“Nice? It’s freezing!” Aiken said, dipping his toe into the river.

“It numbs after a while.” Clay said, laughing.

“But this won’t!” Maida and Aiken both shoved handfuls of partially melted snow down Corliss’s back. She jumped up and ran in circles, trying to get it out, which caused Aiken and Maida to crack up. Clay grabbed Aiken and threw him into the freezing river, which he soon scrambled out of, shaking with laughter. 

“Why didn’t you throw Maida in too?” He asked between gasps.

“Because she is a girl, and it would be ungentlemanly of me.” Clay responded, holding his head high. Alder gave Aiken a warm deer skin to wrap himself in, and they all laid back on the bank, reminiscing about warmer days. After an hour they decided to go back to the cave. But when Aiken stood up he had to lean against a tree to keep from falling over.

“I’m not feeling to good guys, I feel really hot but if I take off this skin I’m freezing.” The others laughed at first, thinking this was some kind of prank, but then they saw that he was shaking all over, and realized he wasn’t faking. Corliss felt his brow.

“He’s burning up, we need to get him back to the cave.” Clay and Alder helped Aiken back and laid him down on his bed. Argos was whimpering and licking Aiken’s face, and he refused to leave his side. Julia headed into the woods to search for any plants that would help ease the fever. 

Aiken soon fell into a fitful sleep, tossing and turning and muttering to himself. Clay stayed by him, holding a cool rag to his forehead, he felt terrible, it was all his fault for throwing Aiken in the river.

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WE SHALL NOT FALL, NO WE SHALL NOT!

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Over the next week, Aiken got slowly better. Julia’s herbs helped him, and in five days, he was able to walk again. Clay was still unwilling to leave his side, but Argos had disappeared the moment he had seen that Aiken was well. When he didn’t show up after several weeks had passed, they got worried. But soon their fears were dispersed as Argos came trotting happily through the woods to greet a healthy Aiken. They welcomed him back happily, for they had all missed him. He seemed quite glad to be back, running in circles around them and yipping excitedly. 

Alder was the first to notice that Argos hadn’t come back alone, trailing behind him was a tiny wolf cub, clearly exhausted. Alder scooped the cub up, cradling it in his arms and carried it to the others.

“Look what I just found, she was following Argos, and I think she’s his daughter.” Maida frowned.

“Shouldn’t she be with her mother?” 

“Yeah, but look at her, she’s obviously the runt of the litter, she must have come with her dad because her mom neglected her.” Alder looked down at the skinny bundle in his arms and laughed as she licked his nose. “We need to find some way to feed her, we don’t have any milk, so we will have to use finely ground meat.” The others nodded in agreement and Julia set to work grinding some meat with a rock.

Aiken was greeting Argos, rolling on the ground and wrestling with him, happier than he could ever remember being. Maida was feeding Argos meat in exchange for tricks, and their faces glowed with pleasure, “You’re a dad, I can’t believe it, a dad! I’m so proud of you.” Aiken said, scratching Argos between his ears. 

The cub ate her meat hungrily, scarfing it down so fast Julia worried she would choke. But she didn’t, and now they knew they had to name her. After much debate, they decided on Artemis, the Greek god of the hunt. 

Weeks passed, Artemis grew stronger, and more attached to Alder. Where her father was goofy, and playful, Artemis was wise, and solemn, she was still a pup, and had her playful moments, but she showed great wisdom early on, avoiding traps, (Argos once got his paw stuck in one) catching small animals, and doing tricks. She grew rapidly, and although she was a small cub when she had first come to them, them, she was soon a large she wolf. 

Alder and Aiken often took the wolves with them and went hunting, sometimes for several days at a time. On one of these trips, when they had been gone for almost a week, leaving Maida, Corliss, Julia, and Clay to fear their demise. They came back with a special gift. Milk. It had been so long since they had had any kind of milk products, that Corliss nearly cried when she saw it. They had filled to skins with it, and that night they feasted on milk and ham from the wild boar they wolves had brought down. Aiken told of how they had gotten the boar, backing it into a corner then setting the wolves on it, proudly pointing out the scar on Artemis’s nose from when she had delivered the killing blow, but no one was really paying attention, they all wanted to hear about the milk. 

“Your probably wondering about the milk” Aiken said, his eyes twinkling “I would love to tell you where we got it, but, it’s getting kind of late” This caused an uproar, but he soon calmed it, laughing “alright, but Alder should be the one to tell you.”

Aaaaaand it's back! Tip Top!

Alder looked up, clearly embarrassed at being put on the spot “Aiken helped, but I saw the cows first, there were three of them, in a glade, they were kind of skinny, and appeared to be wild, probably left ownerless because of raiders. There were two females and a calf, I wanted to go get milk from them, but they were being protective because of the calf. Still, not that long ago they had been owned and cared for, and they had not yet forgotten that. We spent three days there, getting them used to us, it’s not that far from here, and I plan to bring them back next time we go out. After they were used to us, the female who didn’t have a calf allowed me to milk her, and that’s how we got the milk.”

Julia smiled, her eyes fixed on Alder’s serious face, his dark brown, long, tangled hair only making him look older and more brave. He glanced at her and their eyes locked. Normally Julia would have immediately looked away, but this time, even as a blush spread over her face, she kept her eyes locked on his, and he smiled, not a big smile, but a smile nonetheless, and smiles were rare with Alder. The moment was interrupted by teasing from Aiken and Maida, who threw their arms around each other and called each other “honey” and “dear” till Clay shoved them off the log they were sitting on and they fell to the ground, laughing.

Normally this would have annoyed Julia, but she was too happy to care. Although she was no longer looking at Alder, his face was burned into her mind. He looked so much older than he had the day she and Clay had found him and his siblings huddled together in the wreckage of their home. He had grown strong and lean, and was also several inches taller than he had been. His face was weathered and tan, his eyes a piercing gray blue that seemed to look into Julia’s very heart. Despite his serious and quiet disposition, he looked at Julia with an incredibly soft and gentle gaze, and was truly a kind and loving person, and so unlike anyone Julia had ever known. As she was thinking all this she felt something brush against her hand, and, looking down, saw her small hand enveloped in Alder’s strong, big one. A smile bigger than any she had ever smiled before spread across her face, and she sat there in the fires glow, wrapped in a warmth that stayed even as the chill night air began to creep in.

It was unanimously decided that the camp should be left to Clay and Corliss, and that Julia, Maida, the dogs, and the twins should set out immediately to find and capture the cows. Clay had plans to build a small cow enclosure, and Alder was already whittling a Shepard’s staff. Corliss had fanciful notions of being a dairymaid, like the ones in fairy-tales, but in truth, she had more claim to this title then anyone, as her family had once owned cows, and she had been taught to milk them at only five years old. Aiken and Maida simply thought that this would be a great adventure, while Julia, though she wouldn’t dare to admit it, thought the time away with Alder would be the best part. 

You could feel the excitement in the air the morning that they left, the dogs were leaping around and wrestling with each other, there were grins of excitement on everyone’s faces, and even Alder was a little louder than normal. They set out at a brisk pace just as the sun was coming up. The cows were about a five hours walk away, so they hoped to be there around noon, and have some fresh milk with their lunch. As was typical, Maida and Aiken ran ahead, racing each other and playing fetch with a very eager Argo. Artemis stayed back, trotting along next to Alder, bumping protectively against his leg from time to time. Julia stayed silent, savoring the moment, her hand still feeling warm whenever she thought about the previous night. After they had walked for nearly an hour in silence, Alder looked over at Julia and nervously ran his hand through his hair.

“So, about last night” his voice was soft, his eyes unsure, lacking their usual quiet confidence “I wanted to know if…” his voice trailed off, and he seemed to be searching for words. 

“If I like you as much as you like me?” Julia volunteered. 

“Yeah, that sounds right” Alder blushed and Artemis licked his hand, sensing his nervousness. Alder looked down and scratched her head, then, seeming to draw strength from the wolf, looked back at Julia, meeting her eyes with his own, no longer the quiet, shy boy, but a young man, strong and self-assured. “So, do you?” His words may have been questioning, but his tone was not, the way he said it made Julia sure he knew the answer.

“Yes, yes I do” Four words was all that she said, but Julia’s heart leapt for joy at the mere speaking of them. Alder’s face lit up, and for the first time ever Julia saw him really smile, and thought him even more handsome because of it. He caught her hand in his, and they walked on, their arms swinging gently with each step.

After another hour of walking, they all stopped at a pile of rocks to eat breakfast. Aiken and Maida climbed the biggest one, some five feet high, and ate breakfast on their backs in the sun while Argos attempted to get up to them, whimpering every time his attempts failed. Alder and Julia ate breakfast on the ground, their backs against some smaller rocks. The day was warm, the sun was out, and the woods were alive with the sounds of birds and the colors of flowers. Maida took a deep breath of the fresh air and let it out.

“It’s so much nicer here then at the raiders castle, so much less smoky and dark. There, all green things are taken as fuel for the fires as soon as they dare show their heads, and flowers are non-existent, the only thing they find beautiful is gold and jewels” She said, studying a particularly unique cloud.

“I think it looks like antlers” Aiken offered, speaking of the cloud. He wasn’t trying to ignore what Maida had just said, in fact, he thought it quite interesting. He simply didn’t know exactly what to say in response to it. He got to his feet and leapt of the boulder rather abruptly, then repapered, holding a three-flower bouquet “Here you go, we don’t burn the flowers here, we need prettier things to look at then your face” he teased. Maida leapt at him, knocking him to the ground and they lay there, laughing and fake-punching each other until Alder called that it was time to head out again.