In the Shadows of Greatness

Welcome Party

Slant gave a cheerful howl as he tackled his little sister. Echo sighed and pushed him off. He laughed and tackled her again.

"Too cowardly to fight her own brother," Dusk growled in disgust. "Dog hearted brat."

"I'd rather her be dog hearted than snake hearted like you, Dusk," Birch swiped at the ruddy red wolf. "At least dogs are loyal to the death."

"Are you implying wolves are not?" Dusk snarled.

"No," Birch hunched down, preparing to leap onto Dusk. "I'm implying you aren't."

"I will always give my life protecting this pack!" Dusk howled. "Can you say the same!"

"I can say that I wouldn't turn away a pair of pups solely because they're half dog," Birch lunged. Dusk yelped and cowered as the creamy female descended on her.

"Enough!" Moon-Howler called. The two broke away from each other, Birch padding back to the pups. The aging white wolf bared his fangs at both females. "Birch, I know you are only being motherly, but enough fighting with your own pack mates."

"I apologize and understand, Moon-Pelt," Birch bowed her head.

"And you!" He turned to Dusk, who cowered before him. "I'm sick of you berating them. They have a right to be here, regardless of their parentage!"

"But Moon-Pelt!" Dusk shot back.

"Regardless of their parentage!" He howled in her face.

"Yes," She mumbled, turning tail and running off.

Echo stared at the great leader before her. It intrigued her that the two of them were the only ones with such white fur. Snowy is what they called it. Echo heard her father once mention her mother's mother having white fur.

"May I go outside, Birch?" She asked.

"Take the rest of your litter mates with you," She said.

The pups rushed outside after one another. They tumbled in the clearing, yipping and biting one another. Echo's ear twitched at hearing a familiar cry. The pups and older wolves turned their heads towards the oak trees. A brown shape swiftly dropped from one of the hollows, soaring gracefully above the clearing. It landed silently, barely rustling the grass, before the pups.

"Hello Silver," Echo greeted him. "What are you doing up?"

"Thought I might visit my friend," He said. "You got big, Echo."

"And you're flying," She pointed out.

"Well, you look almost like a full grown wolf!" Silver laughed, flapping up to sit on her head.

"A grown half wolf, you mass of feathers," Dusk angrily growled.

"And?" The barn owl shrugged. "She's nice, and she seems deathly loyal to your pack. What's it matter if she's half wolf or full?"

"Everything," Dusk growled. "Only a wolf can truly be one with nature and the pack. Only a wolf can howl to the moon with endless vigor."

"Moron," Twilight, one of the older pack members clawed at Dusk's ears.

"Hello," Silver bowed to the older wolf.

"Hello, Silver," She greeted. "Echo loves to brag about you. Will you be hunting tonight, or will you watch the ceremony?"

"Ceremony?" He flapped before her. "Do tell!"

"It's an old pack tradition," She chuckled. "The pack leader introduces all the pups who are almost adults. Then, he asks the pack to accept them. When that's done, the pups howl to greet the pack as adults, and that's it."

"What if the pack doesn't accept the pup?"

"The pup is asked to prove themselves," Twilight shrugged. "You ought to go back to your hollow. Owls need sleep just as we wolves do."

Silver laughed and took off, bidding a good day to the wolves. Twilight nudged Echo.

"Ignore everything my idiot sister says," She whispered. "Father's mate taught her to hate dogs, solely because her last mate fell for one."

Echo nodded. She turned and barreled into her brother. Slant responded by pouncing on top of her. The rest of their adoptive litter joined in, their cries of playfully innocent joy reverberating across their patch of forest.

Before long, they were sitting before Moon-Howler and the pack, along with three other litters. They were all shifting from paw to paw, impatient for Moon-Howler to start.

"Step forward so that I may introduce you to the pack!" The white wolf said. 

Echo shook as he went down the line of pups. Slant eagerly stepped forward, head held up high at Moon-Howler. He introduced the male. Echo stepped up.

"Echo!" Moon-Howler said. "Daughter of Fallow, sister of Slant, adopted by Birch!"

"She is no member of our pack!" Half the pack howled. "Cast her out!"

"Who dares to wish my daughter to be banished!" Fallow snarled. The pack split in two. Dusk, to no one's surprise, led the half that clearly hated the pup.

"She is no true wolf!" Dusk growled. "Her brother behaves like a real wolf! She acts like a cowardly dog!"

"Make her prove her worth!" Dusk's followers snarled.

"Shut up!" Moon-Howler snarled. He looked at the shaking pup. "Echo, to be fully accepted by all the pack, you must fight one of your pack mates."

"I choose to fight Dusk," The white pelted pup said.

The ruddy red she-wolf lunged and gripped the pup by her scruff. She shook hard, blood spraying forth. Echo gasped and ripped herself from the powerful jaws. Dusk howled a laugh cut short, as Echo threw herself into the ruddy she-wolf. The white pup buried her sharp fangs deep into Dusk's hind leg. She didn't release the bloody, broken limb until Moon-Howler himself pushed her jaw open. Dusk scrambled away, her leg redder than her fur.

"The pack accepts this pup as a member," The dissenters mumbled quietly.

Moon-Howler nodded and led his pack back inside the cave. Echo settled down next to her brother and adoptive litter-mates. Fallow draped himself not too far away, pride radiating from him. Dusk limped in and sat awkwardly at the cave's entrance, a couple wolves tending to her wound. Echo slipped into peaceful rest with the warmth of her pack around her.