Dani woke up like last time, just much colder. Behind him, the waters of what he assumed was the Hudson Bay, lapped at the shore. "It's smaller than I expected." He commented.

"That's not Hudson Bay, Dani. It's a river that leads from it. I don't know which one, but not the Baker Lake one."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Dani said. "You've been here before, I imagine."

"A few times. The Werewolf of the North are known for their spiritual connection and their healing prowess. Many times, they've been praised for their wonderful healing. But they're also vicious fighters. They live in great buildings, half hidden with illusions and natural disguise." Amber said. She was sitting on a log, this time wearing the clothes that she'd left in. Dani rubbed his arms.

"How are you not cold?" He asked her. The chill invaded his skin, making him feel sluggish and sleepy. Amber shrugged.

"Selkies don't get cold easily. We're seals. For us, being cold is as natural as fighting, and fighting is as natural as swimming."

"I was wondering why someone who was a seal in their time off was so agile." Dani teased, shivering.

"Snakes have horrible vision, yet yours seems fine." Amber teased back.

"No, but seriously, I'm cold." Dani said. Amber shrugged, and handed him a jacket that Dani didn't remember. He took it anyway, and didn't ask questions.

Later, when Dani had made a fire with a few sticks, Amber had put her head on his shoulder. "You know, if we weren't running for our lives, then this would be romantic."

"If you were the romantic type, yeah." Dani added. Amber stiffened slightly, and Dani added more wood to the fire.

"What do you mean?"

"You obviously don't like me. I'm just another coatl. You have some handsome Mages back in the Selkie lands, so you don't care for me."

"One rule of talking with women, Dani Coatl, is that you never tell them what they think." Amber chided coldly, lifter her head from his shoulder. They didn't speak after that.

When Dani was trying to sleep, having built a small shelter as Amber casted illusions. He would have asked her to teach him, if she hadn't been so stiff after their brief conversation. Dani had never been the best at explaining his thoughts, and Marble had always explained that it was part of the trauma from being abandoned.

Even when the girls had approached him, he'd never found any attractive.

Now that he thought about it, Amber was the only one that he'd ever found beautiful. Even if she was a little messed up on the inside, she was the most real girl he'd ever met.

"Hey." Amber said and Dani looked up. "Move over." She said, and he did, making room for her. "I put up the illusions around us. No one should be able to find us."

"Okay. Thanks." Dani said.

"Tomorrow, we'll go and find the wolf packs." She said. "Go to sleep. It's gonna be an early morning."

***

Dani was jolted awake, a howl piercing his world. Amber, who was next to him, woke up instantly. The first words out of her mouth was; "Those aren't normal wolves."

"How do you know?" Dani demanded, scrambling to get up, summoning wind blades. He crouched in a fighting position, keeping his center of balance level.

"No wolf would howl in daylight this close to us." Amber hissed.

"True enough. I would listen to her." A sweet voice called out. Dani looked at Amber in horror. "I can't see you, but I know you're there. Please come out. I won't hurt you."

Stepping out of the shelter, Dani and Amber came a little closer. A woman was sitting on the log, like Amber had done just the night before. She was clearly a werewolf, as she had the lower half of a wolf.

"Hello." Dani told her cautiously.
"Hello to you too." She smiled, showing massive, serrated teeth.

"What pack are you from? Amber ordered.

"Be polite, Noble Heir. We in the north abhor to rudeness. My name is Tolva, and I am from the only pack that live in Nunavut." Tolva smiled, but there was something missing from her eyes.

"My name is-"

"Dani Coatl, yes we know. You are travelling with our Noble Heir, Amber Pearl. We are very happy to have you here. Unfortunately, I still cannot see you. Your illusions are something to be proud of."

"Tolva, I have never heard of you before. I assume you've never been to the Silver Courts before, then?" Amber asked.

"Never." Tolva said, in the same happy tone that she'd complimented Amber in.

"Strange. But I've never seen the Northern Wolf Tribe's great home, so maybe I don't recognize you." Amber said, still cautions. Dani frowned. Hadn't Amber said she'd visited the Wolf packs many times?

"Perhaps." Tolva said. "I am not as old as my elders."

That's when Amber struck at the werewolf, slapping her face so hard, blood gushed from Tolva's nose. Stunned, the wolf stumbled.

"Amber! What are you doing!" Dani yelled.

"That's not a wolf!" Amber yelled, and put Tolva in a head lock, squeezing until her face turned purple. Tolva choked, and her face transformed, her wolfish lower half becoming human once again.

Dani looked at a blank face. Not like just expressionless, but the thing had no features what so ever. It was gray and stone-like, a puppet almost. "What the hell?" Dani yelped.

"It's a Shapeshifter!" Amber told him, and with a sickening crack, broke its neck. The dead body dropped softly into the snow.

"Do you have to kill everyone we meet?" Dani berated. Amber glowered at him.

"Because Shapeshifters report to the Silver King. Even if I was the Silver Heir, they only answer to the Silver King. To them, it doesn't matter how the King got the throne, just that they have it." Amber explained. "Luckily, they can't copy information or powers."

"Then how do you explain the howl we heard?" Dani challenged.

"It must have been the real Tolva, but I'm not going to risk more of them finding us. We're not going to the wolf packs."

"Why not?" Dani protested.

"Because the Shapeshifters know where we're going." Amber said. "It's just too dangerous. We shouldn't risk it."

"We have to risk it. Zaza said that the only chance we had was to deal with the Matriarch Alpha of the Northern Wolf Packs. We have to trust that she knew what she was talking about."

"I'm not going to risk it." Amber said again.

"You're going to have to risk it." Dani told her. "I'm going to find them."

"Then I'm not coming with you." Amber said.

"Okay. Bye then, Amber." Dani nodded and turned away.

"Wait, what?" She snapped. "You can't just do that. Your mother told you to stay with me."

"She said nothing of the sorts. And honestly, I think this is just my chance to get away from someone who I think is not a good person."

"Oh no. You don't get to do that." Amber said, getting in front of him. "You don't know a thing about me, so don't you dare try to do that to me. You don't get to do that."

"Know that you killed a child and now another person? At this point that's common knowledge, Amber."

"First of all, Shapeshifters aren't people. They're golems. Second of all, no, you don't get to spend a week with me and say, 'Oh she's a bad person.' No, you don't know me. Do you know how old I am? Huh? I am nineteen. I have been the Silver Heir since I was twelve years old. Unlike you, I don't have a family. My parents died in a nylon fishing net when I was ten. I grew up not know what I was, human or seal! You're lucky because you don't remember Zammi abandoning you, because your brain blocked it out, but I was ten and I remember everything. My parents, strangled by nets and then dumped back in the water so that the people that caught them wouldn't be fined." Amber's eyes were filled with tears. "I don't have friends, because I am the last child of the Mairéad line, and am the Silver Heir. I am alone as you can get here."

"That doesn't mean that you get to boss me around." Dani hissed. "That means you grow from that experience."

"Rich, coming from you." Amber said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dani hissed.

"Even when you were abandoned, you were adopted almost immediately. You had them take care of your every need. North Ireland isn't that nice." Amber spat. "I grew up on the wild. I was no better than a fairy." Her accent was alive now, and to be honest, it sounded much more natural than Dani had ever heard her.

"Maybe I don't but I know you don't kill people!" Dani replied, shocked that this was how she was justifying it.

"As you so wonderfully noticed, Dani, there is a big difference between people and Silver Mages. I would have killed that little girl again because I have no regrets about what I did. There is no shame for me in saying that I eliminated a threat." Amber snapped.

"That threat was a child, Amber! A little girl! You don't kill children! Everyone knows that! Even convicts!"

"Then I am sorry that I couldn't stand up to your precious morals." Amber snapped. "There is nothing that I seem to do that make you think of me as anything but a monster."

Dani didn't respond immediately, just looked at the Selkie. Finally, he spoke. "You're not a monster, Amber. You just don't know what to do with yourself. What scares me is that you've got to much raw power and anger for any-"

"You are not my fucking therapist!" Amber yelled. "I don't care what you think about me! I don't fucking care!"

"You will one day." Dani snapped at her.

"Well, that day isn't today."

"Oh no, my dears!" A new voice, a very amused voice, called. "But if you don't want the Shapeshifters to find you, you might want to start with being quieter."

Behind them, standing, on two lupin back legs, was a very beautiful noirette women. Wearing a Kelly-green tunic, she crossed her arms over the chest. She had sharper features than Tolva, or the creature that had pretended to be Tolva, but softer eyes.
"Who are you?" Amber demanded. "I am the Silver Heir, and you will answer me."

"You are no longer the Noble Heir, Amber Pearl, hence why we don't need to obey you. But we thank you for killing the Shapeshifter that has been stalking us for days." The women looked at Dani. "You, however, little snake, have been told by our King to kill upon sight."

Dani realized just how sharp her teeth were.

"I suppose for you, it's a good thing we don't like the King." She smiled. "My name is Ylva."

Hi everyone! This is Ivy! Aka fizzy_apples! Since C.J is on vacation, which I'm *cough cough* totally not jealous of *cough cough* I'm updating for her! Remember to vote comment and share because she's worked really hard on this and is gonna submit it for the Wattys!

And here's today's question of the day!

QOTD: Who's your favorite character in Silver Jungle?

Have a good day everyone!