He marched along with steady purpose, one small paw placed before the other unlike his regular rather sporadic headlong run across the mountains. Today he was on a mission, a search, he needed a special something to bring back to Haven. She had given birth to their children, a rather big deal (or so she told him), and she deserved something from him in return! She was his whole world, his heart and his soul and he had to find just the right present for her. A butterfly? Too hard to catch, and even if he did manage to find one it might be dead by the time he got it back to her which was not the symbol of their love he was looking for. A bunch of wildflowers? But those were so common and she was special, the most special wolf in the world! Her gift had to be just as special.

Rumbling in the distance caught his attention and caused him to pause misstep, dust rose over the trees and he knew it must have been a rock slide. They were rare this time of year, more common during the rainy spring but the mountains were often unforgiving and even more so unpredictable. Thoroughly (and easily) distracted he trotted toward the area to see if perhaps it had dislodged something interesting enough to be labeled worthy of his soulmate. He sneezed from all the dust still floating heavily in the air as he came upon the rubble, his mismatched eyes scanning the area hopefully but after sneezing a few more times for good measure was ready to declare it a loss.

It was only as he turned to leave that he thought he heard something, his large ears pricking forward as his head turned back to the debris. When it came again, strangely familiar he spun back around becoming rather frantic as he realized what the sound was. He scrabbled on the loose rocks searching as if his own life depended on it and not someone else’s. Only when a particularly loud, high pitched yip pierced the air did his head turn toward the edge of the mountain with open concern and disbelief. He approached the cliff cautiously, too aware that the ground could still be unstable but unwilling to simply turn away from the tiny sounds of distress that were clawing at his heart. Once he could see over the edge of the cliff his face lit up in utter disbelief and joy, there on a ledge just barely big enough to hold them were two pups. One sat there yowling its little head off while the other lay quiet, a bit too quiet for his liking.

Perching dangerously over the side of the mountain’s edge he reached down and was just able to brush them both with his nose in a cursory once-over. He licked the boy, hoping to stifle his crying before nosing at the girl. She was still alive, dazed perhaps but alive. “Stay,” he said sternly, gently taking the girl in his mouth before saying, “schtay,” once more for good measure, if not a little muffled. He placed the girl on the ground a safe distance way before returning for the boy and lifting him to safety once more. Finally after making sure they were both well enough he nosed them together, muttering a gentle “be still, you’re safe now” before picking them up and hurrying down the mountain as fast as he could. Haven was going to be so proud of what he had found for her!

It was rather slow going but he finally made it to their den and he could hear his family inside moving about. Setting down his cargo he called out to them, eager to see their reaction to his little surprise.