The battle patrol first went to the cave of Rufus, the Clan leader, to report, and Laika and Jewel waited anxiously for them to be done. They knew they couldn't disturb Rufus or Silkey or the rest of the squad, but both longed to ask Rou how things went.

Finally, when the battle squad was dismissed and Silkey entered Rufus' cave, they managed to separate Rou from the rest. Jewel ran at him and took him into a huge embrace. "You're still alive! You're okay! We were worried sick! Are you crazy, going after the Deformed Demon like that? Mom almost got a heart attack when she heard it!"

Rou seemed surprised. "Jewel? What are you doing here?"

Laika spoke up as she approached. "Making sure you don't get yourself killed in the battlefield!"

Rou's ears flattened as Jewel released him. "Uh, Mother, you too?" His mate, a scarred brown wolf named Taima, joined the trio.

Laika repressed a sigh of relief. "Luckily you're all right beside that one ragged ear. Good, good, now don't you ever worry us like that again!"

"But, what was he like?" Jewel asked, seemingly not being able to help her curiosity. "The Demon? What did he look like? Was he as ferocious as we thought?"

Taima scoffed. "Are you kidding me? He was pathetic! Just a weak, old gray wolf with a huge hump and all claws on his left front paw grown together."

That description made Laika's eyes widen. She held her breath. Could it be? After all these years? Could it be that the Deformed Demon was none other than her own brother, Daniel?

Taima continued. "Really weird and ugly. But he didn't seem threatening in the slightest. Well..."

Laika interrupted her. "Wait, claws on his front paw grown together? Did he happen to have asymmetrical markings on his face similar to mine, and one pale sock marking on his paw, the deformed one?"

Rou raised an eyebrow. "Uh, yeah?"

Laika felt tears form in her eyes. "How couldn't I have put one and two together earlier? Of course!"

Jewel put a paw on Laika's shoulder. "Mom, you're overreacting again. Maybe you'll need to lie down."

Losing her patience, Laika batted Jewel's paw away. "No, I don't! Jewel, Rou, I'm so sorry that I couldn't have told you this sooner, but the Deformed Demon was...your uncle." She felt her pups needed to know the truth, no matter how hard it was.

She didn't even hear Rou and Taima's reactions as her own thoughts were racing. Was it true? But how could her brother, sweet and caring Daniel, have become such a monstrous killer? It simply didn't make sense.

But Rou saw him. He and Taima just confirmed it. It was Daniel. There is no other wolf who looks like him. Laika shook her head, trying to become clear.

Again Jewel approached her. "Mother, I think we need to get you away from the clearing and all these crowds. It's not good for you, you're overworking yourself."

I'm not helpless, Jewel! But Laika didn't protest this time and let her daughter lead her off the Main Base, leaving Rou and Taima behind.

That night, the two of them slept in the forest, far away from the business of the Main Base, but Laika's dreams were uneasy ones full of demons and monsters and even one instance of Daniel showing up and killing her. She awoke with a start.

Jewel lay a little further away from her, curled into a ball of gray-and-brown fur. Laika looked at her daughter lovingly. Out of her two pups, Jewel seemed the least affected by the revelation that the Deformed Demon was her uncle. She's a good pup, Laika thought. She'll be okay.

She slowly got up, careful not to disturb her daughter, and wandered into the depth of the woods. She felt weak and old and like age was finally catching up to her. The news that Daniel had been alive all this time but she had never once come across him during her stay at the Clan bothered her to no end.

And now, he might be dead. Or is he alive? The news was all vague, especially after Silkey had also suddenly vanished that night. Her mind feeling foggy, Laika could only focus on the thought of somehow, somewhere, in this world or the afterlife, finding her brother again. She walked and walked until the pain in her joints no longer seemed to affect her anymore and she felt light as a feather.

Jewel and Rou never saw their mother alive again after that. They found her body two days later near the border with the outer territories. Laika had moved on.