As Faeris trotted through the lively forest, her ears swiveled this way and that. She could pick up the sounds of birds, bugs, small critters running through the brambles. One noise stood out in particular to her, and her head flicked in the direction that it came from. Though it was still some miles away, the pained yelp of a frustrated fox reached Faeris' alert ears. It wasn't very unusual, but what really piqued her interest were the sounds of wolves in response to the sound of the wolf. She frowned a little. If she had to guess, it sounded as if it was a large amount of wolves against one fox that was trying to defend itself. She understand having to defend territory, among other things, from foxes, but if it was really that many wolves, they could have at least made it a quick death. There was no need to torture the fox further than was needed.

Faeris decided it wasn't really any of her business, and continued onwards, her nose tracking the rich scents of the forest. Though she did her best to ignore it, what she had heard earlier still clung to her thoughts for some reason, and she couldn't fully enjoy her outing.

Soon all the pups had their turn attempting to pin the fox. Once the lesson was over, Dijkstra jumped into the pit and grabbed the fox who was laying on the ground panting from the last pup. Dijkstra wasn't a monster and figured the fox had enough torcher. He jumped out of the pit and took the fox into the forest before releasing the fox. He watched it lay there for a moment before he nuged it encouraging it to go. It watched him werilly for a moment before darting off. Dijkstra watched it go before padding back into the pack clearing. The males let out another howl happy with the events that happened. Dijkstra howled with him, his howl standing out as it was deeper and louder.

Faeris' ears perked up at the sound of a howling pack. She supposed they accomplished whatever they needed with the fox. She shook off her pelt, flicking her ears, and then paused for a moment, just enjoying where she was, the bird song and all the soft dappled sunlight around her.

As she stood there, a thought occured to her. Even if she was far away, she would've been able to hear those howls, but they certainly wouldn't sound so close.

Her thoughts spiraled quickly and she re evaluated the scents around her. Now, the scent of her pack was almost completely undetectable, and she realized that she could scent the markings of the other pack in the area. She tensed. This was exactly why she tried to avoid the edges of her territory. She was too absent minded.

Knowing she couldn't do much about it, Faeris simply swished her tail and began following her path back into her territory, sighing in slight annoyance at herself.

Dijkstra stopped howling. He was bored again now that the lesson was over. The lesson only took about an hour as there were only about twelve pups in the pack. The pack was kind of small. A female wold about two approached Dijkstra. "Some of the mothers a re pretty mad you know?" She asked him stoking him with her tail. Dijkstra stopped dead in his tracks. "Really," he asked, covering the sarcasm in his voice. "OH no. I better go apologize. I didn't mean to upset anyone. I should go tell them I'm sorry." The sh3 wolf looked at him stunned for a second before walking away angrily, leaving a chuckling Dijkstra by himself. This just made him laugh even harder as he preferred to be alone then with anyone.

Eventually, Faeris made her way through the thin, twisting trees, back into her own territory, the familiar scents of this part of the forest flooding her nose.

She turned her head with one last uneasy glance towards the enemy pack's territory, the shadows almost seemed like they looked deeper and darker over there. She huffed in annoyance at them, though not even fully comprehending what she meant when she said "they."

Faeris returned her gaze forwards and smiled at the sunlight and bird song that riddled the trees. Of course, it wasn't very different from where she'd just been, but how she had been influenced warped her perspective.

Her ears flicked forwards in glee and she began to trot back towards her protected clearing. She hoped that her parents had either bought whatever excuse KoKo had dishes them, or simply hadn't noticed that she'd been away yet. With those thoughts in mind Faeris swished her tail, slightly annoyed, and picked up her pace, the breeze pushing back her fur.

All the mothers in the pack kept shooting daggers at Dijkstra. Though none of them would make a move at him as he ,as far as they know, will be the next alpha. Some of the mates were trying to calm their female down. A couple were successful but most of them ended up giving up when they got snapped at. Dijkstra shook the wandering thoughts from his head. He began to get hot from the sun and his thick pelt so he padded in to the river to cool down. Sometimes he wished he could just take his fur off. As he was swimming around, Dijkstra would drink some of the water every few minutes to quench his thirst.

Soon enough, Faeris reached the camp and she slinked back in quietly. She looked around for her parents, spotting her mother speaking with the dams of the pack and finding her father, along with several other hunters, missing from the bright clearing. She assumed they went out on a patrol.

Faeris spotted KoKo conversing with some young hunters in training, and padded over to her.

"Hey Ko," she said, hoping she wasn't interrupting anything too important. "How'd it go over here?"

KoKo paused in what sounded like a story about how she took down an unbelievably large elk, all on her own. Unbelievable for a reason, as it was totally made up.

The raven colored she-wolf turned towards Faeris, her ears perked happily. "It went fantastic, I told them that you went out with Ryko, since I noticed him sneaking off too." Her voice had dropped to a soft tone, to be sure she didn't reveal any secrets to unwanted ears. "It seemed like a good excuse for you both, and your dad seemed really pleased."

Ko shouldered her playfully, a teasing smile dancing across her face. Faeris rolled her eyes and stepped away, swishing her tail.

She made her way over to a cool, shaded spot and layed down, sprawling out comfortably. So Ryko had run off too. She was a bit surprised, since he was always a little strict with himself on following the rules, but she supposed he needed a break every once and a while too. At this point, the large brown wolf had gained the support and respect of almost the entire pack, including her father, and everyone was almost positive that he would be selected as the next alpha, and Faeris' mate. She didn't mind him, out of all the males in the pack, he would've been her first choice, so she was content with the situation. Maybe it would've been better if they really had been out alone together, then Faeris could get to know him a little better, build a connection.

When he finally got out of the stream, he was soaked to the bone. Dijkstra shook all the excess water out of his coat. The betas son and Dijkstras best friend Kenley padded over. "Enjoy your swim?" Kenley asked Dijkstra. Dijkstra shook again spraying Ken with water. "Not like I had a choice. I got too hot. But this should keep me cool for a while," Dijkstra told him.

Kenley was to be Dijkstras beta if and when he took over the pack. Dijkstra was glad they had become best fiends as pups. "So," kenley said interrupting Dijkstra thoughts. "Have you decided if your taking over the pack or not?"

"No. I still don't want to but it would make my mother happy." Dijkstra glanced at his mother as he said this.

Ken drew Dijkstra back to the present. "What about a mate? Come on. You get pick of any of the females except Calypso."

Dijkstra chuckled. "You've had a crush on her since you were a pup and she has never acknowledged your existence"

"Has too. We talk all the time." Kenley huffed.

This sent Dijkstra into a fit of laughter. He was laughing so hard he was barely able to spit out the words, "a hello doesnt count."

Soon, KoKo finished her extravagant story telling and made her way over to Faeris.

As she did, a thought crossed Faeris' mind. She motioned for her friend to come closer so she could whisper.

"I may have accidentally wandered into enemy territory, by the way," she told her, her ears folding down in embarrassment, "so, if they find out and try and come over here asking about it, it wasn't me, okay?"

Ko smirked mischievously and nodded in understanding. Before she could walk away, Faeris stopped her, standing up.

"It wasn't Ryko either, okay?" She added, to be sure that his reputation wouldn't be ruined.

KoKo smiled softly and winked at her before turning away and padding towards the pups that had finally come out of their den and were wrestling around with each other.

Faeris sighed in contentment, stretching downwards. She stood up and perked her ears, scanning the clearing carefully for Ryko. She wanted to talk to him a bit.

She spotted him over by the prey pile, staring at in disinterest. She padded up to him and looked up into his eyes.

"Hi Ryko." She greeted him cheerfully.

Ryko smiled sweetly, turning his head to look directly at her. "Hi Faeris. Nice to see you."

He dipped his head respectfully and she almost had to stop herself from laughing. She took a deep breath.

"I'd like to go out, but you know how my parents are, they won't let me go out alone." Faeris mused. "Would you mind being my escort?"

She stifled another laugh. It was a silly conversation.

Ryko twisted an ear around, considering.

"Of course I can Faeris."

She looked up into his eyes again, a playful look dancing across them. "Thanks. And you can call me Fae, please."

The two wolves smiled at each other, unspoken words passing between them, and then began making their way out of the clearing.

After a few minutes, Dijkstra finally stopped laughing. "Sorry man but I doubt you have any chance with her."

Kenley let out a playful growl before tackling Dijkstra to the ground. "Your gonna pay for that," he growled.

Dijkstra kicked Ken off and got into a fighting stance. He waited for kenley to make another move before sidestepping and nipping at the other wolves heels. Kenley yelped and whipped around. Just as he turned, Dijkstras frame pushed him to the ground knocking the air out of him. As Ken gasped to get air back into his lungs, Dijkstra stood over him. "Do you give up?" Dijkstra asked

Kenley nodded his head since he couldn't speak as he was still gasping for air.