Illusion nudged the empty space next to him. It smelled like her, but where was she? He opened his green-golden eyes, and looked around. It seemed that it was just him. His ears flicked back, worried that something happened to her.

He quickly rose to his paws, and looked around frantically.

"No no no no. No!" He barked to himself, spinning in a circle to scan the den. He put his head down in defeat as he accepted the fact that she was gone. He didn't want this to be how it ended.

.

He gathered his loose thoughts, and stepped out of the den, blinking at the light. He looked around to see Svana, Killjoy, and Storm. They seemed busy. He didn't want to bother them. His face read defeated as he sat down outside of the den, just watching the sky.

Killjoy's ears perked as he heard his name. He turned to see Storm trotting towards him. Storm gave him a nice smile, so Killjoy returned a warm one as well.

"Good morning Storm! How are you settling in?" He asked, a happy tone to him. His tail wagged, but he couldn't help the nagging feeling of his pack getting smaller and smaller as time went on. He wondered if Raven pack was having the same problem.

.

He turned his attention back to Storm.

"Glad to hear that, if you don't mind, would you like to go on a morning hunt with Illusion?" He asked, his blue eyes narrowing slightly as he saw the multi-colored wolf emerge from the den. "He's the one sitting over there, the white and brown one that is grumpy." He said, "If you don't want to, I understand!" He said, his tail still wagging.

.

Killjoy then turned to see Svana laying by a boulder. He nodded his goodbye to Storm, and headed over to the scout.

He sat down close to her, but not close enough to get into her space. He wrapped his tail around his black paws.

"Good morning Svana. Cold isn't it? I was wondering if you would like to join a patrol with Illusion this morning." He asked, his ears alert, but the rest of his body relaxed.

He tilted his head to watch the clouds as he waited for her reply.

Sundown nodded, and looked closely at Night's shoulder.

"It seems to be healing well! If it hurts, let me know, right away." He said, smiling. He was glad to see that he hadn't messed up on his Alpha. He was sure that Ore would have been proud.

He lifted his head as Night began to speak.

"Sure-" His head snapped as he heard a familier howl. His eyes lit up, and his tail wagged.

"Brute!" He barked happily, sniffing at the male, making sure he wasn't dreaming. He turned to Night.

"Sure, we'll talk later, sir." He said, before looking at Brutes injurys.

"Come with me." He said, leading the way to the Medic den.

.

He entered, and was washed over with the strong smell of fresh herbs.

"It seems to be scaring, which is good, does it hurt anywhere?" He asked, getting ginger, poppy seeds, and a few other herbs to help the Beta.

Brute l Male l Beta l Raven l M: Night, Sundown

.

Brute nodded to his Alpha. "I'll talk to you soon." Then followed Sundown. He had to say, Sundown was his best friend. He licked his friends ear. "Its nice to see you again."

Once they had entered the medics den, Brute began to feel relaxed. The smells were so familiar. What felt like months had felt like weeks and months. He shook his head at the apprentices question. Even though to him he could barely hear him. His hearing was still bad. "Although I think I am going deaf." He flicked his ear from a fly, and his ears stung. He gave a small whimper of pain. "My ears also hurt." He added softly.

Storm wagged his tail happily as the alpha gave him a warm smile. When the alpha asked how he was fitting in the pack, he smiled more. "It's wonderful here! I just made a new friend yesterday- Aster. I was looking for her, but I decided to come and say hi to you." He growled contently before looking at Veracious. "This one here- is having a harder time fitting in though. She's not so used to it." He finished, giving the she-wolf a smirk, and receiving a glare. Then, he turned back to Killjoy and nodded at his request, turning to the brown spotted wolf sitting around. He looks anxious... Storm thought, giving him a worried expression before looking back at Killjoy. "Of course, sir! I'd love to go patrol with him." He said with a smile before turning to the wolf, with Veracious following closely.

~

Storm and Veracious walked up to Illusion, giving him a smile before sitting down, keeping distance, but close enough for it to not look like he was talking to the air. "Hello sir.. You are Illision?" He started, giving him a warm smile before continuing. "Alpha Killjoy wanted to know if you'd like to go on a patrol with me and Veracious." He finished, curling his black tail over his paw with the small white spot on it.

Hondo l Male l Beta l Eastern l M: Killjoy

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Hondo was wandering around camp, seeing to the chores that lower ranking wolves usually would do. He cleaned out old beding and replaced it with new bedding, and collected a few herbs and seeds for the medics den. He turned and saw Killjoy talking to Svana. He walked over to them and overheard Killjoy mention a patrol. "If you need an extra set of paws I'd be glad to help with the patrol or possibly bring in some more prey." He said to his Alpha. Looking over to the small heap of prey. Camp seemed slow today. Though when he saw Illusion come out of his den his tail started to wag.

Sundown nodded as Brute spoke.

"Sure, sure. Wait-" His head snapped to look at Brute. "You think that you are going deaf?" He asked, panic in his eyes. He looked over at the herb pile, his eyes bouncing from herb to herb.

Shoot, what do I give for deafness and hurt ears? He asked himself, still scanning the herbs, his mind racing around trying to figure out what Ore would do.

"Umm. Sounds like an ear infection. Maybe if we get rid of in infection your hearing will come back?" Sundown questioned himself. Why was he a medic apperentice if he didn't know anything?

"I know that Ore would have most likely used chewed ginger around the ears to help, so we can try to see if that will help." He said, eyeing the last piece of ginger he had. He needed to collect more today before frost wiped them all out, unless it already happened.

I should have collected more during the summer! How stupid am I? He shamed himself as he quickly began to chew the ginger. He tried to not make a face as some trickled down his throat. He never liked the taste of Ginger.

"Hold still." He said, putting the pulp around the inside of the ears, praying that it wouldn't make it worse. "If it gets worse, let me know, and we will find something else." He said, nodding to Brute.

.

"I've got to go and check up on Ash, but you are welcome to tag along and we can catch up!" Sundown said, wagging his tail slightly. He glanced outside, the weather making him worried. He didn't like snow. Winter brought less food, weaker wolves, and sickness as well as little to no herbs. This winter he was sure was going to be awful.

Astronomy laid in the den, watching everyone wake up. He was still sour from getting yelled at the day before. His ear flicked as he stood up and shook himself out. He glanced out the den, blue eyes narrowed as he saw River talking to Shiva and... the new female. He hadn't gotten a chance to talk to her.

Is she not hunting with them? Her shoulder must still hurt. He stepped out of the den, glaring around the camp, daring anyone to come and talk with River as he approached her.

.

His tail lifted and he began to wag it as he got close. It wasn't too soon that he picked up a short sprint towards the female, and pounced on her. He let her do whatever she pleased to him before catching her eye, demanding her attention.

"You still owe me a fishing lesson." He said, shivering slightly in the cold wind.

Illusion stood up when Storm and Veracious came over.

"A patrol? Sure. Why not." He said, looking at them for a quick second before looking away. His deep voice wavered as he said sure, but quickly corrected himself. He watched Killjoy, slightly annoyed that he'd set up a hunt without his knowledge when he saw Hondo. He let out a happy yip to let his friend know that he'd seen him before turning towards the other two in a slightly better mood.

"So, what do we want to hunt?" He asked, keeping his eye on Hondo, wishing that he could just run over to him, and take his scent in again, ask where he'd been, and how he'd been, but he couldn't. He had to hunt.

.

He nodded at the two, before silently turning to lead the way out of camp.