented fruit?" Ivar sighed and gave the younglings a classic disapppinted dad look. The younger wolves hung their head in shame, well, the ones who weren't too intoxicated to sit up. Ivar turned to find his mother, Mia.
"Mamma," he was going to ask her why she hadn't been keeping the pups under control, but when he saw her greying fur and slightly cloudy brown eyes, he couldn't be angry at her, so he closed his mouth and sighed lightly to himself.
"Pup," his mother said as she sniffed the air. Mia sniffed his legs and chest.
"Yes mamma?" He said but she didn't seem satisfied.
The unnamed wolf had a similar issue. The scent that Ivar had bothered her with, it was stronger here. She sniffed the sand and followed the trail.
"It's her!" The voice interrupted her search and she picked her head up and pinned her ears. Ivar and Mia were looking at her.
"Do you recognize her? Is she the alpha?" Ivar said to his mother.
"No," Mia walked up to the wolf. Mias scent hit her like a boulder, emotions came crashing at her like a waterfall and her tears welled up, but she didn't understand why until Mia said, "it's my daughter."
"What?" Ivar and the unnamed wolf said in unison. Ivar knew his own sisters and this wasn't one of them.
"They took her from me," Mia said, "I remember.."
"What do you remember, mamma?" Ivar urged her to come sit by the fire, and he brought the unnamed wolf too.
"I had pups but then another one came along too. This is her, Ivar. This is your sister," Mia looked at her with tears in her eyes.
"That's not possible, we all grew up here, mamma," Ivar tried to make sense of it, but as he looked at the unnamed wolf he felt like he could remember something.
"Can you," the unnamed wolf stammered, "please, elder, can you tell me the whole story?"
The unnamed wolf, not knowing where she came from, was dying to learn.
"You can call me Mia, or mamma if you want," Mia said and smiled before telling the story about how the alpha came to her with a newborn pup. Mia gladly took it in as her own and nursed it together with her other pups, including Ivar. One day when the pup had weaned from her the scouts came to bring the pup to her real family, "but ever since then, there has been something missing from me."
Mia gasped when the unnamed wolf suddenly pressed her head into the fur on her chest, but Mia recognized her puppy needing closeness and embraced her. Ivar joined in, too. The unnamed wolf felt the scent that had bothered her, now surrounding her, tugging at her heart. She could almost remember being a tiny puppy drinking her mothers milk surrounded by warmth and love.
-
"We just name pups after what they look like. See, we have Klara," Ivar nodded toward a white wolf with white eyes, "we have Selmrid, whom my mamma obviously found beautiful, and me of course not as beautiful."
"Ah, Ivar because your coat is reddish," she interrupted his annoying blabbering, "so what do I look like?"
"Your name would definitely be Rat," Ivar grinned.
"Hey!"
"I'm older than you, so I remember what you looked like and it was definitely rat-like," he said matter-of-factly before the two got into a sibling scuffle. They laughed together and the unnamed wolf remembered how Sivs adult pups had played together at Moonpond. So Skades family named their pups what they want them to become, while Ulls family named their pups what they already are.
"I wonder what gerds family names their pups," she said abscent mindedly.
"Is that where they took you?" Ivar looked surprised. Moons had passed since the unnamed wolf first came to Sinewy, Mia had died of old age and it was painful for both siblings, but she still hadn't told Ivar or anyone for that matter, where she came from. She nodded before picking up the berries from the ground and placing them in her bag.
"Maybe you could visit and ask them," Ivars suggestion was innocent enough.
"No," she answered frankly.
"Why not? How long have you been away from there anyway? I think it could be good for you to go back," Ivar pressed on.
"Because you think I'd belong there better than here?"
"No that's not what I meant! But you did say there was certainty that you are a part of Gerds family after all," Ivar stumbled on his words and he realized it, but before he could correct himself,
"So you don't consider me your sister?"
"I do!" Ivar yelled after her but she ran. Ivar realized he had fucked up, and decided to let her go cool down. He would explain it when she came back home.

But she didn't come home.
-
Embers flew through the air. Is this why they call it Ember meadows? The smoke had forced the unnamed wolf to flee back towards her old territory, back towards Ember meadows, the eastern most city of Tyrs härd. Cinder was yelling out orders, they were trying to use their limited water supply to put out a small fire.
"I'll go check how close the fire is," he yelled out and everyone knew he didn't mean the small one. A big forest fire was spreading, one of the embers had started this smaller one. Somewhere in the chaos their eyes locked onto eachother and his gleamed in a way before he ran off to his duties. The unnamed wolf didn't know how to help with the fire, no one even knew she was there, so she ran after him to help. The big fire wasn't far away.
"You! Go back, tell them to evacuate!" His voice called out for her but she couldn't see him through the smoke. After frantically looking for him she saw it, he was stuck under a log, "Hurry before the fire reaches them!"
"But you-" she was cut off
"If you don't leave me, many more could die."
His voice was commanding, and she ran the fastest she could to warn the others.
"Run! Get out of here!"
A very eyecatching female, Igulfrid, with eyes as bright as the fire ran into the meadow and gathered everyone and got them out of there. The unnamed wolf turned around and ran straight back toward the fire.

Continue reading