I came from glass, you came from tears. — Traveler of Light, to Nar

When wolves die, they turn to glass.

Their lifelight pours from their eyes and lifts with their last sigh, and then what made them themselves is gone, translucent like the purest glass, and what lies behind is the mould of empty pelt and too-still form.

They are not bound to stars or planets or the ink in between. No, they are free to go where they please, free to bound across all skies, all mountains and hills and worlds of ice, free to go wherever they are called next. It is the few that stay to become stars in their sky and guard against the Evil that rages war in the cosmos.

Aulka used to think that her grandsire is one of them, one of the small, shining dots that he loved to tell stories of. Loyal and loved, staying close so he could watch over her and protect her while she sleeps.

It is wishful thinking, one of a small pup. Now that she is older and her claws are blunted and paws stained with the fallen and failed, she thinks her grandsire stopped watching a long time ago, moved on to another world not so fraught with Coren, with the dead and dying. Or perhaps there were so many glass souls joining the ranks of the Watching that he felt it was safe to explore the Ink.

Whatever it may be, he doesn't watch her while she dreams anymore because Evil slipped past the stars and the Coren attacked. And now, on nights that feel as if they do not exist, she stares up at the sky and wonders if her sire, her littermates, her friends, her pack, gaze back.

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Maikai's star gazes at her from over the Dream, pointed ends piercing through the clouds and into the Ink like blades. It reminds her of the blades like those stabbed into the ground in front of their wielders' graves, the kinds that should've been in place for her old pack if there had been time and place for proper burial.

Would the tines of Maikai's star turn into pointed metal protruding from the earth, the only remnants of all of them? Or would they fade away like all dreams eventually do, gone without a scent, vanished without a trace? Is it her pack's fate to join the ranks of the stars so soon, to become like Maikai's star, golden and pointed, hovering somewhere distant as a sign of hope untouchable?

Why is it that the world is so determined to turn all of them into glass?

We are to die, then? she whispers, tail tucked and heart hammering dread with each beat. She had thought, along with all her pack, that the Dream was safe, secure, free from all their troubles. An escape from the trials of the world to live in peace.

But it, too, is dying. It too, is being taken away from her.

No, Kaone answers, the simple word sending tremors under the paws of her heart. You can heal him, I know it.

Heal him, Maikai, the Dreamer, the one who stepped in the gap. The dread pounds, bubbling like stew over a fire, each bubble a pop of doubt. If he is dying on the outside, how would herbs from the Dream help?

Kaone shakes his head and taps the space between them with his forepaw. Heal him not with herbs. Your Dream-gift, healing. That will work.

How are you so sure? I've never healed anything with it before. What was there to heal in this Dream free from illness and pain? She'd tried, yes, on the pups, on Umble, but all it had done was fill her nose with the scent of warm earth and coming spring and her vision with a soft red glow, accomplishing nothing at all.

He blinks once and turns his head away, mouth stiff with determination. Because it has to. It's...the only option left.

Aulka tilts her head. The way his head bows and ears flop, the way the silence gathers like feathers in a nest, speaks of a wolf weary of walking on cracking ice. How long has he been trying to heal Maikai on his own? How long has he been alone? She sniffs his scent, sifts through it for familiarity, but finds none. He isn't from Tatalune.

Kaone seems to pull himself together, and with a soft whuff he meets her eyes again, determination set and weariness gone. So? Will you come with me to heal him?

Such a simple question, and one with such a simple answer, yet it lodges in her throat like a burr in fur. Of course she'll heal Maikai. If she doesn't, then everyone will fade away. Everyone will become souls of glass and bound into the stars to join her first pack, her family, her friends and... the burr-words dig deeper into her throat.

Dig deeper because a thought twitters from deep in the woods of her mind, would that be so bad? To fade away in peace, to escape the Coren once and for all, to join the ones you've lost?

Yes, it would, she answers and firmly pushes the thought back into its nest, urging to sleep once more. All life is precious, all life is unique, all life is to be protected, including hers.

Resolve settling in her chest like a layer of snow, she nods once. I'll go.

Kaone leaps to his paws, tail wagging. Yes, yes! Thank you!

Aulka offers a tentative smile. Of course. She may not know Maikai well, but pack is pack and she will not stand by and watch another wolf pass. Even if her efforts prove fruitless. She's a Healer, after all. If there is sickness in a Dream without sickness... She'll still do her best to wash it away.

Kaone grins at her, takes a few steps towards the Dream and looks back at her. Do you need to do anything before we go?

Her mother would worry if she is gone for too long...or would she? It is safe in the Dream, or it was until the Coren—a bolt of horror strikes her like a mallet to a gong. The Coren, will they attack my pack? Are they—

Kaone shakes his head. No. As long as they stay inside the Boundary Stones, they'll be alright. Maikai's protection keeps the Coren out. He won't let harm come to them.

How did the Coren get in here? She looks down at the narleaps far below.

Maikai grows weak. He can't hold them out of the Dream altogether, but in a single spot he is more than capable of holding for a while. Worry lights in his eyes. But not forever. We should hurry.

Aulka licks her nose and rises to her paws, resolve hardening like a coat of ice. She won't let her new pack die to the Coren again. She won't lose more pack if she can help it. Okay. Let us go.

With a nod, Kaone leads the way past the spires of stone rising and falling like frozen waves, the veins of glass, silver, and reflective minerals embedded in them spreading like branches on a tree and glittering in the gaze of the stars above. The air is clear, light and sharp like it becomes on the highest mountains, almost as if it doesn't exist. Like all times she has been on Nar, she wonders whether if she jumps from the tallest spire of rock, she will just float away into the deep Ink above to join the stars in their watch for Evil, or whether she will fall like wolves do in normal places.

She wonders because she hasn't tried. Wonders because no one has. No one dares to take the chance, just in case.

Dismissing the thought with a flick of her tail, she quickens her strides to catch up with Kaone, who rounds a bend opening up into a clearing with a narleap set in the middle.

Together, they step into the middle of the ring of runes, and as soon as they stand still, the runes light up and the air hums with energy.

Ready? Kaone asks.

She looks at him, his calm confidence, his rippling shawl and scarf, the golden streaks in his fur contrasting the pure-white ears, nose, and spots on his paws. So much like a hero, the ones Maikai talked about that night. So much like the hero she doesn't feel. She looks to the narleap they came from, the Dream below to the forest she'd been living in, to her pack safe inside the boundary stones. She's leaving safety again, but only for a little while. For the good of all of them. To keep them safe this time, to succeed in preserving life.

She can do this. She will do this. She is ready.

Aulka nods and they leap.