The sky deepened in hue overhead and a dry wind swept 'cross the forest. Through the trees deprived of moisture by the summer heat, a lupine figure weaved. Brown-grey mits treaded the earth, almost soundless against the soft chatter of the woodlands. Almost. The small crack of a twig rang through the forest like an alarmed cry of some wretched creature, alerting all to the arrival of the grey she-wolf. The femme was no older than three cycles but her body was strong and so was her choice of words. "Damn," she muttered, cursing her clumsiness as she looked on. Tilting her head, she caught the scent of a familiar wolf ahead. Forgetting her clumsiness and her need to hunt, she trotted ahead.

Smirking slightly, the Baridigandian wolfess treaded on, her gait faster now. The obsidian tinted lupine came closer into her horizon of view. She came up behind the dark-hued brute, unaware of the ugly mood he was in although the scent of his anger wafted all around him. "Eh Azzy, wanna go catch a bite? I think I saw a stupid wood pidgeon over that way." She called to him, laughing at his solitary pose. She sneered slightly and approached him, stepping lightly around the bushes. The cerulean summer sky loomed above them and the heat was unbelievable.

Rasping a tongue over her maw, Arashi looked around for a spot of shade, or better, water. She was starting to regret coming out here now. Tracking her pack mate had been fun, but the summer's wrath was not and the thick moisture made it seem like it was going to storm soon. She smirked slightly as she thought of Yukiko back at camp. Taka had caught her going through Hatsuyume's supplies again.

The moon’s cold light stroked the forest’s thick green canopy soothingly. Although the sun had long set, it was unusually hot in the arctic woods. Usually, the air was pleasant this time of year; it was normally slightly cool but not as frigid as the north often was. Nature’s merciless nature had shifted from cold to the burning fury that was summer, and even night wasn’t safe from its fiery bite. The wind whistled about busily, almost like a mother wolf trying to soothe several of her young cubs at once. Grass rustled against chalky white paws that situated themselves under a sturdy, tall tree.

The young she-wolf let out a sound that was like a whimper. Her scrape still stung from where that brute of a pup had bitten her. She knew better than to whine about pain then; he would have only cackled, called her a weakling again. Much like her mother, she wanted to be kind and compassionate, but she was ferociously proud and commanded respect. It was just that she had a hard time obtaining it.

Even a clump of herbs she had chewed and put on her shoulder didn’t help. Her father hadn’t been happy when he saw her crouched among the several plants the shaman kept in her den. He had ordered her to stay in camp, away from that den, and then trotted away. Yukiko didn’t often show disrespect toward her parents, but she cursed her father an ignorant idiot. She had snuck away as he left and had weaved her way through the trees, splashing into the streams to cool off and throw away her scent.

Yukiko licked her lips as she sat down under the tree. They were still moist from her drink, and her belly stretched with water. She felt so rotund that she didn’t want to move, but she did move eventually. She walked through the forest, her footsteps anything but silent. She didn’t care; this was her territory, and not all wolves were haughty enough to sharpen their steps so that they didn’t make a noise. She wasn’t a cat! She didn’t trod on many sticks, but a few pebbles rolled from her paws’ touch and knocked against each other. She was as quiet as she could be naturally, without watching her step.

Yukiko’s ears perked forward as she heard a stick snap and a voice begin to curse. She recognized her sister’s dark pelt through the leaves, and only then did she tread very carefully through the woods. She heard her sister’s voice again farther up the worn dirt path she padded across. Several wolves had walked this way to get to the Tundra Fields, so the ground was worn and molded by the several feet planted on it. Her nose brushed a few ferns, and she was delighted to catch a trace of an old scent; Hatsuyume and Espio had run this way when they were hunting. She chased after her adopted uncle’s scent, forgetting her sister, and found it branched away from her aunt’s scent at one point.

Yukiko found herself running up a slope. There were fewer trees where she was going, yet the beta’s scent was still filling her nose. He often stuck to the shadows and didn’t adore being out in the open, where his black pelt stood out like a dot in the center of white paper. She realized that the smell was very recent, and he had only left where she was headed an hour ago, when it was still dark. She leapt up onto the top of the hill and glanced down to see the water lapping at the beach. The grassy plain of Tundra Fields was only about twenty feet from where she stood. She positioned herself where the grass had been disrupted so that the male wolf could settle his body down. She matched his previous position perfectly, looking up and closing her eyes.

Suddenly, Yukiko’s shining brown eyes opened up again. She gasped as she saw light flash across the previously black sky. Pink, green, ice blue...a rainbow of colors danced in the black air. She stood up and watched the Northern Lights flicker and shimmer and dance before her. So this had been what Espio watched earlier that night. She turned her head to confirm that it was his scent alone. He had come here to think. ”What were you thinking, Espio?” Yukiko whispered into the night. Perhaps the wolf was growing soft in his age, which wasn’t old but was older than he had been. He had a reputation to keep, and staring at pretty lights wasn’t helping that.

Yukiko let out a good-natured laugh. She’d tease “Unka Espio” about it tomorrow. Right now, she remembered that she had a mission on her paws. She followed her own scent until she found Arashi’s again. She ran through the trees, lifting her muzzle to breathe in the air that held the message of her sister’s coming. She smiled as she ran, and she finally stopped at the edge of a clearing. She stepped up onto a broad gray rock and peered through the bracken.

Yukiko gasped.

The newcomer, the young cub that acted like an aggressive adult, was lunging for her sister. His attack was silent and unprovoked. The white she-wolf was frozen in place, her mind registering that her sister was in danger, but her body not heading forward to protect her sister. She knew Arashi had enough skill to at least dodge the attack partially and run away. So, still shaking with worry, Yukiko sat and watched.