Saluki watched her pack members eat their first meal in two days.

She noticed that Omar was glancing at Bliss, urging her with silent gestures to eat more, to feed their growing family. Bliss ate much more now that she was carrying two more. Fern wolfed his food down while Terra ate in short, rapid bites. They seemed afraid the food would disappear in front of them.

Alpine ate slowly, savoring each morsel; Loki ate daintily, twitching her black nose around the rabbit. Seneko burped loudly in Saluki's direction.

Saluki felt that one could learn a lot from the way someone ate.

"Well, what are we going to name them?" Terra's voice was clear, breaking through the haze of silence and the sounds of eating. Her bright eyes rested on Bliss's round stomach.

"Who?" Seneko said, gulping down the rest of his meal. Bliss shot him an amused look, then reached over and nipped his neck.

"Your soon to be brothers or sisters!" Bliss exclaimed. Brown eyes turned lovingly to the golden ones of the wolf who stood large and black beside her.

"Oh, they're going to be brothers," Alpine's rough voice sounded from across the circle of wolves. All heads turned to her, waiting.

"Well...how do you know?" asked Loki, too impatient to wait for what they all knew was coming.

"I can feel it in my bones."

Terra snuck a look at Saluki and they snorted with laughter. Alpine's whiskered face whipped to the two wolves.

"You don't believe me?" Alpine shook her head with a smile.

"When has she ever been wrong about a storm?" Fern pointed out. No one had an answer.

"Look at the sky," Omar spoke. "It is time to go to Tigra cliff."

Saluki gazed out of the mouth of the den, where the wildflowers rustled softly in the night breeze. The first stars were just beginning to show their faces over the redwood trees.

Quietly, the pack began to move out of the den. Seneko came to walk alongside Saluki, and their shoulders brushed up against each other.

The night was cold but comfortable, and the wolves loped along to the cliff by the light of the rising moon.

Every Moon when the pack made this short journey, Saluki recalled the day many Moons before when she and Loki were first introduced to their family. The redwoods had dropped much of their leaves, leaving the familiar path blanketed in a soft coating of mulch and rotting leaves.

Saluki thought about her first autumn. The great redwoods that spread across the hills and valleys of Asgeird Ridge had dropped their golden foliage, leaving piles perfect for diving in. Pine Meadow remained dark green. Saluki remembered a secret place deep in the woods beside the River Ranora where three imposing evergreens had also kept their leaves. Sometimes she brought Terra there and they caught slippery fish from the river.

I've only been here since Spring, but I already know the ins and outs of the place. I wonder what Omar knows? I wonder what he's taught Seneko?

The mention of Seneko made her turn toward the wolf at her right. He plodded along, his long brown tail whipping back and forth happily. He noticed her looking at him and turned, his eyes twinkling in the dusk.

Saluki looked away, then thought why I am I looking away? She sighed, exasperated with herself.

"Young ones," Alpine called from the front of the line. "We're here. Time to be silent."

Saluki remembered the rules. She closed her mind off of anything that was distracting to her and trotted forward briskly onto Tigra cliff.

The endless patterns of the stars marched on all around the wolves, dazzling in their beauty, but Saluki focused on only the Moon herself.

Just like she had for the last Howlings, Saluki felt tears prickling and burning in her throat as she looked toward the object her own mother had told her countless stories about.

A warm nudge on her flank made her turn to Loki, who understood. The sisters sat side by side and faced the edge of the cliff, where the walls plummeted to the forest below. They looked toward the sky.

Omar started, his deep and rumbling howl moving from his throat into the air and then traveling straight to the Moon. One by one, the other wolves joined.

Saluki's clear, high howl reverberated across the forest and echoed off the mountains to the North.

Moon, if you can hear me, please help me take care of the pack. I don't know why there isn't any food, but maybe you could help me understand?

Please tell me what is happening with Firenze. I just want my family to be safe.

And... I hope you can help me know what this feeling is when I see Seneko.

Saluki finished her howl and kept her gaze on the Moon for a few moments more before letting it drop. The others ended their howls but remained silent. Saluki saw Bliss and Omar sitting alongside each other. Fern and Terra were a few feet away.

Saluki hadn't realized that Loki had moved to be beside Alpine. She also hadn't realized that Seneko now sat only a few inches away from her.

Her heart hammering, Saluki looked toward the Moon again, then at Seneko's parents.

As Omar's voice told the pack it was time to go home, Saluki didn't see Bliss's knowing smile directed at her son and the slim white wolf next to him.