"Good morning, sweetie." A squeaky voice from above roused me from the dark and shifting fog of unconsciousness. I tuned my ears to its grating undertone. Was Cloud sick? But the words dripped with a saccharine sweetness, mocking. And she'd never call me sweetie.

My eyes finally adjusted to the dim light above to find a dark-pelted wolf. My eyes scanned his body with the blur of sleep still in them, my eyelids weighed down with a drowsy weight. Then my gaze met his yellow one. Golden irises bore into me, specked with orange flecks that seared themselves into my brain. My heart took off in a sprint, burning bile rose in my throat, and before I could stop them, my legs were throwing my body backwards. But my instinctual, uncoordinated attempt at escape did nothing more than throw my balance out of whack, and my ribs slammed against the cold stone floor.

"Woah!" The dark wolf breathed a laugh. "Take it easy, Drizz. I didn't think Cloud was that scary."

His image focused. My heart tripped and stumbled just as I, but it picked itself up at a steady pace. Why was I so stupid? This wasn't a monster, not some evil, shadowy wolf having come to claim my life––like the one that took my father in my dreams.

I rolled my eyes, trying to maintain a look of nonchalance as I shook out the dust from my fur and sat upright. I returned a glare to his smirk-contorted face. "She isn't," I snapped. "You are."

His tongue lolling, he turned on his paws and trotted a few steps to the den's exit. At his heels were two more balls of dark fur, surprisingly quiet for this late in the day. The two male pups had really taken a liking to Spruce lately, and being latched around his ankles wasn't a new development.

"Come on, sweetie," he sing-songed from outside the den.

With another sweeping glance around the den, and an annoyed groan bubbling up without much thought, I followed. I wasn't sure why Cloud had left without even waking me, but I assumed it had something to do with today's ceremony. Mist had been keeping us all busy over the past few days, making a much bigger deal out of this than there needed to be.

After a few sprinting steps to catch up with Spruce, Buck, and Badger––already headed down the trail to the forest ahead, I stopped to take a breath and refuel my lungs. "Where are we going?"

He squinted in feigned thought. "Well, Mist wanted me to say that we're just patrolling," he droned, "y'know, making sure nothing's going to go wrong on your big day..."

I eyed him sideways, urging his trailing voice to continue with a nudge on his hip. "And?"

"We are, but really I was bribed to keep you and––ow!" He jumped sideways, yanking a paw from Buck's small jaws. With a glare that was more playful than mad, he gestured to the pups who took to growling and batting at each other instead. "These guys out of the way," he answered. "I didn't agree to keep their secrets. Not worth it for pupsitting the three of you."

I ignored the shining grin he flashed me, jogging to keep up as he took off again. "Out of the way of what?"

Spruce didn't look back until we'd reached the bottom of the slope. "Now that you're invested," he chimed, "I think I'll keep the rest to myself."

I groaned again as he galloped into the trees. With a defeated sigh, I bounded after him. But with the information he had given me, I could make a decent guess. Mist wanted to get me away from the cave, thus, away from the site of the ceremony. I hadn't seen so much as a tail flick of any of the girls, so it must've meant they were out getting things to bring back. Tipping my nose to the sky, which was already paling with yellow streaks of sunset, I breathed in the smells of the forest. The springtime air was rich with the smell of growth, of bursting berries and colorful blooms. The faint scent of my pack members lay somewhere in the weaving scents, having taken a path opposite to the one Spruce led us down.

They were probably decorating the clearing––that, and gathering the berries for the most important part of the ceremony: pressing our paw prints against the stone. Luna would be shining down on us soon. We'd slept through most of the day, exhausted from another long hunt last night. In a matter of hours, I would never spend another night as a lone wolf, but one of a pair. When Luna sank, and Sol took her place in the sky, Cloud and I would never be one or the other again. We'd only be together. Forever.

The thought sent me spiraling, and a flock of birds took flight in my chest. Worry constricted my lungs and shortened my breaths every time I thought of the word. It wasn't that I was worried if Cloud was the one I wanted to spend my life with, I knew it would always be her. I worried for the day that Cloud grew tired of me, or we drifted apart. For the day that danger came and hurt one or both of us while I could do nothing to stop it. Or for the day she grew sick and left me. There were so many ways that forever could be broken, I questioned why the word existed.

Spruce's pace slowed as we grew closer to the river, the wide natural barrier that cut off our territory from the untrodden land on the other side. Or at least, trodden by us. The thought of what or who lay on the other side intrigued me, but it also scared me. Because each time my eyelids fluttered closed, the glowing yellow rings appeared. White fangs beneath them, dripping with crimson.

Then there was the ridgetop above. You could see the waterfall from the cliff at home, but here, the thick canopy of trees blocked out its sight several deer-chase lengths ahead. The water billowed off the cliffside and crashed down to the earth below, forming this wide and creeping river that slithered through the woods without obstruction.

I used to think life was like a leaf. That you belonged right where you began, that inevitably the leaf fell to the ground to be trampled, or perhaps carried away by the winds or the water to live a life unknown before it ended, wilted and dead. But maybe it was more like the river that carried it. There were places the current slowed, where it seemed to stick around longer than others, but undoubtedly it kept going. A river never stopped moving, never truly ended or began. It was a cycle of moving water that did and could find home everywhere.

This very river was the reason I was here, that much I knew. That was why I woke up beside it, why there was no trace of my former home anywhere around me. Maybe I came from the other side, further up the river somewhere before the valley ended. Maybe even above the towering waterfall, though it seemed unlikely. I didn't think any wolf could survive a fall like that. Perhaps that dark wolf I dreamed of and dreaded so much was the reason I was here. Maybe with a broken leg I was too useless to keep around, so my pack discarded me in the river, to float away like a piece of driftwood.

I couldn't imagine my sister abandoning me. Or even Shore, my tan-coated friend since pup-hood that I knew so much and so little about. My stomach sank at the thought of what that could mean. That they were gone forever. Or I could've had it all wrong. There was a chance they didn't know how I went missing at all, and they thought that I abandoned them.

The river gave me a new home, but it also washed away so many answers. Ones I would never find buried in the waters. I shook the thought away with a heavy nod. Because nothing could be better than the life I had now, and starting tonight, it would be even better. I'd be by Cloud's side, forever. A word that had power and meaning and strength. Because we made it have strength. Nothing would ever take me away from her.

"There is also another reason I agreed to this." Spruce's voice startled me from my stupor. My shoulder collided with his rump, hard, and I stumbled past him before losing my legs entirely. I landed flat on the ground, comforted only by small, nibbling teeth on my ears. Coal-colored paws stepped a slow path around me until they stood at my muzzle, and I looked up. Spruce stood over me with an eyebrow raised. "You sure are out of it today."

I stood up quickly, not trying to hide my dismay this time. "Sorry, I guess it's just nerves for... tonight." It wasn't a lie, not entirely. It was one worry among many others, all clouding my brain and keeping my eyes from watching where I stepped at the present.

"Uh-huh." He grumbled to himself, but nudged Buck and Badger away from nipping at my tail. "I expect your to-be mate to have her nose stuck in the clouds, but you're supposed to be the grounded one," he offered with a stern look, like the joke within wasn't intentional.

I laughed for him. "I don't think that's fair." With a bounce, I landed in front of him and lowered to my haunches. "Cloud and I share the air-headedness equally."

His brows furrowed again, and he stepped around me without a word. Okay. I guess we aren't on playful terms yet.

"I need to have a talk with you." Spruce's voice was as serious as I'd ever heard it be. He winced as the words left his mouth, realizing it sounded as weird to him as it did to me.

"Okay, Dad," I teased.

He still didn't crack a smile, just started walking again. He let me keep his stride this time, and our shoulders held an even pace as the patrol continued.

The silence was breaking me. "What is it?"

"It's about you..." His eyes drifted sideways to meet my curious gaze, before he let his jaws stretch open in a way that looked like he was preparing to yawn. A moment of hesitation followed. "And Cloud."

I snorted. "You're pulling my leg, right?" There was no way he wanted to talk about anything that had to do with the two of us. He gagged any time mine and Cloud's muzzles touched.

"No," he said flatly, "I mean it, Drizzle." His voice dropped to its lowest register, deep and grumbling, each word spoken crisply. "There's something I've been wanting to tell you about, ever since you and Cloud... got... whatever it is you two are."

Wow, he was good. I shook my head and my eyes rolled so far backwards I was afraid they'd pop out of their sockets. "What is it? You wanna confess your love too?" I shoved his neck playfully. "Whatever this is, I'm not falling for it."

His body grew rigid as he stumbled sideways from my weight, and his tail stood tall. "Stop!" he barked. The hair on his spine started to prickle. "I'm not joking."

I recoiled, startled. He really did mean it.

He sat on the grass, facing me with a deep breath. The pups took the break as an opportunity to scour the woods for new scents, and probably find some trouble in the meantime.

"Sorry." Spruce nudged a stone on the ground with his paw, waiting quietly for me to take a seat beside him. When I did, his muzzle drifted up to meet my gaze. There was a feeble softness to his dandelion irises, emotion seeping from his normally stone-set face. "It's just, I..." He ran his tongue over his chops, gritting his teeth before he forced out the words. "I really care about my sister."

It took me a second to register what he was saying. That the sister he was talking about wasn't Pine. This was hard for him; to express genuine vulnerability. His weakness––it was his love for his family. The words struck me hard.

"Don't get me wrong, Drizzle," he started. "I trust you. I know you'll take care of Cloud."

I dipped my head at the words.

"I just don't want to see her get hurt... again." His muzzle trembled a little as he spoke. "I'm sure you know about Sky by now. How he was Cloud's everything. He was my brother too. And when he passed, it left a gaping hole in this pack—in her, and in me.

"There's more I should be sorry for," he admitted. "For the way I treated you when you got here."

The pup wrapped my heart in a strange embrace of warmth with his words. I never knew he had it in him to apologize, much less to me. I never expected his guard to crumble so far, for him to allow me in.

"I instantly saw the way you and Cloud were drawn together," he told me. "I could see you trying to fill that hole in our family, a substitute that could never take the place of Sky. It made me mad, made me defensive. I didn't want you to get close to the pack and break the dam I'd put up–– because I wasn't ready for another brother.

"And the reason I teased Cloud so much..." He dipped his head in shame. "Is because I hoped it would drive a wedge between you two. I knew she wasn't ready to let you in either, and she would keep even more distance from you just to prove me wrong."

I reached forward with my nose, touching his cheek. His clouded gaze drifted upwards. Water welled in the corners of his eyes. The glistening gaze begged for forgiveness. I nodded, because I understood.

"You only wanted to protect her," I said softly. "To protect your family. And I know I can never take your brother's place, and I'm sorry if it ever felt like that."

He sniffed. "I know." He pulled his muzzle away, clearing his throat and blinking away the beginnings of tears. "But you are," he said firmly. "My brother, I mean."

I smiled, a soft laugh spilling from my lungs. My heart ached, and he knew without me saying it; he was my brother too.

"I guess that was all just a long winded way of saying, I need you to promise me something." Spruce stood, turning to face me with all the fury of his emotion behind his eyes.

I nodded.

"That you won't break Cloud's heart," he breathed. "That you won't hurt her..." A pained look came over his face. "Won't ever be like my father." The final words slipped through gritted teeth.

Without a moment's pause, I wrapped my head around his neck. I pressed my weight against him, and he leaned into me. A closeness I'd never felt with him. The truest show of trust and affection.

"I promise you."

Spruce swallowed before breaking away. "Good." He exhaled sharply, and stood. We met eyes once more, a soft grin on both of our muzzles.

Then we looked around, and we realized neither pup was anywhere to be found.

"For the love of––" Spruce groaned aloud and spun on his paws, nose to the ground and searching for their scent. I followed him to a small trail that wound around the pines and deeper into the woods, before forking in two directions. "Both of them smell like the pups..." He let his voice trail off, before looking up at me. "Surely they didn't split up, right?"

A look of genuine worry scrunched up his muzzle. "I'll take this path," I said, gesturing to the left. "And you take the other. I'm sure neither got far."

He nodded, sighing deeply. "Dusk is so gonna kill me."