"Will you slow down?" Erin called, almost falling over a large root as he chased after his companion. The clouds were thick overhead and most of the light from the stars and moon were blocked out, leaving it nearly impossible for the Erin to move around easily.

    A large growl rumbled from ahead and Erin rolled his eyes, arms up in front of him as he continued forward, pushing away branches that would have been in his face. "I can't see like you can."

    Erin jumped as two bright, amber eyes appeared in front of his, catching what little light there was available. "Then perhaps you should pick up the pace so I can guide you." Luden's voice was low and rumbled out of him in a wave that sent shivers down Erin's spine.

    The young boy nearly fell backwards but a large, grey paw grabbed the front of his tunic and pulled him forward, through some low branches and out in front of the large beast. "I'm also not in as good of shape as you. I'm built for speed, not endurance."

    "I cannot do anything about that," Luden said, continuing forward through the thick undergrowth of the trees, his pace a bit slower for the boy behind him. "Have you considered training your body for this? Running long distances, climbing steep mountains." Luden pushed a large copse of trees aside and held down a paw to pull Erin up and through.

    "I have, but it's not as simple for humans. We have to work with what we're given. I'm never going to be much taller than five feet no matter how hard I wish it, and my body doesn't seem to put on the weight necessary for that kind of bulk." Erin muttered, a few twigs catching in his long, black hair that he had to pull free.

    Luden rumbled in acknowledgement of Erin's point and sniffed at the air a few times before turning their path to the south.

    "Besides," Erin continued, "I've seen your kind. You have smaller Lupin. They're not all your size and built to power their way through a dozen men. Saarl, that messenger back at the last camp, was only about six-foot-tall, and he had only a fraction of the bulk you did." Most lupins ranged from six to eight feet tall, and Luden was towards the higher end of that and towered over Erin.

    "You make a good point," Luden acquiesced, looking back to the smaller boy and putting a paw on his shoulder, guiding him through a particularly dense thicket of trees where the roots came up rather high. "Though, a whelp such as yourself should still strive for what they desire, even if it's difficult, or unobtainable."

    Erin's brow furrowed and he pursed his lips, staying close to the large, canine figure. "What do you mean? Why would you continue to try something you knew was unobtainable?"

    The lupin paused and looked back at the smaller male, his lips curling up at the ends of his muzzle to reveal fangs. "My people and your people fought many centuries ago. We were bigger, we had greater numbers, we had a near match of wits. In one battle, our troops, experienced and battle-hardened, outnumbered an untested army nearly twenty to one. For two years we fought a stalemate in what should have been a certain victory."

    "Yeah, I know the history lessons. You guys didn't think it was an impossible goal. You thought victory was a guarantee," Erin said.

    "We did. Your people did not. Despite what the history books say, your people did not believe it would do any good to fight. They were badly outnumbered in number and years of experience. Yet they fought, and their tactics held my people at bay. It is not about going into a fight, or a situation thinking that all is hopeless, and that you should not try. It is about going into a situation knowing that your best efforts will not succeed, but you may as well give it the best you have anyway. Sometimes, you find out that you were mistaken, and that your determination perseveres. Other times you learn more about yourself in the journey and grow."

    "And sometimes you give it your all, get slaughtered, and eaten by monsters," Erin muttered, taking a few steps in front of the large wolf to continue walking. He couldn't see that the forest floor dropped a good way down and a yelp escaped his lips as he stepped forward onto nothing.

    Luden saw the whole thing and grabbed the back of the boy's tunic, pulling him back onto solid ground. "And sometimes you give it your all and lose. But you do so knowing you did everything you could, right?"

    Erin's heart was pounding in his chest from the scare he just had and he looked up at the large wolf, amber eyes gazing down into his. "I suppose. Thanks," he said softly, rolling his shoulders and looking back at the floor, still unable to see where the ground ended.

    The large wolf chuckled, his ears flicking in amusement at the small human before he put a large paw on his head. "Come. There is a river up ahead. We can set up camp for the night."

    "Fine, but I'm not a whelp, you know. I'm nearly eighteen. Old enough to fight in the army, drink, marry, own land," he said, reaching out to put a hand on Lupin's waist to follow him easier.

    "At eighteen we send our whelps to go into the woods and bring back game that is nearly thrice their size. Alone. It is known as their Kraal-ga."

    Erin nodded, having heard of that before. Though the humans and the lupins now lived in relative peace, and had for centuries, their ways and culture were not something everyone knew. Most of the humans regarded lupins as big, hulking barbarian animals. And while it certainly was an accurate physical description, it was woefully inaccurate to convey just how smart the lupins really were. Many commanders had underestimated the lupin in battle with deadly consequences.

    "How many of them pass?" Erin asked.

    Luden considered the question for a moment. "Most of them return. Few of them pass."

    "What happens to the ones that don't pass?" Erin pressed on.

    "They learn humility. Often, the ones who do not believe themselves capable, but try anyway, succeed. Those who blaze ahead, sure and confident, overlook minor details that lead to their downfall." 

    Erin pressed his lips together and he looked up at the back of the wolf's head as they walked. "And those who don't return?"

    Luden's ears twitched and he took in a deep breath. "It happens. Not often, but it happens. Some are found and saved. The others..." His voice trailed off and was silent for a few minutes and Erin wasn't certain that the wolf was going to continue the story.

    "When I seventeen, I had a mate who turned eighteen a few weeks ahead of me. Navak was proud, fearless, strong. He went off on his Kraal-ga during the summer and I was certain he would return. I boasted how my mate was going to come back with his first kill draped over his shoulders, covered in the blood and scent of his prey, and make his clan, and me, proud."

    Erin listened, walking silently at the wolf's side, fingers holding onto the wolf's tunic near the waist so he could find his way. He already knew how this story was going to end, but part of him just wished he was wrong. He wanted to hear that everything worked out, and that Luden and his mate were reunited in the end.

    "The Kraal-ga lasts one week. Some return sooner, either with their prey, or too exhausted to continue. My hope, my arrogance, did not wane until the fifth night came and Navak had not returned. A nagging doubt settled in me and when the seventh day ended, I was still convinced that he had to be out there. A few of his clan went out to search for him and I went with, as was my right as his mate, even still a pup."

    Erin wiped tears from his cheeks and he tried to steady his breathing, but he remained quiet, listening.

    "We found him on the third day, I'll never forget. We stepped out into a clearing near the base of the mountain along the southern borders of my land. A stream ran down into a large pool there and his body was laid out along the shore. The dead body of a large, mountain roc was a dozen yards off, its neck torn through to the spine, throat gone. He'd gotten his kill. The beast had finished him off first, though. His sides bore deep gashes from the bird's claws and another along the thigh which probably had killed him. He bled out on the shore, probably unaware of how severe the wound was."

    Erin let out a soft sob despite his efforts to keep quiet and the wolf stopped, turning to look down at the young boy. Those amber eyes were full of sorrow and remembrance, and Erin's own, blue eyes were filled were blurred with tears. Luden's paw lifted Erin's chin when the boy tried to look away, his paw soft and gentle despite its size and strength. A thumb brushed away some of his tears, the pad on his paw rough and leathery.

    "Not all return, young pup. But they are not forgotten. They are remembered, and honored. Our people do not disown based on failure as yours do. We understand, we grieve, we try to learn to better ourselves," Luden let out a slow exhale. "We remember."

    Luden put his paw back on the boy's shoulder and started back along the path, guiding the boy through the dark forest. "I sang his death song for three days and wouldn't eat for weeks. My eighteenth year ended shortly after I began eating again, and I was weak. But, as is our way, it was my turn to take the Kraal-ga."

    "You obviously returned," Erin said, clearing his throat and sniffling a bit before wiping his nose on some leaves he snatched from a tree as they passed. 

    The wolf chuckled deep in his throat and tilted his head to one side, a gesture of agreement. "Indeed, I did. But I went out into the woods thinking that there was no way I'd be able to return home again. I thought of it as a death sentence that I gave myself. I was going to go out and die, and there was nothing I could do for it."

    Luden's paw snapped off a dead branch of a tree and he used it to clear cobwebs from his path as they trekked on. "I spent the first entire day curled up at the base of some large oak, wallowing in my own self-pity. I thought of my mate, Navak, and thought that I would see him soon, momentarily comforted by this thought. As I slept, probably to be attacked and eaten in my sleep, I dreamed of joining my mate in the next life, and the look of disappointment and disgust on his face cut deeper than any blade ever could. He asked me why I had given up, why I had decided to lay down and die."

    "I told him that I could not live without him, and that even if I wanted to, I was too weak, too starved to be able to complete the Kraal-ga. My own family wept when I left, thinking I would not return."

    The trees began to grow thinner and less clustered as they emerged out onto along a stream. Luden tugged on the boy's tunic and lead him back to the west, walking beside the river, against the current. "He told me that his mate would fight to live, would see the test to its conclusion and give it everything they had. He told me that if I had just laid down and let the end come, that I was not his mate at all. When I woke up, it was morning, and I had survived. I was in tears. First angry at him, then myself. I knew he was right, and it sickened me that I would show such disrespect to him with my actions."

    "So, I got to my feet and I put my training to work. I made it home on the seventh day, half-starved, bloodied, and scared, and carrying the bodies of two mountain rocs behind me- one for myself, and one for Navak. I honored his memory and made him proud."

    Erin had to pause for a moment, both of his hands wiping the tears from his eyes as he drew in a shuddering breath. "That's... a very sad story," he whispered, blinking back more tears before blowing his nose onto the hem of his already-dirty tunic.

    Luden regarded the young human and then put a paw on his shoulder, squeezing gently. "It was for years. Now it is just a story. I do not mourn his passing. I honor him every day with my life."

    The pair walked on in silence for some time, the only sound the soft stream and the grass crunching beneath feet. They'd been traveling toward the base of the mountains and came out on a large clearing, much like the wolf had described in his story. The water ran down from the mountain, pooling in a large, clear basin before running east back the way they'd came. 

    "We'll make our camp here for the night," Luden said, removing the large traveler's pack he'd carried on their trip.

    Erin set about gathering some wood for a fire and then cleaning some of the tools they'd dirtied at their last campsite when they didn't have water. By the time he was finished, the wolf had put up the tent and started a small fire.

    "You know," Erin said, breaking the silence of the past hour. "I never actually knew that the lupin's took other males as their mates."

    Luden, who had been stirring a pot of stew, looked up in surprise, his ears perking up. "You did not know? Do not your people do the same?"

    Erin's cheeks reddened and he coughed, shifting around on the grass near the fire. "Well. Sort of. Not legally. It's okay for you to take one as your, uh, mate, as you say, as long as you already are wed. It's not something that we talk about or discuss. It's considered taboo."

    Luden chuckled and shook his head, ears flicking in amusement. "My people have no such limitations on life or love. Even your people have that saying, "The heart wants what the heart wants.""

    "Well, yes, but they still seem to get touchy on the subject of men with men, or women with women. Or humans with lupin, or felidae," Erin explained, thinking to the slender, agile cat-like race along the eastern borders.

    Luden's ears flicked more and he tilted his head to the side. "True. Our people do not care. Life is short, even to our people, and we see it as a blessing when two can come together to be happy."

    Erin sighed and poked at the fire with a stick. "I wish my people saw it that way. They think it's fine, as long as you don't tell anyone, and keep it hidden." He tossed the stick into the fire in disgust and laid back.

    "Did you have a male you wanted as your mate?" the wolf asked, the question easily casual as he tended to their dinner.

    "What?! Me?"

    Luden laughed out in a bark and all his teeth showed brightly. "I have a nose, human. I have been around you long enough to know when you are aroused. Your people cannot hide their feelings from us so easily," the wolf said, tapping one clawed finger to his nose.

    Erin's face was beat red and he glared down at the fire, refusing to look over at Luden. He'd always been interested in other males, and frequented some of the establishments that everyone knew about, and no one talked of. "That's cheating."

    ""There is no unfairness in love and war,"" the lupin quoted another human phrase, taking the pot off the fire and putting it aside for them to start ladling out stew to eat. "Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."

    

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