Azikeos: Parked at the curb of the Tyonek senior center, Bezi’s truck began to wobble after several moments of stillness. The truck shifted with the weight of Bezi moving inside and his silhouette appeared in the window. He had taken advantage of the privacy of his truck to make use of his ability to jump between points in space. Inches and inches of snow had fallen during the night, blanketing the Tokotna countryside in snow, and he was parked at the senior center to help clear it away- only he wasn’t alone. He had made a new friend in the form of Idris, who’s four legged form wasn’t exactly productive to snow shovelling. Fortunately, Idris had a two legged form, but that one didn’t have fully human anatomy, so Bezi had needed to search one of his closets to find something to keep Idris warm in the snowy wonderland. Buzz’s head shot up from where he was digging at the snow beside Fisher, clearing it away with his large paws, as he sensed his handler return. He gave a

Raul was miserable. He had spent weeks preparing for Tokotines, making sure he had cards and presents prepared for all of his packmates, sent them out on the day, and then...nothing. Noone else had made an effort to celebrate the day at all, and he was left moping around, rearranging the scraps left over from his card making as if they’d form together into something for him if he pushed at them enough. * * * “So, he got nothing?” Varonika glared at the huddle of youngsters who were busy trying to look as if they hadn’t just screwed up. Ruby was examining her paws, Alexis was focused on the little tufts of grass sprouting from the ground, and Kirima was just staring at Varonika’s ear in an effort to look engaged while not actually having to make eye contact with the frustrated adult. “And you’re all feeling bad about this,” Varonika continued once it became clear none of the youngsters was going to say anything. Dealing with teenagers was always complicated, you ended up having

Fisher had never really considered the Spirits as beings who might talk to him, but less ask him for assistance, but then that was the change which happened when you started on the road to dominance - suddenly you were important, someone who should be tested to see if you were worthy of the step up. Facing Sikrinerk was almost overwhelming - the Spirit might look like a toki who’d been dipped in a sunset, but she had the presence of something much bigger. Standing in front of her brought Fisher back to barely recalled memories of being a newborn pup, warm in his dam’s care, knowing that noone could hurt him while she was there. It made it hard to pay attention. He wondered if Alcedon, perched on his head as usual, was having the same problems. “Dark spirits have infested the lake, and the longer they are allowed to stay there the worse the situation gets. The waters are black, the fish are dying or worse, transforming into something else, the plants in and around the water are

“One,” the pups chanted, eyes gleaming with mischief. “You don’t really need to do this!” Fisher pleaded. “Two,” Ruby was grinning widely, Kirima and Splash sniggering as they backed up the dire. Alcedon had already abandoned him, watching the chaos unfurl from the safe perch of a cluster of reeds. He would have had more sympathy if teaching Fisher to meditate hadn’t been an exercise in frustration so far, so at the moment he was enjoying a little rest from working out fifteen different ways to say breathe slowly and relax. “Three, fish!” the puppies chanted, and then attacked. Fisher was an adult Akota. He shouldn’t have been pushed over by three puppies. This thought gave him some comfort until they had him backed up to the bank of the West River. A second push from the attacking puppies resulted in another step back - onto thin air, and then tumbling over into the river. Fisher got back onto his paws in the relatively shallow water “FIIIISSHH!” The puppies shouted, and leapt

Fisher was moping. If you asked him he’d claim he was contemplating the West River, or watching the reeds sway in the breeze, or the kingfisher perched on a nearby branch, focused on the river and waiting for one of the tiny fish which swam in it to come just a little too close, but given how little attention he was paying to either of these moping was a far more accurate judgement. His brother, Hawk, had barely been walking when he’d found his soul animal, chomping on the tail feathers of Angharad, their mother’s eagle companion. It had given Hawk a certain sureness growing up, the knowledge that he had a path to follow for the future, and a companion who’d guide him on it. Fisher, so far, had nothing. He had spent time in the wilderness where wolves and bears hunted, hoping that one of them would turn to him and he’d feel a sudden moment of connection. Nothing. He’d talked to Angharad, who’d counselled him to have patience, and that it would all become clear in the end. Patience

It’s hard to relax when there’s solid rock overhead, stretching out for tens of meters, the stuffy feel of the air and the echoing sounds reminding you constantly that if the cave decided to collapse right now you would be crushed under tonnes of rock and there’s nothing you could do about it. On the plus side, there were snacks. Karhu chomped her way through a piece of jerky which mostly resembled rawhide, while Arcus and Katla did similarly or tried their luck with the solid pieces of fat which wasn’t any more edible. Wyrd was out scouting the way ahead, disarming any of the more interesting booby traps which littered the cave passageways and which weren’t easy enough to be considered training tasks for Karhu. The Akota had already had to deal with one tripwire with explosives Wyrd thought appropriately easy, and wasn’t keen on risking her nerves with another one. There was something about the risk of bringing the ceiling down on you which turned an interesting training task

The tokotas were in a cave, the stone ceiling and floor testament to that fact even if they weren’t sure how they’d got here, or why. They were in a tunnel, dimly lit with blue, though again Wyrd twitched her tail, the first sign of nerves the toki had shown in any of the caving expeditions they’d been on. “I’ll go ahead, see what’s up there.” As Wyrd disappeared around the corner, Katla and Arcus focused on making sure Karhu stayed calm - the younger Akota still seemed to have a little bit of claustrophobia, which was not good when they were underground. Still, she was getting used to not freaking out about the tonnes and tonnes of stone over her head, and this time it only took a snack and a few reminiscences of the (safe) adventures they had before to keep Karhu calm until Wyrd returned back with a report. “Well, it’s safe up ahead, but really weird. Someone seems to have turned this cave system into an aquarium? Like where there are lots of fish but you’re not meant to eat any

“Hawk, I need to ask you a favour.” Hawk looked up as Nessa sidled over. She was being suspiciously polite, and not barging in with demands as she usually did when she wanted something. Suspicion triggered. “What is it?” “I need you to go to the Tokotines dance with me. As my date. But not actually dating! I just need you to pretend, so Ryker will think I’m there with someone and be interested.” Nessa rattled off the words as if she’d fall over if she didn’t get them out fast enough, staring anywhere except at Hawk. “So you just want me to make him jealous?” he asked, making sure he’d got the idea. “Uhm. Yes?” Nessa said hopefully, staring at her paws. “I guess fine. But you’re buying dinner first.” Hawk said with a huff. * * * Dinner was about as fancy as you could get if you were both tokotas. Slabs of fresh caribou had been lightly seared to add to the flavour, and were served with a grain and root vegetable stew to provide the necessary carbohydrates, all served in one of