I am not to be alone for long. The clouds above lead my eyes to fall back onto the earth, and as they do, they cross the path of what I see as a ghost. A figure that I knew once. A face of my birth and blood. I simply stare with narrowed eyes at first, eyeing the creature suspiciously.

I had not seen Solitaire in many years, not since I was but a pup. For all I knew he was dead just like mother and father. I had hated him all these years for leaving us, for abandoning us like father. For leaving me alone with Tristian- a wolf without a spine. My other brother could have been different. Maybe he would have fought by my side. Maybe he would have trained in combat with me....maybe would have stepped up and helped prevent mothers death. But he was not there. He was but a ghost, a figment of my imagination. I would only hope and dream, pretend he was there with me brave and strong....until such notions as pup faded in the cruel reality of life.

And now he is here, staring me in the face. I feel my own nose wrinkling up at the sight of him. I would imagine he is not real but his scent comes rushing into my nose. It is a bitter taste. I suddenly stand from my laying position on the rock. I am of up most beauty in the eyes of others, a visual reverie and it reflects in my blue eyes that I hate every moment of it, wishing I was instead a male born strong with thick muscle and a frame like a log. Instead, I am swift and quick, which does have its own advantages, but my preferences are that of brute force.

I jump down with much grace and control, but as I march towards him, my face is not soft. It is hardened, touch with scars from my battles past. I stand in a domineering position with tail high and head high, looking him straight in the eyes and testing what he is. Will he stick his tail between his legs like Tristian and cower? Or will he be something more, even if I still hate him for leaving me all alone all these years? I stop dead before him, the wind brushing my brindled fur.

"Where the hell have you been?" I say with my voice demanding, and my eyes scrutinizing his every move and feature up close.