He ran.

He ran as fast as his legs would carry him. Faster than that. He could feel them charged with fear, like a thunderhead with lightning. Grass whipped wildly against his fur, as if trying to hold him back. The night spread codly above his head, the wings of an enormous bird, glittering with cold, hard stars that stared down at him from their safe carress in the sky. There was no moon.

He tried to ignore the fearsome howling of the wind behind him, tried to fold his pricked ears against his head, but he couldn't. No, he wouldn't. He wouldn't let himself be harrased by the howling, the frozen night, the menacing caves that closed around him on all sides, threatening to lead him right into the beast's trap-the beast that gained hard on his heels now, it's horrid breath stinging his fur, melting it away. It seemed to have claws off its own, reaching around his burning ankles, twisting, raking their sharp points through his flesh-


"Celeste! Celeste! Celeste, stop. You're kicking me!"


The young wolf pup woke with a start. "Where-? Where am I? What?" he cried in confusion, looking over his shoulder, looking from the thing he had been running from. But he saw only a woven birch bark wall, leaves twisted in the gaps to keep out the cold.

"Celeste, calm down. It was only a dream."

He heard the familiar, comforting bark of his mother, Auna. His sister was crouched beside him, he tail tucked between her legs, he snowy white fur glowing and her blue eyes big and round with fear. Celeste glanced up and saw through a tiny crack in the woven roof that the moon shone high in the sky, clouds strung around it's edges, giving it an eerie appearence. The hunters must still be out on the midnight hunt.

"Sorry Aurora." he apoligized, dipping his head with a stretched out paw-the polite greeting from a hunter to a younger she-wolf that he considered beautiful, or wished to be his mate. He saw Aurora's cheeks turn a pink color under her white fur and smiled, happy that she felt better. He knew his sister was easily frightened.


"All right, now get some rest. The hunters will be back soon, and so will your brother," Auna looked from Aurora to Celeste, her silver fur burning almost white in the moonlight that flooded through the entrance to the den. "And Aurora has a dance to prepare for." Auna blinked at Aurora with pride, and a bit of...envy? Celeste didn't know. But he was a bit envious. A she-wolf could begin to join in with the dancers of the midnight hunt at the age of six moons, but he had to wait until he had reached at least a full year before he could become a hunter. He saw his sister's eyes light with a new excitement, like a dry frond of bracken catching fire on a hot summer day. "Oh yeah!" she jumped to her paws, whispeing excitedly. "I almost forgot!" she turned in circles, wimpering impatiently, and seeming a bit nervous, muttering questions and exclamations to herself. "Verona will be there too, right? I won't be the only one there that young, will I?" she asked her mother seriously.


"No," Auna answered quietly. "Verona and her sister will both be there with you. But remember, we have to get up an hour earlier than the rest of the pack to get ready with the other she-wolves. I saw the flowers you'll be wearing, Aurora," their mother's eyes crinkled slightly with a smile. "They're beautiful. I just know you'll love them." she licked her daughter's ear, her tail tapping happily against the earth.

Feeling a bit left out, Celeste pipped up. "So Avan will be there?" he asked, looking at his mother and hoping she wouldn't ignore him. But she turned to him anyways, in all her excitement. "Yes, of course he'll be there. He helped catch our kill, after all. And you'll be there too, Celeste," she looked at him with pride as well, and there was that strange envy...he looked at her in surprise, ears pricked. "I will?"

Auna nodded. "The ceremony isn't complete without every member of the pack attending," she cleared her throat and added, "It has been happening for thousands of years. Even the smallest pups will be watching, learning."

Celeste didn't like the way she looked at him when she said smallest, but he still couldn't help an excited wiggle in his haunches. He had always thought he's be trapped in the den while the she-wolves, decorated with flowers and leaves and other various things of nature, danced through the night around the kill, singing and calling out and thanking the  good Spirits. While the hunters-the ranks he should be in-did the same, but barked and growled and snarled and leaped at the air, driving away bad Spirits. Suddenly he was confused.


"But mother," he asked, his head tipped to one side. "What do we actually do in the ceremony? I don't have to just watch, do I? I'm too old for that." he finished cockily, raising his head and puffing out his chest to look bigger. He didn't like the hint of amusement in his mother's eyes when she answered him. "Of course not. You'll be standing beside your brother, and when Miha finishes the Verses of the Spirits, you'll stand beside the kill, guarding it while your brother does his job," she paused, as if sensing the questions in Celeste's head that he still hadn't asked. "Of course, no spirits usually break through the barrier. If they do, all you have to do is bark." Celeste opened his mouth again, but his mother continued. "The bad Spirits fear you, believe it or not. They fear young wolves, even envy them."

Aurora, who had been silent and listening intently to the conversation, now spoke. "But what do they fear about us?" she seemed genuinely confused. "If they can get past great big wolves like Avan and Marca, why do they fear us?"

"Oh, my little bunny," Aura laughed gently, pulling both her pups close to her with one paw. Celeste nuzzled his mother's chest fur, grateful for the warmth in all his confusion and nervousness that seemed to charge the air around them. "The bad Spirits fear you because they know who you are. You are the future of the pack, and you still have so much to learn. And believe it or not, they fear you because you have so much wisdom stored inside you-the only reason you're not as wise as the oldest hunters or Miha or Serenity is because you lose it over time, by making mistakes and having the flaws that make us only like any other wolves. You know how to stop them, but you don't know how to use it. And over time, you earn the knowledge back." she paused and laughed a little. "By the time you're as old as me, you'll have more wisdom and knowledge than you can stand. Do you understand?"


There was a silence. Celeste was so confused, his head hurt. This was too much for him to take. "No," he said softly, a bit shameful. "I don't." he lowered his head. Auna smiled. "I don't expect you to, young hunter." she nosed his ear playfully. "You'll understand it soon, over time." she closed her eyes and nodded, seemingly sure of herself. Aurora had been silent, seeming to still be thinking. Her head perked up a little suddenly, like she was aware that both Auna and Celeste were staring at her. "Oh," she shuffled her paws. "Yeah, I get it. I mean, I don't get it...like what Celeste said...um..."

Celeste smiled and shoved his sister's chest playfully. "Yeah, me too." he barked, his tail whipping the ground. He looked back at his mother, about to ask her when she had finally understood what she had just told them, but her eyes were closed and her breath shallow. At first he wondered if she was sleeping, but all of a sudden her golden eyes flashed and she stood up, bending over in a stretch. "I should have let you sleep," she woofed. "It's almost time to get ready. I promised Serenity I would wake her and the others when it was time. Come along, Aurora." he watched as his mother disappeared through the hanging weed door, like she had less than a few seconds to wake everyone. Aurora looked after her for a minute, then looked back at Celeste with an excited expression, shrugged, and bounded out the entrance.

Celeste crouched at the back of the cave, nervous. He didn't know what to do. Should he just wait for his brother? Would he come looking for him? But then Aurora's head appeared through the front, and she barked, "Celeste, mother says sorry she sort of left you, but she's in a bit of a hurry. She said to wait outside the den until you see Avan, then go up to him and he'll show you where to stand."

"Okay," he nodded vigorously. "Have you or mom gone to Serenity's den yet?"

"No"

"Tell me what she looks like."

"I will."

He started for the entrance of the den as his sister's head disappeared again. Outside, the camp was unusually busy. She-wolves and their daughters were emerging from their dens, greeting each other and talking excitedly. Celeste felt a sense of security as he saw a few familiar male wolf pups pushing out after their mothers and sisters, standing beside the dens with their backs straight, heads held high, and chests puffed out. Their fur was slicked back and neat. Celeste glanced over his own shoulder and saw that his pelt was ruffled and dirty. His eyes widened, and his ears went flat against his head. Auna hadn't had time to groom him! He though for a second about rushing after her, or asking one of the nearby she-wolves to do it. But he didn't want to seem little, like he couldn't take care of himself. He bent over and swept his tongue over his back, belly, legs and tail, pulling out the kinks and smoothing his coat until it almost shone. Then he sat proudly, waiting for his brother as the she-wolves met in the center of the camp. He still couldn't see Serenity, but he knew she was there. He was ready-ready to make the pack proud, his family, Serenity. He was ready to be a hunter.