The late afternoon was slowly but inexorably fading to evening. The
sky turning to a deepening blue and the first and brightest stars
twinkling silently in their lonely brilliance. The evening breeze
held a frigid chill and Aranok was grateful for his thick pelt. The
town of Nome was clear from here, a festering blight on an otherwise
wondrous landscape. The manhunt had awakened something within Aranok
that the huge black wolf had been ignoring for so long. The victory
had been hollow and none of his fallen pack mates had returned. He
was the protector of the pack but there was no protection form humans,
they appeared to be experts in dealing death wherever they went.

He was drawn form his reverie by the heady scent of the wolf who had
joined him in the hunt. He heard her growl and snarl, but he did not
look around, his body, always ready for attack, did not move and only
when she spoke did Aranok turn to regard her. His gaze was steady,
piercing and critical, it was the gaze of a wolf who is well used to
finding and anticipating threat. She truly was an unusual wolf,
Aranok had never encountered a male to match his size and yet here was
a female that did just that. The only differences between them, those
of male and female.

"Your land?"

His voice was deep and his tone was even, there was no mockery or
mimicry in his voice.

"You are a lone wolf NightTracker the remnants of your pack lie strewn
and torn alongside an overturned sled. I know you are formidable in
battle, I have hunted with you, but if our pack chose to take these
lands do you think you could fend us all off?"

He shook his head, Aranok had never been a very comforting wolf and
some might think him cruel, but with everything except himself he saw
what was there and not what it was believed was there or what was
wished was there.

"So the question you should really ask is. Why are you still here?
My alpha offered you a home and a family and you refused it. Is it
some self imposed punishment you compound upon yourself, no wolf is
made to be alone so I do not believe it is something that you enjoy,
but something that you endure."

And why was he here? Aranok had come here to try and deal with his
grief. He had always used it to feed his rage and hatred, but now it
seemed pointless and so his grief, unheeded and un-experienced for so
long was causing him great pain and no matter how much he wished to
draw himself from it, it bogged him down and clung to him. He knew
that if he did not search within and find something upon which to
fasten then his heart would break and he would be lost in a selfish
wallowing of his own devising.