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Two worlds meet at last

There is no such thing as one hungry wolf in a pack.

Ylva looks around the familiar forms and she can see a leanness in them all. Most worryingly in the half grown pups, their fur lacks the lustre it should have.

There is a fire in her hip from the wound that will not heal. All day she has tried to keep pace with the others but she is too slow and soon falls behind. In the end merely arriving in time to eat and rest is pushing her to her limits.

White Tip a has guarded Ylva's share from the hungry muzzles of her litter mates and has then doubled back to walk her granddame into the packs night camp. The little femme with the white tipped tail is also hunting stories too. Ylva has been teaching the little female about the ways of the alpha. Her father's advice moving on as it had to White Tip's mother and now on to the next generation.

"So White Tip can you remember what was the test my father set?"

The little pup looks thoughtful as she recites. "You both had to run all day then he watched you when you arrived in camp. Aunt Dusk went straight for the carcass to claim her share as alpha while you checked the guards and the pups had full bellies. Then and only then you fought aunt Dusk for the alpha's share. Thus your father knew you cared for the pack first and your status second as should a good leader. " Ylva gives the pup a loving nuzzle and goes to eat.

The pack is settled and the first frost fire of the season is lighting up the sky. The air has a dry chill to it and a promise of snow on the breeze. Ylva can read the signs and comes to a decision she has been mulling over for the past weeks.

She slowly get to her feet whimpering a little at the stab of pain in her hip and wanders a little away calling softly for her daughter to follow.

"Yes mother what is it? Do you need wolf moss for your wound?" Strong Paw her daughter looks her mother over with a slight scowl of concern.

Ylva sighs."You are a great Alpha my dear daughter but a little too soft hearted. You know it is time for me to leave."

Stong Paw shakes her head as if she has a bad taste in her muzzle "Mother no, the pups are only a few months from being able to join the hunt. Then we will be able to range from a single den and you can rest and heal."

Ylva will not be swayed, she looks up at the fire in the sky "The cold time is coming daughter. Look in the sky it is there to see. it is the ancestors calling me to leave and join them. The pups are too thin and I can't run fast enough. The reindeer are getting too far ahead, another couple of days and you will lose them."

Ylva moves in close beside her daughter pressing against her side to feel the strenth and power in Stong Paws frame. " It is time daughter. You can come a calling next spring and place my skull next to Father and Brother Half Tail. I'll lay off near the entrance all being well. "

The younger femme gives a puppy like whine knowing her dam's words are true but feeling the harsh failure of losing a pack mate.

Ylva feels a weight lift from her and shoulders her daughter almost playfully ,"Tail up now, know I am proud of you as was your father. The wheel turns and it's my time go on, Its yours to lead girl of mine."

Giving her daughter a final nuzzle Ylva sets off on her last journey, at least that is what she thinks.

The dream ways are as bright as the frost fire as Ylva trots along the paths in her memories. She is drawn further though past the narrow confines of her own life and into the shared dreams of older ancestors. Her heart hammers, perhaps this is it the final dream? Will she finally find the river of light into the sky and join the pack eternal?

She travels back through the generations till she reaches the Choice. The time when the Creator race split the world of the wolves. Some the sons of Wolfen become upright and are remade more in the image of the creators. The others, the daughters of Fenris continue their feral ways and keep the wheel turning. They remain part of the never ending cycle of predator and prey as it had always been.

A small spark of the creator however like an ember from a fire lands in the Fenris consciousness changing them forever. Lifting their thought above the instinct driven existence of their feral past. Thus the new traditions such as the passing place had come into being.

Ylva journeys down her Wolfen ancestors family line till she is drawn to a branch belonging to white tailed clan. It is a marker that occurs in her pack from time to time. There at the end is a pup wailing, her little brother is crying out into the ether for her but the little one is too weak to answer. The pup is dying in the dark alone.

Ylva's heckles rise at the wrongness of it all. A pup should not die alone, it is sad that they pass at all, but who has left this poor youngling lost and alone?

She pushes forward to touch the little flickering ember that is the pup's soul. It is weak, so little warmth comes from its flame. Ylva pours out her strength to blow on the ember and bring it back to life. Her will is that of a leader a pack. The unchallenged undeniable will of an alpha. She is the living incarnation of the mother goddess, giver and guarder of life. She willingly accepts the pain and panic emanating from the small spot of brightness as she pushes away the darkness and nurtures the little light to reignite its flame.

A bargain then it seems. She is being asked to forego an easy passing to once more take up the burden of the Alpha.

She opens her eyes dawn has come at last and down by the river her old eyes pick out the lump of fur and cloth that has washed up on the gravel bar. Heeding the dreams call Ylva trots down from the cave and gripping the pup by the scruff hauls her top half out of the water. Somewhere in her history she finds the knowledge to place her paws on the pup's stomach and push down with all her weight. A gush of water comes from the little one's muzzle.

A tiny gasp, then another deeper and finally an explosion of gagging and coughing as Rebecca shakes and splutters and clears her airways. There is a warm feeling between her thighs as she loses all control of her body while it wretches up the last of the cold river water. Finally, week as a day old pup she crawls the rest of the way out of the water.