Alika and Tarka trotted through the Wulfwoods. Seluk’s pack weaved in and out of the trees, their movements flowing and smooth. They seemed so much more graceful than the bulky dragons, and Alika felt almost self-conscious as the wolves ran circles around her. She shuffled her wings. Though dragons were creatures of the land, sea, and sky, Alika was bound to just one of those.

A few of the wolves began leaping on top of each other, playing as Alika stared. She felt a pang of jealousy at the camaraderie of the wolves. She’d had Serka and Tarka, but she’d never been a part of a pack. Wasn’t that what dragons were supposed to do? It felt like something she’d been missing all her life, but only now could experience alongside her mother’s killers.

The wolves caught Alika staring, and growled, baring back their fangs and raising their hackles. One of them leaped forward, causing Alika to back up nervously.

“If it wasn’t for Seluk, I would tear you both apart right now,” the wolf snarled.

Alika spread her wings to make herself look larger, showing off her fangs. “Harm either of us, and I’ll burn off your tail.”

The wolf growled louder, the other two who’d been with him coming closer to join in with his threat.

“Back off,” Seluk snapped, turning from her position as the head of the pack, facing them with the injured side of her snout. “We honor our deals.”

The wolf who’d spoken tucked his tail between his legs, lowering his head submissively. “But Mother, we’re starving.”

“And with Serka and these two whelps gone, we’ll have plenty more prey to hunt,” Serka replied. “Now scatter, or I’ll let the dragon burn you like her mother burned me.”

The wolf whimpered and trotted away with the others.

“Thanks,” Alika replied to Seluk, before regretting her words. How could she be thankful toward Seluk at all? Seluk had killed her mother and afforded them naught but the smallest morsel of mercy.

Seluk said nothing, returning to leading the pack.

Alika let out a puff of smoke and checked to make sure Tarka hadn’t gotten in any trouble. Her brother seemed fine, perhaps even taking this better than Alika was.

Her eyes narrowed and her ears raised as she saw a young wolf creeping closer to Tarka, smaller than he was, with fur as white as Tarka’s. Alika raised her wings, about to warn Tarka, before he whipped his tail and lightly whacked the wolf in his snout.

“I’m not afraid to bite,” Tarka said warily at the wolf.

“Sorry.” The wolf whimpered and lowered his head. “I haven’t smelled a dragon up close before and didn’t think I’d get another chance.”

“Oh,” Tarka replied, lowering his guard. “Well, that’s okay. I haven’t smelled wolves before. You can smell me if you’d like.”

Alika’s ears twitched as she saw her brother sniff the young wolf’s tail, the wolf doing the same in return.

“I’m Hedi,” the wolf said, wagging his tail. “What’s your name?”

“Tarka,” he replied. He waved a wing over toward Alika. “And over there is my sister, Alika.”

“Those are weird names, but cool,” Hedi replied. He turned his snout curiously, examining Tarka’s wing. “Can you really fly? Like a bird?”

“Well, we — I mean I can’t fly. I’m still too young.” Tarka flapped his wings, the wind generated by the motion brushing Hedi’s fur down his snout. “My mom could fly though; she was huge and amazing!”

“I saw her shadow across the forest sometimes, but whenever she flew over us, everyone would scatter and try not to be seen. I always thought she was scary.”

Tarka cocked his head, thinking for a moment. “Yeah. She could be scary when she got angry. She was really scary when she…” His ears drooped.

“I’m sorry that she died,” Hedi replied.

“You’re the ones who killed her,” Alika said, suddenly butting into the conversation.

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“Not me,” Hedi said. “I’m still too small to fight like that. Seluk told me to hide.”

“Don’t be mean to him,” Tarka told Alika. “He didn’t do it.”

Alika whipped her tail. Of course she knew that, but it still hurt to see Tarka making friends with the wolves.

“I know how much losing family hurts.” Hedi looked up at Alika. “I lost the rest of my litter to the winter. I miss them a lot.”

“Are the other wolves all grown-ups?” Tarka asked.

“Almost,” Hedi replied. “There’s this year’s litter, but they’re back at the den with Dad. They’re too small to do anything fun with, though. I’d hurt them.”

“Do you wanna play with me, then?”

Hedi’s tail began wagging, and he lifted his paws up and down. “Yeah!”

Tarka swished his tail and wiggled his wings. “Sometimes my sister and I play a game called tailhunter. The rules are that one of us is the tailhunter and chases the other one around, and if your tail gets nipped you become the new tailhunter. Alika is faster, so she’s normally better at it, but her tail is bigger so it’s easier to nip. But no nipping too hard, if you hurt someone you have to go stick your head in the snow.”

“Sounds fun!” Hedi said, staring intently at his own tail. He lunged at it, it whipping out of reach, and he began to turn in circles to chase it.

“You should join us, Alika.”

Alika pulled her wings in tight and snorted. “No thanks. I’m not interested in playing with the wolves.”

“Your loss.” Tarka shrugged his wings. “I’ll be tailhunter first then. Three-two-one-go!”

With a growl, Tarka leaped at Hedi. The young wolf yipped and jumped away, managing to pull his tail out just in time. Hedi sprinted out toward the trees, Tarka whipping around to chase after him.

Alika watched as the two played, the other members of the wolf pack having to evade and dodge, lest they get accidentally tackled by the youngsters. Her tail twitched, and she let out a puff of smoke. It did look like they were having fun, but something felt wrong about joining them.”

“Do you know why Hedi’s litter died?”

Alika turned to see Seluk’s scarred snout. What did she want? Alika said nothing in response.

“They starved and froze because our pack didn’t have enough prey in our meager hunting grounds last winter,” Seluk continued. “You and your brother survived the winter because Hed’s brothers and sisters didn’t.”

Alika curled her tail around a hindleg. Was Seluk trying to make her feel guilty? To try and make her feel that her mother’s death was justified? How dare she.

“So what did you want us to do?” Alika snarled, baring her fangs. “Die?”

Seluk brought her snout so close to Alika’s that Alika could smell the rotting meat on her breath. “Exactly that.”

Alika looked away, but Seluk walked around to keep herself in Alika’s view.

“Just as your duty is to yourself and your brother’s survivals, my duty is to my family’s,” Seluk replied. “Your mother understood that.”

Alika saw Tarka and Hedi out of the corner of her eye. It seemed that Hedi was now chasing Tarka. They didn’t seem so different from this point of view. How was it fair that they’d both lost their families? How had they ended up enemies?

“Keep that in mind before you pass judgment,” Seluk continued, moving back to her position at the lead.

Alika wondered if perhaps Seluk was right, and maybe it wasn’t the wolves’ fault after all. Whose fault was it then? Nigel’s? Or perhaps, it was no one’s.

The wolves and the dragons walked through the day, the far side of the Wulfwoods coming close. The mountains that Alika had only seen from afar seemed not so distant now, and the rings circled above them, like a gateway to a new world. Alika’s home, everything her eyes had glimpsed upon in her entire life, had been walked across in a single, albeit long, day. And at the end of that, there were lands unknown, places she’d only heard about in her mother’s stories.

The wolves suddenly stopped, their snouts sniffing along a line of trees. Their tails were raised, and they seemed nervous. Seluk paced back and forth.

“What’s going on?” Alika asked. “The pass doesn’t look much further.”

“We are not the only pack in the Wulfwoods,” Seluk explained. “Our territory doesn’t extend to the northern edge. We will have to cross through the lands of my brother Hapa’s pack.”

Alika’s ears twitched. “Are you not leading us through?”

Seluk growled and snapped, causing Alika to jump back. “I told you, I keep my promises! We will rest here, and finish the journey once the sun is down. We are less likely to be seen.”

“Alright,” Alika said, looking around for Tarka to tell him. Where had he gotten to? She was worried for a moment that he’d wandered off north but glimpsed his wings between the trees slightly behind the pack.

She went over to find that he and Hedi were still playing, and were currently chasing each other in a circle around a tree — she couldn’t quite tell which one of them was the tailhunter, and which was the tailhunted.

“Hey, Alika!” Tarka said, leaping out toward her, his paws sinking into the snow. “Do you want to join? Hedi is really fast, as fast as you are!”

“Maybe faster!” Hedi yipped.

Alika curled her tail in the snow. Maybe Tarka was right. It certainly wasn’t fair to blame Hedi for any of this. “Sure, why not!”

“Yay!” Tarka shouted. He ran up to her with his wings out, suddenly pouncing and nipping her tail. Alika let out a surprised yelp.

“You’re tailhunter now!” Tarka shouted, running off. Hedi went after him, weaving from side to side in Tarka’s path. He really was fast!

“No fair!” Alika laughed, as she chased after the two.