"Stop it! Libby, stop blaming yourself!" Alex sounded like he was starting to lose his patience, his nostrils flaring. "Do you think I'm not hurting?"

"You seem all too happy in the Pack of Dark Stones, getting acquainted with everyone! It's like you're forgetting about Fading Shadows already!" Libby's eyes sparked with anger and frustration.

Alex's eyes flattened. "I'm not! I'm just accepting that there's nothing that can be done, and getting used to things here! I feel just as hurt as you are, Libby, but I don't deal with it by wallowing all day like you."

"Then maybe you didn't care about them like I did!" Libby flared back.

Alex staggered backwards. "You...you don't mean that."

Libby realized that she was taking quick breaths of frustration. She slowly tried to calm herself down. "No...I don't." She sat down and stared at her dirty front paws. "I'm sorry."

Alex walked up to her and settled beside her, their shoulders and flank touching. He, being slightly bigger than her, licked her forehead. "I know it's hard. But we can't let our grief get to us like this. "

Libby repressed a sob. "I just want them back..."

Alex sighed. "Me too, Lib, me too."

After the worst of the downpour had passed, Alex convinced Libby to leave the cave. Most wolves had come out of their shelters as well, and were roaming about the rendezvous site.. The only ones missing were Dreven and the tawny she-wolf who had been against her and Alex joining.

"It's good that you're out," Alex told his sister, his tail wagging weakly.

Libby had a hunched posture and looked around carefully. Unlike Alex, she didn't feel safe among all these strangers.

Red Spirit approached. "Libby! You’re out! I thought I couldn't convince you to!"

"Well, I guess I had to eventually." Libby's voice was flat.

"I have something for you." Red Spirit regurgitated some meat for Libby. Alex had managed to convince her to come out, but eating was another matter. But when she saw the pile of pre-chewed meat in front of her, Libby couldn't resist the hunger any longer and dug in.

"She went from not eating at all to eating like a wolverine," Alex said with a laugh.

"You can say that again," Red Spirit bayed.

Libby raised her head after she was sure that every last morsel was gone. "Thanks. I needed that."

"No problem, little one. Now, how's about you two meet some of the wolves? I'm sure Alex can introduce you."

Libby flicked an ear. "I don't know..."

"Come on, it'll be fun! A little adventure, you loved those!" Alex nudged her shoulder and took the lead. After hesitating a moment, Libby followed.

He headed in the direction of the Healer's Cave, in front of which two wolves were located.

"You've met Onor and Maggie," started Alex.

"She's finally out," Maggie's voice had a hint of disapproval in it.

Libby felt apprehensive, but Alex apparently didn't hear it. "I don't think I really formally introduced you to my sister yet, so here she is! This is Libby. Maggie, Libby, Libby, Maggie."

Libby studied Maggie thoroughly. She was a beautiful young she-wolf, with a purplish-brown coat that was well-kempt and smooth. Her eyes had an almond shape and were dark purple. Her physique was quite lithe. Suddenly, Libby realized how she must appear to this pretty she-wolf. Her own coat was ruffled and dirty, and her muzzle was still stained red from when she had eaten.

"Well, nice to meet you, I suppose," Maggie said curtly. With a look at Alex, her disposition changed to a friendlier one. "How about I show you some hunting moves I've been working on at sunset?"

"Sure thing. But for now, I want to stick with my sister," Alex replied with a smile. He turned to the pale gray wolf beside Maggie. "You remember Onor, from when he first checked us?"

"He's my father," Maggie declared.

Libby couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. Maggie looked absolutely nothing like her father, both in fur color and physique, with Onor being a hulking giant of a wolf.

"Well, nice to formally meet you, I suppose," Libby told the Healer.

Onor smiled . "I'm glad to hear you two have become Dark Stones wolves."

"It was the right choice," Alex said simply. They said their goodbyes and gazed over the other wolves in the clearing.

"You remember Katie and Umium? They're sisters and the current only trainees. Katie's Diamond's student, and Umium is Ktea's." Alex pointed at the two young she-wolves who were enjoying a deer's haunch together. Katie's bright golden coat and white paws caught Libby's attention in particular.

"And Ktea and Red Spirit are related to Snow-white, right?"

"Yes, they're both her offspring from the same litter. Katie's and Umium's mother is Pearl, that one tawny she-wolf who isn't here at the moment. Oh, Snow-white is a Sentry and Ktea and Red Spirit are Patrollers, by the way."

"Who else do I need to know?"

"You've met Maggie and her first father, but her second father is Zrin." He gestured with his muzzle to a dark purplish-gray wolf with eyes the same color as Maggie's.

"She has two fathers?" Libby twitched an ear.

"Yeah! There was no one in our Pack of the same gender who were an item, but apparently it's not uncommon! Zrin is a Hunter."

Libby noted that, unlike Onor, Maggie did resemble Zrin, having a similar physique, eye color and the same purplish tinge to their coats, though Zrin's coat was less smooth and of a gray color instead of brown.

"Then the last wolf is Diamond. He joined the Pack recently. He's a Hunter, like Pearl." Libby noted the gray-and-silver male with the yellow eyes. She had indeed seen him before and now remembered his name.

"That's all of them?"

"I think so. Well, there's Dreven, Red Spirit and Kotan of course, but we already really know them. And Snow-white... certainly has a presence."

Libby followed his gaze to the large white she-wolf who was laying in front of the Leader's Cave, chewing on a leg bone of a deer like her life depended on it.

"She must be even older than Elder Willow was," Libby noted.

"She's both older than Willow and Dreven. Any wolf her age would've likely retired already, but I don't think she's going to do that anytime soon."

Libby could see why. Snow-white was a Sentry, in charge of guarding the rendezvous site. Aside from Onor, she was the biggest wolf in the pack. After she would retire, it would be hard to find a suitable replacement, as none of the other wolves in the pack came close to her and Onor's physique.

Libby sat down and licked a forepaw, finally deciding that it was time to clean off some of the dirt. "What's the deal with her and Dreven anyways?"

Alex looked uncertain. "I'm honestly not sure."

"Maybe we should ask Dreven when he returns?" Libby suggested.

Alex shook his head. "I don't think we're quite ready to go poking around in the private lives of our new Packmembers."

"Right," Libby said, trying to hide her dejection.

Alex gave her an encouraging poke in the shoulder. "Come on, let's go talk to some other wolves and get you properly introduced to the rest. We'll be trainees soon, anyways!"