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WC: 571
This day had been passing like most others - entirely uneventfully. Naniko had a particular routine and stuck to it through thick and thin. The only thing that she'd done outside of her normal routine had been to check on Alaki and see how his healing was coming. It seemed as if he was doing better, his wounds pinking up a bit (which was a sign of new tissue growth) but he was a long way from fully recovered in Naniko's opinion. She wasn't the herbalist that she used to be, but she had enough knowledge to know that one wouldn't just get up out of bed and walk away from such injuries. So for now, she was the sole active leader, the only one who could patrol and accept newcomers into the pack. This was what she was mainly focused on today.
She would let Alaki rest his head and regain his strength so that he could come back stronger and better than ever. He deserved such rest for what he had done for her: he had essentially saved her pups' lives. The two had admitted to what had happened easily enough when she had interrogated them. They'd been poking fun at a bear, trying to see who could get the closest to it without waking it and making it angry. This in itself was dangerous, but the children had seen it as more of a game. That is, until the slumbering beast had woken up in a rage and had began to attack. They were lucky Alaki had been so close, or they might not have been there to come back and tell their mother the tale.
All that she could hope for was that they may have learned a lesson from it all. She'd watched as they had gotten into bigger and bigger trouble each day, watched as they had disobeyed her and taken their punishments for it. Nothing had been able to phase the boys - no matter what punishment she thought of, they would always go back to causing trouble again once they were out of her sights. Hopefully this lesson had left a lasting impression...because Alaki had nearly paid with his life for what those disorderly whelps had chosen to do that day.
A nearby howl caught her attention, and she turned to stare down the mountainside. It wasn't very far away at all, and she was surprised that she could not yet see the other canine. As she neared, it became apparent why - among the backdrop of the mountain, Anon was next to invisible to her eyes. Her pelt was made of colors that blended in easily with the timber, snow, and boulders of Halcyon. Naniko came toward her with a puzzled look on her face, head tilted to the side in curiosity. What had brought her back to Anathema after all of this time?
It wasn't often that someone came to rejoin the pack, but when they did they were welcomed back immediately. It was one of the unique things about Anathema, the trust that they had in their members. She came forward with a smile on her face, stopping a yard or two away so as not to invade Anon's personal space too much. "You've returned, then?" She questioned. It wasn't said harshly, just in her normal gravelly tone. She had watched many members leave...but few had the guts to return.