Over the course of the past few days the young wolf had picked her way all the way across this strange crater. Her tongue lolled from her mouth, dry and white, while her paws were sore and the pads cracked. She plodded on, her light yellow eyes just as bright and interested as they had been at the start of this trek. For certain, she had had no reason to make it from the East end to the West end except for pure curiosity. The thin trees that now bent over her head were thinning, for sure. Banner looked at them suspiciously, wondering what lay in store for her at the end of this wood. The pup had certainly found the thrills she had been searching for. She had dodged falling rocks, plunged accidentally into the muck of a swamp, and run literally for her life from the angry claws of a mother bear. She was exhausted. And yet proud. Banner trotted with her ears and tail up, a goofy smile on her face. If her brothers could have seen her outpace that bear! She would show them. She was more than capable of taking care of herself. Ban shook her pale coat, though it wasn’t quite so pale anymore in light of her misadventures. Goopy mud that was almost black streaked her sides in thick clumps. On top of the mud she was dusty, and leaf mold stuck to her fur. The state of her feet was unspeakable. Happily ignoring all of this, Banner finally made her way out of the trees. Out of the woods, the land was thankfully unthreatening. A simple creek cut through the land. Ban’s tail slowly began to wag and her skin seemed to crawl with the promise of a bath. She began to pad forward and then stopped quickly at the sharp sound of rocks moving against each other and the cry of another wolf. She was not alone. Ban peered out into the open, her yellow eyes searching for the source of the disturbance. It was not hard to find. The wolf stood on the bank of the water, red fur illuminated like a brand of fire. Interested, Banner did not hesitate to walk out into the open and onto the rocks. She let out a quick call of her own, the bark ringing across the shore. The young wolf could only hope she didn’t look too much like a muck-monster emerging from the tree line. b a nn e r as we walked I heard the laughter in the leaves mars 2013