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The wolves around her began to stir when the booming voice of their leader, Bejus, called her pack to the center of the den for morning roll call. Ada was still groggy, not used to the morning line ups as she is still on the lazy sleep schedule of the nursery. She sat up from her spot and stretched the sleep out of her bones. She was one of the last wolves in line up, a majority of the pack had woken up even before Bejus called, this caused Ada to receive a sharp glare from her leader.
Ada adjusted her posture, keeping her head down, tail slightly tucked, and a lower posture, but she is careful not to crouch. Even though she just left the nursery, a submissive, but not weak, appearance has been drilled into her from birth. This was her first day after leaving the nursery, she didn’t know where her leader would see her best fit. She overheard her mother and another wolf in the nursery talking about how their best mentor fell ill and passed a few days ago. Someone will have to replace his spot, which means a spot in a hunting party might open up, or maybe she’ll be a scout? Ada went through the options in her head, mulling over where she would like to be the best.
Bejus started at the other end of the line, inspecting each wolf before assigning them to their duties for the day. She got to the wolf next to Ada, looking him over, checking for any signs of weakness, “You will join Dark Moon’s party.” With a nod, the wolf turned around and joined Dark Moon’s group standing off to the side awaiting more instruction. Then Bejus got to Ada, she fought to keep her head down and every muscle still. It felt like forever while Bejus inspected her, “Go join the group at the exit.” With a small nod, mimicking the wolf beside her, she trotted past Bejus and joined a small group of wolves awaiting Bejus’ next order.
Once Bejus went through all of the wolves in the line, she turned to join Ada and the group of wolves that had gathered near the entrance, with a curt “Follow me, and keep up. I want to make good time,” Bejus was off. The band of wolves traveled along the river near their den, as the grasslands around her slowly turned to forest, Ada wondered where they were headed. When they neared the strong scent of wolves, so many so Ada could pick out multiple different packs, Bejus stopped and turned to the group. “When we get there, you are going to travel to the center and join the group of wolves there. I want you to sit quietly until you are called forwards. I will not have any of you disgracing this pack. Understood?” Ada nodded her head along with her packmates.
The group walked into the clearing, with Bejus at the front, head held high. Like she had directed beforehand, Bejus’ wolves filed over to the center of the clearing, sitting in a perfect line, gazes forward awaiting further instruction. Despite Ada’s focus on her leader, she kept her ears open, trying to figure out why she was here, even what here was. A black and blue wolf walked forwards, and nudged the closest wolf forward. An unfamiliar wolf stepped forward and began calling off several words and numbers, “4 Markings, Tier 3, Generation 7”, and then ended it with, “10 silver cones.” A second unfamiliar wolf stepped forwards, “I’ll take her,” then passed something to the first wolf, coming to collect the younger wolf.
Ada listened, her gaze never leaving Bejus, as this process repeated for every wolf in her group. Finally, the blue wolf reached Ada’s pack, then eventually, Ada herself. Just as she had for the other members of her pack, Bejus began calling off words and numbers, “Tier 2 base, Tier 3 markings, and Hetero Blue and Brown eyes. 200 silver cones or 1 golden cone.”
Ada watched as a gray wolf came forward and exchanged small pieces of silver with Bejus, then motioned for Ada to come forwards. Ada looked at Bejus, she wouldn’t disobey her on the whim of some random wolf. Bejus looked at Ada and nodded. When Ada reached the pair, Bejus said to her, “Serve this pack well, don’t embarrass us. This wolf is your leader now.”
The words she was saying didn’t make sense to Ada, what do you mean this is my leader now? Aloud she said, “Am I not going back with you? What about mother? What about the pack? Do I not get to say good bye?” Bejus laid a harsh glare upon Ada, causing her to shrink back in her skin. “What did I say about not embarrassing us?” her leader, ex-leader, hissed. The unfamiliar wolf glanced between the two, then gently said to Ada, “Come with me now.” Ada was torn between the blind obedience that had been instilled in her since she first opened her ears, and this desire to run back to the only pack she’s ever known.
A gentle nudge from the lighter gray wolf pushed Ada to obey, reluctantly she followed her, leaving Bejus, and everything she knew, behind. Ada was dazed the rest of the meeting, vaguely she was aware of a second wolf who joined her and the unfamiliar wolf, who she came to learn was named Rayn. But to be frank, she really didn’t care. She was so excited to serve her pack, to be assigned a role that would give her life a purpose, but now she would never have that, at least not under Bejus and the pack who raised her.
Before Ada even realized, Rayn had begun to walk away, trailed behind by the second young pup that had joined them. They hadn’t been walking very long when the second pup took off at a sprint. Both Rayn and Ada jumped, although Rayn recovered quickly, taking off after him moments before hearing a KA-SPLASH. Ada recovered and rushed to see who had fallen. The other pup was struggling in the river, the current and waves threatening to drag him under. Without much consideration, Ada jumped into the river.
She easily reached the panicking pup, and grabbed ahold of his scruff, beginning to drag him to the river bank. He fought her at every stroke of her paws, at least until she growled in his scruff, “Stop moving.” Which then spurred him to begin twisting and turning in her mouth. Luckily, they had reached the bank, where Rayn reached forwards to help drag him out.
Ada stood there, sides heaving, attempting to catch her breath while the pup lay there with Rayn checking on him. She guessed he was okay because in a few moments, he had stood up, turned around, looking at her with a dumb expression plastered across his face. It took her a moment to realize why he was looking at her like that. Ada pushed ears back before replying, “Yeah, I had to jump in and save you like a newborn pup.” At least he had the decency to look ashamed at that.
Rayn had a hard edge to her voice, hardly hidden under the calm she has had this entire day, “What were you thinking, taking off and jumping into a river? Especially since you clearly don’t know how to swim.” The pup turned away, hanging his head and mumbled, “I was trying to catch a rabbit.” Ada couldn’t help but scoff at this. He managed to fall into a river, a freezing cold river at that, forcing her to jump in alongside him, because he was hungry? The audacity and stupidity was dumbfounding.
The drenched pup whirled around on her, “Do you have something to say?” This ungrateful mutt, “Do you?” She had saved his life, and before he even thought to say thank you, he was already getting an attitude. “May I remind you, I am the one who jumped in there to save your drowning skin.” That had an effect. His features softened at that; his tail dropped, slightly tucking between his legs. The shameful wolf muttered a soft, “Thank you.” Rayn looked at the two young wolves, “Come along now, we’re not even half way there.”
The rest of the journey goes by without another issue. Not shortly after, Rayn stopped to hunt, catching the three wolves a beaver to share. The longer they walked, the more of an attitude the pup seemed to get. It was as if he was annoyed at Ada for saving his life. He was prickly and grumbling at every step, and by the time they reached the den, Ada was ready to be rid of this unappreciative runt.
When they walk into the den, Rayn turns to them. “Over there is where you two will be sleeping. We need two new stalkers, so if that’s okay with you, I’ll have our mentors begin training you for that.” Ada nodded, knowing she was going to dread every moment, but she didn’t want to disrespect her leader on the very first day. She would just do her best to ignore this grumblings and the inevitable mediocrity of this young pup.