My first birthday as a year on this earth is looming but that's the least of my concerns. I have been through a lot of changes since being born. My feet are large and awkward, hard for me to place as gracefully as I'd like to. Perhaps my training with Zeteri will start soon like dad said. I look forward to knowing how to walk silently, how to run like the wind without trying. I have big dreams for what I'll learn from Zeteri, I just hope she can hold up her end of the bargain.

I've studied the place in the clearing of Taviora till my nose is raw. I can still smell the old blood from the attack. Dad doesn't know that I saw the black wolf tear the other wolf's leg clean off. He doesn't know that I was hiding in the bushes after sneaking away from the den. It was both gruesome and fascinating. I couldn't stop looking once the bloodshed started. I watched until the black wolf disappeared into the woods. A part of me wanted to chase after him, to study him like an experiment but of course that would give up my hiding place and I had a feeling even then that dad wouldn't be too happy about me seeing something like that. So instead I stayed hidden until everyone was gone and then snuck back to the den, knowing that dad would be worried and come back to see us and mom.

I went back time and time again though to study the blood splatters, to memorize all the scents. I couldn't get enough of it. I replayed the events in my head as I looked at each droplet of blood. When the snow came, I was very disappointed to find my work would be all that harder cause now I had to dig to find what I wanted. The scent was fading with time and the melting snow but still I came back.

My body is changing with the seasons, something I'm still getting used to. My fur coat of tan, black, and brown is thicker and fuller, my yellow green eyes gleaming with health. I look more like my father than my mother but she doesn't seem to mind. All of my siblings have ended up with black and brown fur like my father. I guess his DNA was just stronger.

I end up over the borders of Taviora and heading into new lands this time. Something just feels right about it. I know there are lots of strangers out here, strangers who might try to befriend me or even try to hurt me and yet I feel no fear. I look back at Taviora only once as I go further from the safety of my family, wondering as I always do if my shadow is following this time. I'm pretty sure if Amoxtli was stalking me, he would have stopped me by now to tell me how its not safe outside of the pack lands so I take confidence in the fact that I must have been able to slip away this time.

When the ground starts shaking beneath my paws, I pause and hold my ground, watching the earth beneath my feet crack and shudder. I wonder if its in any pain, an odd thought at this point. Just up ahead, the ground fully breaks apart, tearing a rift and I watch with wide eyes as rocks and dirt fall into the hole but it never covers it back up. By the time the ground is done shaking, my feet are spread wide apart, my legs trembling. I slowly right myself, sniffing the crack running just beneath my feet. It doesn't seem to be breaking apart any more so it should be safe right? I take a cautious step forward. Nothing. Hopeful, I launch forward, landing just on the edge of the rift. I skid to a stop on landing and peer down into the abyss. I can just make out rocks jutting out of the wall, almost like steps down into the darkness. Dare I enter?

I can hear the twinkling sound of water somewhere down below, my ears pricked forward in curiosity. My nose twitches, wishing I knew ahead of time what I was walking into but knowing that I'm going, either way. How could I turn this up? My tail sways behind me as I put a single paw down onto the first step, testing my weight on it. It seems to hold well enough. Taking a deep breath, I get ready to go in deeper...