Family First

The Fight

As Pallaton walked into camp, he felt uneasy, as if all the wolves in camp were watching him, though he knew it wasn't really like that. As he was walking across the clearing, he saw Tatonga picking through the prey pile, presumably taking inventory so he knew how many wolves to send out for hunting. Pallaton nearly tripped over his paws as he saw him. Tatonga heard him scuffling in the dust nearby, and looked at him with a confused look in his eyes, and with the least amount of scorn he had ever given Pallaton. But as soon as Tatonga realized who it was, his gaze changed, and something in Pallaton gave. He had been dealing with Tatonga all of his life, and even though he had just found out his connection to him, Tatonga had had no problem with looking down on his entire family all of his life.

Pallaton gave a growl, and his gaze turned to ice as he jumped onto Tatonga. The look in Tatonga's eyes fueled Pallaton even more, because he knew that the older male hadn't been counting on a fight. Pallaton may have had the element of surprise, but Tatonga was still older and more experienced. As Tatonga nearly pinned Pallaton to the ground, Pallaton immediately recalled all of the times that Tatonga had taunted, scorned, and made fun of his family. The sensation that tore through Pallaton while he was realizing this was pure adrenaline. The blood roared in his ears, and he fought with the valor and ferocity of a primordial beast. Suddenly he realized that there was something pulling on him. That's when his senses came back.

It took five wolves to pull Pallaton off of Tatonga. As he was pulled off, panting, the realization of what he had done came back to him. He looked up and saw mixed emotions painted across the faces of his campmates, ranging from confusion, anger, and disbelief. He felt a shove from behind. He turned around to see the angry face of his father-no, Malik-staring at him. "What is wrong with you?! Come on, get up! Let's go!" Pallaton's pride hurt more than any scrapes he had received from his fight. He felt like a young pup, being chided by their parent or any other adult. Malik stalked in front of Pallaton, and as he got to a clearing near to camp, Malik turned on him.

"What is wrong with you?! I thought I had raised you better than that, attacking one of your pack members like that! What is wrong?!" Pallaton growled back in return. "I don't know father," Pallaton spit the last word out, saying it as sarcastically as he could muster. "Why don't you tell me?" As Pallaton said this, he saw a split second of realization in Malik's eye, but then it changed back to his angry stare. Pallaton saw him sniff the air, and so Pallaton sniffed too, smelled the sweet scent that told him it was Rozene, but he kept the same look on his face. Malik went back to Pallaton, and growled "Don't be foolish, I don't know what you're talking about, son...." Pallaton cut him off, saying with his teeth clenched together, "Am I?" Pallaton was hoping that his dad wouldn't begin by saying 'I don't know what you mean,' because Pallaton knew he couldn't have been clearer. Pallaton said it one more time slowly, making sure Malik could hear him. "Am. I?"

The look in Malik's eyes almost knocked Pallaton over. He saw moons of pain flash in Malik's eyes, the wolf that he had claimed for several seasons to be his father, not thinking that anything else could be true. He saw in his eyes things that made Pallaton sad. "No, Pallaton. You are not. I suppose it is a miracle that anyone has believed it this long. I couldn't have sired such a wonderful litter. I will always be happy to be called your father, and I'm glad I got the opportunity to raise you. You make me so proud. I may not be your blood father, but I still love you as much as if you were my own." With that, Malik walked by Pallaton, his head and tail hung low, and headed back towards camp.

Pallaton was speechless. He loved Malik just like a father, but it hurt to know that he wasn't actually his father. Pallaton aimlessly wandered until he got to the cliff, the one that brought back memories of him and Rozene, the story that Zonta had shared with him a few moons ago, and so many other things that Pallaton thought his head would burst open, like the clouds when they got too full and then there was a downpour. He did the best thing he could think of: he howled. He lifted his head, brought it up as high as he could to the sky, and let loose the most mournful thing that had ever come out of any creature. As he took another breath, he felt another voice join in beside his, and together, they seemed to synchronize, becoming one voice.

Pallaton felt comfort in Rozene's presence, and was happy as she accompanied he back to camp. As soon as he got back though, he felt like an outsider. Ituha gave him a hard stare from his tree stump, and he wasn't the only one. Pallaton felt, cold, hostile glares coming at him from all directions, glares that were so cold, he thought that if he didn't keep moving, he would freeze to the spot. He shivered just thinking about it, but then he remembered what his parents-well, Winona and Malik-had told him all of those moons ago what his name meant. What am I doing, cowering away from my campmates like this? I'm a warrior for the Ancient's sake! At that, he stood tall again, knowing that even if he could never really justify why he had done it-and looking back on the encounter, he decided that perhaps it wasn't the best way to control the situation-he knew that he could never really tell anyone what happened. I'm a warrior......I can take it.....

A/N Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I usually write on Monday's at school, but we've had the past Monday's basically off. I've had this written for several weeks, but I didn't proofread it so I had to do that. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and I'll try to get writing again! Chow Chow