"So, would you like to tell me who you are?" Duke looks at Balto as he slowly sits down as well. The two of them are massive, but there is lots of room for the both of them. Duke is looking at Balto with lazy, but sharp eyes. Balto on the other hand is squirming, and his eyes are moving all over the place.

"No need to be so stressed out, you are safe here. Now, from the top, who are you? How did you manage to get to this part of the World's Tongue? Because I know for a fact you have never been here."

"Uh, I was with my family, and then I tried to eat a hedgehog because I was hungry. After that, I found a horned rabbit that was pooping everywhere, which I ate."

Duke turns his head slightly to the side. If he was human, he would probably have one eyebrow raised too.

"So you ate a hedgehog and a horned rabbit, that was. Defecating?"

"Well, I was hungry, and the horned rabbit was there all alone and in pain."

Despite the fact that Balto is the same size as Duke, but acts like a pup. Duke sights and continues.

"So, what is your clan's name?"

Balto looks like he is about to say something, but for some reason he doesn't say it. Duke notices this and pushes further.

"You do know your clan's name, right?"

Balto is not answering, but the panic is visibly growing in his eyes. He couldnt remember his own clan. The unrest grew in him, and he started to yawn.

"Calm down. If you dont wish to talk about your clan, you dont need to. Just tell me your name, please."

Duke's attempt at calming Balto down does work slightly, but Balto still had that thought in his mind. Why couldnt he remember his clan?

"Right, my name. My name is Balto." Duke nods his head with approval.

"Good. Nice to met you Balto. My name is Duke. I am the leader of the Gavir clan. Is there a reason for why you are here alone?"

"Ok. I was alone when I bit that hedgehog. And I was alone when I ate the horned rabbit. I, I do not remember anything before that." Balto said depressingly. Duke nods again.

"Then can you tell me about how you got that, red stripe, on you?" Duke looks at the stripe growing on Balto. From his forehead all the way down to the root of his tail.

"Oh, that. I dont really know how I got that. I think I got it after that one bark bear chased me, or was it before that?" Balto looked at Duke, who was quite surprised.

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"A bark bear? How did you survive against a bark bear all alone?" Duke ask.

"Oh, I just ran away. I think bark bears are weak to water, because when I crossed a river it stopped chasing me." Balto said matter-of-factly. Duke on the other hand/paw didn't quite believe what Balto just said. Considering the size and power of bark bears, there could be no way that for him to escape one of them. Either the bark bear had something better to do, or Balto is lying and actually killed the bark bear. If the latter is true, why would he lie about it. While Duke is thinking about this, Balto continued.

"After I ran away from the bark bear, I found Half-Face and an elk abomination. It tasted weird, and I got a belly ache, but it stopped after a while." If the bark bear was surprising, the abomination surprised Duke even more! Abominations are the cancer of the World Tongue. The Abominations are unnatural beings of corruption. They come in all kinds of shapes, but the one thing they all have in common is the hunger and rage ruining the body. Balto must have killed the bark bear as well, but how?

"How did you kill the abomination? What type of abomination was it?" Duke asked Balto

"Half-Face was the one who did the most work, I think, I just bit it on the bum and ate it."

"Two-Face?"

"Half-Face. Im not sure if Half-face is a dude or a girl, but Half-Face is a bark bear."

Now Duke was just dumbfounded. According to Balto, he survived a bark bear. Then fought together with a bark bear called Half-face against an Abomination, which usually kill bark bears quite quickly. Wait, did he say ate?

"Did you eat an abominations flesh? And you lived?!" Duke's eyes opened fully and got up, getting closer to Balto. Balto, surprised by the sudden movement, backpedaled low on the ground.

"Balto, come with me for a second." Duke walked past Balto and walked out of the clearing. Balto follows after him, a mixture of surprise and fear in him.

"Ulva, are you here?" Duke and Balto has walked up to a large tree stump. The dirt that usually surrounds the roots of tree stumps have been dug away, leaving room underneath. From underneath the stump, a smaller than average dire wolf comes up from the dirt.

"Duke, hey, what do you need." The small dire wolf shakes dust and dirt off its dark fur. It looks at Balto and after a second, it turns back to Duke and asks.

"Who is this? Someone new?"

"Balto, this is Ulva. She is the best one when it comes to medicine and such things. Ulva, this is Balto. Someone who has eaten an abomination."

Ulva froze on the spot, her gaze slowly moving from Duke to Balto. Before Balto could greet her, she dashed down into her hole. Duke sighed and just as quickly Ulva disappeared, she popped back up with something in her mouth.

"P'tew. Here, gnaw on this and tell me how you feel."

On the ground is some kind of grayish root with a dark sap seeping out.

"... Why?" Balto went down and sniffed the root. It smells odd, like rotten fruit and honey.

"Well because if you have eaten abomination meat, there might be something in it. Poison, a disease or something that shouldnt be inside you. It also works as a sleep medicine, so go find somewhere to sleep after you eat it." Ulva tells Balto. Duke turns to Balto and continues.

"You are welcome to stay with the Gavir clan. There isn't exactly a designated sleeping spot, but you can know that you will be safe here with us."

After saying that, Duke walks back to his spot and Ulva goes back down into the hole she was in. Balto is left there by himself with the root. With nothing else to do, he picks up the root and walk away. He finds a massive log that has fallen on top of a rock and nudges himself in. It isnt as nice as he would like it to be, but it beats sleeping in the open. Balto then eats the root with his eyes closed. It tastes just like how it smells. The curtain of sleep quickly covered Balto's eyes before he finally falls asleep.