#lannel

Irritated, Ashlen left the brother’s cave and looked out into the valley below, wondering how to get Shivo out. It’s been already two full Moons since Shivo and Lannel joined, and Ashlen needed to desesperatly teach how to hunt big game and not die in the process, since Shivo was... At best, decent in managing to bring back quails. The small pack wouldn’t be able to survive on rats and small birds for long.

Small steps distracted them, and Ashlen looked up to see Glawn returning to their den, her fur dripping water and a fish in her mouth.

“They still haven’t woken up?” Glawn asked, shaking her fur and trying to get most of the water out of it.

“Yes. They seem adamant in sleeping” Ashlen sighed,looking too stressed for how early in the morning it was.

“Don’t worry, I’ll get them out” Quickly turning, Glawn entered the cave. Ashlen gave her 5 seconds before someone yelled.

...Huh, less than five seconds.

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The two wolves walked down the rocky path, descending slowly from rock onto another rock, taking care to not slip, following the river down onto the grasslands.

Glawn jumped quickly and graceful, seemingly at ease in the difficult path, ever doubting where to walk. Lagging behind her was Lannel, practically strolling as he tried to watch everything, seemingly enamoured with the ambient.

“Come on, hurry up, the idea is to get down before night arrives!” Glawn called brightly, wagging her tail when seeing the other wolf kind of struggle with the rocks. “Be grateful it wasn’t raining during the night, otherwise you would have long slipped into the river!”

“Har har, very funny” Lannel muttered, huffing as he finally reached the small clearing the gold colored wolf was in. Tired, he went to the shore of the river and took a drink, wishing he was already back on the den.

Although Lannel liked helping Glawn scout, it was exhausting and he only wanted to to crawl back into his cool bed and sleep away the day. The heat only worked to make him more irritable, the sun hitting harshly against him, leaving him panting quickly in seconds whenever he dared to leave the protecting shade of the trees.

“Why are we even going to the grasslands anyways? The mountains are a good place and it’s not like there is anything interesting there” He was whining, but at this point he was too irritated to care. He eyed the river and after a few seconds of deliberating, he jumped in, sighing in relief as the cold water abated the cursed heat.

“For the same reason we are now scouting together instead of going separate ways like before”

...Oh.

"You... You don’t truly think that another pack would challenge us for our territory, right?” Lannel asked hesitently, sitting down in the shore of the river and looking worried at Glawn.

“I don’t know... But Ashlen said they wanted to have options, just in case” Sighing, the gold colored wolf wished that this wasn’t happening. That she were back on her home, with her siblings and waiting for the humans to bring their food. But the past is the past, and although Glawn misses her old home dearly, she wouldn’t give it up if it meant leaving her new pack behind.

“But even if the pack I smelt nearby tried to attack us, Ashlen would beat them, right?! Ashlen is like, invincible!” He exclaimed.

“I don’t know Lannel, while Ashlen surely is a good fighter well... I don’t know how well they would fare against a big pack”

“We could help fight!”

“Lannel, pal, I’m not trying to bring the mood down but we both barely know how to bite something. Your brother is the best than us, and he still gets hurt whenever he tries hunting something bigger than a quail”  Glawn sighed and stood up “Come on, if we are fast we may yet arrive before the Moon rises”

Groaning, Lannel stood up and started following her behind. What he would give to be Shivo right now, his brother must be already back fro hunting, resting peacefully in the shade of their den.

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“Ashlen wait it hurts!” Shivo yelped, trying to get away from the dark wolf, holding awkardly his paw.

Rolling their eyes, Ashlen continued applying the leaves onto the other’s injury, ignoring the whining as they tried their best to cover correctly the bleeding wound.

Once they were satisfied, they relented and stood back, burying back the leaves that were left over. Going back, they snapped their teeth at Shivo, who flinched back and let his paw in peace, from where he was going to lick it. The leader stared down the other, until Shivo whined and laid down, pouting.

“Okay I get it! I get it! Not licking the weird leaves until you say so” Laying down his head on his paws, Shivo sighed, closing his eyes as Ashlen circled around him, trying to see if he had any other injury “I swear that was the last one! Come on, I’m fine already”

Ashlen barked a laugh at that, but left the wolf alone as the leader stood back and went to retrieve the prey Shivo had managed to get back to the den. Carrying the bloody porcupine and leaving it buried underneath some leaves at the shade with the other food they had so far, Ashlen grabbed a rabbit and brought it back to the other, leaving the small morsel in front of him.

“I’m not hungry Ashlen, leave it for later” Ashlen told him something, but as always, Shivo just stared dumbly at the leader, still not managing to understand a single word of the other. After some time Ashlen rolled their eyes again and nudged him, until, huffing, Shivo started eating.

Looking satisfied, Ashlen nodded and nudged him one last time before turning and stretching.

“You going out again?” At the sharp nod of them, Shivo sighed and nodded “Oh wait! I forgot to tell you before, but when I was searching for the porcupine I found some tracks nearby the lake”

At the startled reacting of Ashlen, Shivo laughed and nodded “My exact reaction! It was nearby the lower lake, the one that connects to the river that leads towards the forest, you know the one with the big sharp trees?”

Looking grimly, Ashlen nodded again and turned around, starting the trek down. Shivo called after them, telling them to be careful. A laughing bark was the only answer he got before his leader disappeared down the mountain.

Yawning, Shivo blinked and grimaced. Just their luck, to find tracks of a big pack nearby when they were just settling in.

Oh well, he thought as he accomodated and closed his eyes to sleep, nothing more to do other than wait. He believed in Asheln, the leader was smart and he didn’t doubt the other had a plan for this.

No matter what, Shivo was sure they would manage to survive.

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Sniffing around, Ashlen frowned deeply, staring at the old tracks that lead from the lake towards the forest. The tracks were at least a few suns old, and from what they could smell, clearly family.

Looking around, Ashlen found small bundles of bright golden fur around the edges, a clear signal from the strange wolves. Growling, Ashlen circled around the shore of the lake, upset at the clear trespassing in their territory. Sighing, they started following the tracks, taking care of where they stepped, not wanting to alert any stranger in case they were nearby.

Soon they arrived towards a small river, losing the scent of the strange pack. They saw deep scratches in the dirt and nearby trees, and a quick look told him how the other wolves probably encountered another predator here. Coming closer to the tree Ashlen grimaced, sneezing as they accidentally inhaled hair, yeah the other pack probably encountered a bear around here.

From the signs of the fight, Ashlen could deduce the pack had ran away after a brief fight. They probably were weak, which brought a lot of relief to Ashlen, if they were weak then they probably wouldn’t come back. A quick glance towards where the forest started again confirmed it, blood leading away into the deep of the trees. They most definitively didn’t escape uninjured.

Satisfied, Ashlen turned around and went back to their territory, using the opportunity to patrol the border once again, making sure to reaffirm their scent and clearly delimiting the border of their pack again, to try to scare away the other pack if it came back. Ashlen hadn’t mentioned it to the others, but every day they had started to found more and more trails of the strange wolves, seemingly progressing more and more into their territory.

Ashlen didn’t want to worry the others too much, but they were fairly nervous about this situation. While their companions didn’t understand it clearly, probably since they were raised by humans, Ashlen knew that wolves wouldn’t thread on another wolf’s territory unless they were willing to fight for it. And they were only willing to fight if the wolves were secure in the knowledge they would win the fight.

Ashlen’s pack was weak, all of their members young and inexperienced in the majority. Ashlen really, really didn’t want a confrontation; but as the days dragged in, it became more clear that the possibility was inevitable. Ashlen wasn’t willing to give up without a fight, having grown fond of the mountains they lived in, but they were scared. They are the most apt member of the pack to fight, and they doubted they could take an entire wolf pack on alone. The other pack easily surpassed them on numbers, the tracks too many to belongs to only two wolves.

Sighing, Ashlen turned and started the journey back into their den, the silent Moon already rising high into the sky, determined to get back and check back again on Shivo to see if his injuries were better now.

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Some of Shivo’s earliest memory is warmth, white walls around him as he drank from the milk he was offered. Warm hands handling him carefully, feeding him and taking care of him until he was old enough to be able to walk. His world as a pup consisted of white walls, a fire always lit and a couple of humans taking care of him.

Of course, in that time he did not have a name for the fire nor for his caretakers; he named them warmth and parents respectively, always around his siblings and his parents taking care of him. Lannel had been a stable fixture in his life, his sibling being besides him almost all the time.

Once they were old enough to survive the cold, they were introduced to more wolves, him and all of his siblings. The pack towered over them, whining excitedly, happy to meet them. They would spend a few hours outside everyday, talking with the grown ups as they were taught about what to expect from the outside.

Life was relatively easy, not having to hunt as the humans frequently brought them carcasses before they could even get hungry. Most of their worries were about letting the older wolves check frequently on them and play around in the snow and ice cold water. The only danger they could think of was cougars, who sneaked from time to time into their enclosure; but they were always chased out inmediately, the elders not wanting a repeat of what had happened to one of their sisters before.

The humans were always there too, carrying strange black boxes everytime they went outside to see them, hanging back and always ready to offer affection if any asked.

It was... peaceful...

But life progresses, and soon they were shipped in boxes and freed in a completely new place. Shivo and Lannel were the first liberated, as the youngest from the pack, soon followed by their siblings and then the elders. The humans soon left them, the pair who had raised them giving them pats before also leaving too.

The pack tried to stay optimistic, when they realized the humans were not coming back. They tried hunting, but as all their food was brought dead already and the most hunting they ever did was chasing after the odd mouse in their enclosure, well... easy to say they weren’t doing good.

Chased off by nearby packs, the members were slowly picked off, one by one. Either by injury, predators or by famine, soon most of the wolves had died, leaving behind a couple elders, Shivo and Lannel. The brothers, not wanting to end up dead like their siblings, soon took off on their own, decided to try and find a new place to live, or at least, a pack that could take them in.

Beaten and malnourished, they found themselves in the Azka territory by Glawn in one of her scouts. Taking pity on the poor wolves, Glawn brought them to the den she shared with Ashlen, giving them some food the pair had.

When Ahslen returned, they instantly gave permission for the brothers to stay, knowing that the siblings would not survive on their own, even if spring was already here. Shivo and Lannel, not wanting to give up this golden opportunity, soon accepted.