#ashlen

It was difficult not to, the knowledge that there were strangers that believed themselves strong enough to simply waltz into their territory without a care, and could be anywhere, waiting for the perfect moment to ambush them? Yeah, absolutely not a good thing. Should they go find them? It was still day, but she knew that very quickly it could become night, the dusk barely a speck of time that always catches her off guard.

“Glawn, sit down, you’re gonna leave a trail in the dirt” Lannel complained, probably annoyed from watching her pace nervously. “They are gonna come back soon, don’t stress about it.”

“Oh, I know, but what if something happened?” Glawn said, her eyes fixed onto the trail where the others would come back, “What if they found the other wolves or, or some bear attacked them?”

“They will be fine, Glawn, Lead was capable of defending themself against a bear alone, they are more than capable of fencing off a bear with my brother.” 

“But it’s late, Lannel, and you know Ashlen doesn’t like staying outside when it is so close to night time,” Glawn whined, refusing to look elsewhere and missing the look Lannel threw at her.

They stayed in silence for a few more minutes, Lannel simply closing his eyes and enjoying the peace while Glawn looked and hoped for Ashlen and Shivo to come back. She sighed, and continued to wait, managing to stay down for a few minutes before getting up and continuing to pace around the den, feeling too anxious to stop moving. This continued on similarly for some time, ignoring the annoyed looks her packmate threw at her once again, when the other, finally annoyed, stood up and sighed.

“Alright, okay, let’s go find them,” Lannel said, annoyed, “I bet they just took some time looking at a river, or something.” 

Glawn nodded, and silently thanked the other for putting up with her, as she started to sniff around, following the old tracks the others had left behind. They walked in silence, following closely behind the tracks, trying to ignore the unease slowly filling them up. If asked, they wouldn’t be able to say exactly what caused it, simply on edge and uneasy as they progressed more and more into the deep of the territory, until they started to find more recent tracks.

Glawn paused, unsure, as she looked at the path. Something wasn’t right, but what? She looked around, trying to hear, but everything was silent. Silent.... Glawn looked up, perplexed, where were the birds? It was not normal for the animals to not be around the forest, normally singing up a racket everytime she or anyone of the pack passed by. Then, she heard it, in the distance, so low she could have missed it if she had not been paying attention. Barking was ahead, and she straightened up, fur instantly bristling, Lannel following suit once he also heard the noise.

They approached, making sure to not make any noise, until they could clearly hear Shivo’s voice, as he barked and growled at someone. Lannel tensed, and after sharing a brief look with her, they jumped forward, Glawn barely hiding her shock as she entered the clearing where the rest of her pack was. Shivo was injured, bleeding profusely from his face, standing close to Ashlen, who looked like a breath away from collapsing.

“Guys!” Shivo exclaimed, relieved at their arrival, “Oh, how glad I’m that you found us!”

Lannel nodded, briskly, and stood next to him, clearly shaken from how injured his brother seemed. Glawn took her time, checking Ashlen over, who scoffed and simply nudged her forward, hoping she could help them deal with the strangers. Shivo was.... Abrasive, to say the least, and not the best negotiator, so Glawn wasn’t that surprised that they had ended up fighting. And Ashlen didn’t know how to communicate with anyone, apparently, as she watched the other wolf look at her with hopes of resolving the problem. She straightened and stood up to the front.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, ignoring the shocked looks the wolves threw at her, “This is our territory, and we do not appreciate intruders here, specially, intruders who have been living here for weeks without showing any face.”

She took the time to examine the strangers, noting how similar to her own coloring they were, the three wolves in different hues of golden fur. They looked familiar, but she couldn’t pinpoint the why.

“Glawn?!” The oldest exclaimed, stepping forward and easily ignoring the warning growls her pack gave her, “You’re alive!”

She paused, unsure on how to proceed, and looked confused back at Ashlen. She… Who were these wolves? Likely sensing her confusion the wolf called her over, ignoring the guarded looks Ashlen threw her.

“It’s me, Honsu!”

Honsu? But…

Oooh,she thought internally, That’s why they are familiar.

“We thought you died! You got separated from the group in that storm and no matter what, we couldn’t find you!” Honsu exclaimed, the she-wolf looking happy at her, “Is there anyone else with you? Any of our siblings?”

“Uh, no, sorry” Glawn said, awkwardly, “Only me.”

“Oh,” Honsu deflated, looking sad before shaking it off, “No matter, I’m so glad you are okay!”

“Glawn… Who are they?” Ashlen asked, looking confused at the exchange, voice rough and with a lisp as they tried to emulate as closely as possible the words to the local dialect, and failing horribly once again.

“Oh, um. These are my siblings” Glawn said, ignoring the shocked look both Lannel and Shivo threw her, “This is Honsu, and the other two behind are Clower and Aursa.”

Honsu scoffed at the looks they threw at her, and nudged Glawn, full out ignoring how tense her sister was.

“Well, let’s get going then. We have so much to tell you.”

“What?” Glawn asked, nervously.

“Well, these guys have a problem with us being here, so let’s go. You know this place, right? You must know very good places to stay!” Honsu exclaimed, throwing a despective look at her pack, “These mutts must be bad company, come on.”

“I—Honsu, I can’t leave!” Glawn said, almost horrified and irked at the way she had referred to the others, “You can’t just, just slide in and tell me what to do!”

“Why not? I’m the oldest” Honsu huffed, offended, “And they have a problem with us, so we have to leave.”

“I—” She hesitated, “It’s going to be winter soon, we could die out there without shelter!”

“We’ll make do,” Her sister said, “We surely will find something, me and Clower need to find a good place anyways.” 

Glawn blinked, and looked closely at her sister, noticing how more rounded she looked, despite the almost skeleton way her fur clung to her body, and how Clower looked to the side, embarrassed, looking the same way as her sister.

“You’re pregnant!” She exclaimed, surprised, “I—We—No! We have to stay!”

She turned around, ignoring the protest of her sister.

“Ashlen, surely they can stay, right? My siblings are pregnant, can they stay for the winter, please?” She almost begged, “Please?”

“...Sure?” Ashlen said, shrugging, “It’s your family, and I know how much you miss them, of course they can stay with us for a while.”

“Guys?” She turned to look at Lannel and Shivo, who both shrugged, clearly confused, and she took that as an agreement.

“Glawn we will not stay with them!” Her sister demanded, ignoring the wary looks the rest of her siblings threw at her.

“Oh, please? You’re pregnant, and so is Clower! You need to rest, to eat, you look exhausted!”

“Glawn, no!” Honsu said.

“Honsu, we’re exhausted. And you cannot afford to stay outside,” Clower muttered, their voice low yet stern, “We should accept their offer, we are barely surviving as it is.”

Honsu’s face softened, as she looked at her sibling, and nodded, suddenly looking more tired than before.

“Yeah, okay. We'll stay.” She accepted, “Only for winter, but we’ll stay.”

Glawn nodded, and slowly started to guide her siblings back to her home, Ashlen trailing faithfully behind her.

Meanwhile, the brothers looked at each other in confusion at the resolution of the events, both having been prepared to continue fighting or simply leaving but not to the strangers that had been living in their territory to simply be invited into their home, no questions asked.

“Did you know she had sisters?” Lannel whisper yelled at Shivo, who shrugged confused, “What in the name of the Moon is this?”