A white she-wolf stared, bewildered, at the strange pup below her. "Ash and Andy had a pup together?!" she screamed in her mind. "Of all of the things that they could've done as a couple, they had to have a pup!"

"Um... would you happen to be Daylily?" the small pup asked, wiping the tears from her face with her tail.

"Dawn," the white she-wolf corrected. "Quick! Come into my den, before anyone sees you." She then led the black-winged pup into her den, shivering from the cold weather and this unusual surprise.

The small pup's stomach growled with hunger as she sat herself down. It must've taken a lot of energy for a scrawny pup like her to travel to the Hawk territory all the way from the Shadow Pack campsite.

"Hungry, Raven?" Dawn asked, giggling a little. The presence of the young wolf forced her to lift her spirits. She didn't want to let Raven know that she was still grieving over Ash's death.

"Um... a little..." Raven said, squirming around.

Dawn remembered the rabbit that she had still barely touched, sitting in a corner of the small den. Carefully, she nudged it over to Raven. "Take small bites, Tiny," she warned, a smile on her face. "Your eyes are bigger than your stomach."

Raven ravenously tore into the rabbit, clawing away at the fur-covered skin until she reached the meaty inside. "Mom let me start eating fresh-kill only a couple days ago!" Raven said just after she swallowed her first bite. "She wasn't able to hunt today, though."

Dawn knew why, but she interrogated the pup as if this was news to her. "Why not?"

Raven licked her lips as she answered, "Something happened. She's covered in big boo-boos." Raven's ears went down in sympathy for her mother, but they immediately perked back up as her tail began to wag. "Mommy said you would pupsit me until she gets all better!"

"When did you leave the Shadow Pack territory?" Dawn asked. She wanted to know all of the details that she could.

"The territory or the camp?" Raven's sweet voice chirped as she began to gnaw on a small rabbit bone.

"Er... the camp," Dawn said.

"Well, it was after midnight," she replied, looking up at the den ceiling. "A few wolves were reentering the camp. They had a few boo-boos on them, and they looked tired too."

"That was just after the meeting!" Dawn realized. "It's still nighttime, so it couldn't have been too long since then!"

"Mommy said she would see me again, no matter what it took," Raven continued. "Then she made me go away. So here I am!"

"So Andromeda's alive?!" Dawn had to keep herself from shouting out her question and waking up every wolf in all four of the winged wolf Packs.

"Last time I checked... yeah? I think so..." Raven shrugged. "Why wouldn't she?"

Andromeda was still alive! Dawn hopped around Raven in pure glee. Her heart sang the word, "Andromeda! Andromeda!"

When the pup had eaten all that she could of the rabbit, she gently set herself down. "By the way, where's Daddy?" she asked, causing Dawn to stop her celebrating. "Mommy said he's a Hawk wolf, so he should be in camp, right?"

"Wait, Andromeda never told her own pup that the father is dead?!?" Dawn thought in alarm. "I can't tell this little pup that news... not after all she's been through tonight."

Raven looked expectantly at the white she-wolf, waiting eagerly for an answer.

Dawn cleared her throat before replying, "You're dad is... on night patrol."

"Night patrol?" Raven tilted her head. "What's that?"

"Ash is guarding the camp," she clarified. "Making sure that nothing attacks us in the night."

"Like what?" Raven kept the questions coming, and Dawn was barely able to keep up. What is it with youngsters and their ability to produce more questions than answers?

"Cripps," Dawn whispered, a devilish tone in her voice. "Bloodthirsty wingless wolves who eat tiny pups like you for breakfast! Rah!" The Quad grabbed Raven by the scruff, gently swinging her from side to side.

The black pup squealed. "Don't eat me! Don't eat me!" she giggled. "Put me down!"

Dawn obeyed Raven and set her down. As soon as Raven's paws touched the ground, she yawned. "We better get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow!"

"Doing what?" Dawn asked, confused.

"Whatever we need to kill the time!" Raven muttered quietly as she nestled under Dawn's white-feathered wing. "Besides, I can't wait until Ash is off his patrol duties so I can go ask him if he's seen any filthy Cripps!"

"Yeah," Dawn murmured, looking out of the entrance to the den as Raven closed her eyes. Dark clouds were beginning to roll in, covering the shimmering stars. She thought about seeing Heather, Ash, Barracuda, and Jupitor in her dream, in a hazy afterlife of some sort. Someday. "I can't wait either," she finished, closing her own eyes to sleep.