Forest's Journey

“Which pack do you want to join, Lilly?” asked Forest once they were travelling inland.

“I want to join Leaf’s pack.” replied Lilly.

It was quite understandable. Leaf had provided the most assistance and sympathy to Lilly on the journey.

“This looks like Leaf’s territory, with the dense and shady trees. We’ll drop you, your pups, Leaf and Leafson here.” decided Forest.

When the wolves tried to separate Leafson from his littermates, they all wailed in protest.

“We don’t want to separate from each other.” cried Forestson.

“Yeah, we’ll miss each other.” added Grasson.

“You’ll be able to see each other often, but just not every day. Also, you can make new friends in your packs. Most importantly, you’re all going to have a very important role in all of your packs. Please do this for us, brave pups.” begged Forest.

The pups reluctantly let Leafson go.

“Do we have to swim across the Main River by ourselves? We’re not experienced, and we still have to carry Grasson and Flowerson.” asked Grass.

“I’ll swim with you. We’ll go to my territory first, and Bush can look after Forestson for me there. Then, I’ll swim with you to your territories and come back.” replied Forest.

The wolves nodded, and they headed north towards Forest’s territory. Forest saw a narrow, well-trodden path between the denser trees and the sparser trees. Forest recognised this as a good place to put the border, but he would need to discuss this with Leaf first. Forest swiftly sent the wolves who lived across the Main River to the other side of the river and quickly came back. He collected Forestson and Bush and Bushson continued north to their territory.

“It’s getting late, Forestson. Do you want to find a place to sleep now? We can begin setting up our pack tomorrow.” suggested Forest.

“Sure.” Forestson agreed, yawning.

They found a small but deep dip in the ground beneath a large tree. They slept more comfortably and better than most of the previous nights, sleeping on soft ground with wind whistling gently around them. It reminded Forest of his old home, and for the first time in a while he began to miss his parents and his littermates.

What happened to them? he wondered.

Forest opened his eyes, and he realised he was in the Pack of the Sun’s hunting grounds again. He could see Bush, Leaf, Grass and Flower, as well as Beech, who was standing in front of them.

“Forest, you wondered what happened to your littermates, and you deserve answers. Well, they’re all alive and well on their way to creating their five packs. Perhaps one day, after you have all finished your missions, I can summon you and your brothers here to talk.” said Beech.

“Thanks for telling me, Beech, it really means a lot to know that my brothers are well.” replied Forest.

“What I mainly brought you here to talk about, though, is forming a pack. Now that you have found your territories, you need to start forming your pack. The first thing you should do is find a camp. Any large hollow with some protection surrounding it should do. There should also be holes or caves in the walls of the hollow that can serve as dens. If there aren’t enough dens, you can make some out of large, thick bushes or sheltered places in the camp.” explained Beech.

Everyone nodded, carefully storing every word he said in their heads.

“Next, recruitment for your pack. As I have told you earlier, the wolves in this territory are very keen to form packs of their own, but have failed to find a competent Alpha who knows enough about packs and leadership. Tell the wolves that you have plenty of experience with packs, whether it be the small group you formed amongst yourselves or the normal packs that you may have been a part of. You should appear confident and friendly, so the wolves you talk to will respect and like you. Once you recruit a wolf, encourage them to live in your camp straight away and start sending out hunting and border patrols like you would in a normal pack once you have enough wolves. This gives them a sense of belonging, purpose and structure, which are all things these wolves are looking for. Once you have about 50 wolves, you can officially make your group a pack, establish borders, and give ranks to everyone. You should also create a list of pack rules that the wolves in your pack have to follow.” finished Beech.

“Will you give us guidance when we call out for help?” asked Grass.

“Yes, of course.” answered Beech.

The world around them swirled with darkness as their dream ended.

Forest woke up, filled with a sense of purpose and new vigour.

“Good morning, Forestson. If you aren’t too hungry, we can start looking for a camp first and I’ll go hunting when we’ve found a safe place to stay.” suggested Forest.

“I’m not that hungry, so let’s go!” agreed Forestson.

They trekked deeper into the territory until Forestson noticed a massive, thick clump of bushes and undergrowth to the north. It definitely wasn’t Bush’s territory, as the undergrowth was surrounded by many trees.

“Huh, that’s weird. A cluster of undergrowth in our territory.” remarked Forestson, gesturing to the thick clump.

“Indeed. Let’s go find out what is among that undergrowth.” decided Forest.

They sprinted towards the undergrowth, Forestson barely catching up because of his tiny legs. When they arrived, Forest slowed down, glancing around warily.

“We don’t know what is in those bushes, so we must be careful.” warned Forest.

Forestson nodded.

Forest gently nosed away the branches of a bush blocking him from seeing what was beyond, and what he saw pleasantly surprised him. It was a large, round hollow, with holes, caves and bushes, just like Beech had told him.

“Well done, Forestson, well done. You have just helped our pack find our camp.” congratulated Forest.