Sometimes I pondered on what it was about the mountains of Spirane that made my family and I feel so complete when standing so high above the rest of the world. Maybe it was something in the air. Perhaps it really was in our blood, the altitude at which we were born breeding an innate need to rise within the peaks into our very core. All of us were given a liberality from the time that we were young to wander, to explore the possibility that we might belong elsewhere. But time and again we had always returned. Even Swallowbane had found his way home again. And I believed, with all my heart, that Idunn would arrive back upon the mountain in her own time. My elder sister Orca had wandered for many years herself, but even a gypsy’s wanderlust could not keep her from Spirane eternally.

Haven greeted me with a return bump of her nose against my own shoulder, and I smiled down at her. Together our eyes turned towards the horizon, and I said to her, ‘Beautiful, isn’t it, sis?’ before returning my gaze to her adolescent frame once more. As she looked out across the western lands, her words causing the smirk I bore to grow steadily into a smile. I lifted my forepaw that was nearest my sister and placed it atop her head, mussing the hair between her ears. I didn’t know what was out there, beyond the realms of Moladion. And I didn’t really care to know. Everything I needed was right here. I removed my paw, setting it back in front of me as she spoke of Diveen and Isola. “Nothing beats being home.” I said, my smile quieting once more to a simple grin.

A single audit flicked backwards at the sound of another’s approach; the westerly breeze had kept his scent from us, much as it had kept mine from Haven, but I knew those serenading tones anywhere. I twisted my head around so as to see Taliesin as he moved to join us. A wide smile broke across my façade, delighted to keep the company of both my younger sister and my brother. He was the closest thing I had ever had to a littermate. I treasured each of my siblings in their own way, but there was something special about the wolf who you were raised side by side with, who you truly grew up with. I leaned over Haven to greet Taliesin, embracing him neck and to neck and wrapping myself into a sort of hug. It brought my lips close to his ear, and I whispered softly for only him to hear, “We must speak later, brother.” As I withdrew from him, my face continued to smile, but my eyes conveyed the message that it was a matter meant only for his ears. Natu, my spider, had carried the news to me that Fenrir had returned to Moladion. And I did not mean for my brother to find this out by some chance encounter with the man who had abandoned him in his infancy.

I turned my attention back to Haven, licking the top of her head to smooth out the fur that I had displaced before. I looked up at Taliesin as I groomed our sister, hoping I had not caused him to worry too greatly. As I leaned back once more, I said, “Nothing is better than to be amongst family.”