It was the next evening, and the moon was almost full. Reika lay in the small clearing, eating a chicken Blaze had nicked from a nearby farm. It tasted strange, and Reika preferred forest meat, but the farm was closer and Blaze wanted to stay with his mate.

At her still swollen belly, the three pups were drinking her warm milk. Now that they had been washed a few times, their coat colors, were at least becoming clearer. Two of them, one of the she-wolves and the male, were dark gray, almost black, and one of them was dark brown.

Reika looked up as Blaze entered the small field, his head and tail held high. He was ready to lead the Mazah ceremony.

The Mazah was always led by a wolf who wasn't the mother herself. In packs, there usually was one wolf that dedicated their life to serving Shinwa even more than others, and, in that case, it was always that wolf that led the ceremony.

"Are you ready for the Mazah?" Blaze asked.

Reika licked the brown pup and nodded. "Yes. Let me get them ready."

She slowly got up, and the pups started to whine as the source of their milk and warmth suddenly vanished. "Don't worry, little ones," Reika said. She nudged the three little furballs close to each other, to make sure that they wouldn't get cold, and stepped away from them. Whoever led the Mazah always needed the space to inspect the pups.

Blaze approached the pups and licked their little heads one by one. Reika shifted in uneasiness. Even though she knew her mate wouldn't do a thing to her pups, his strong jaws being so close to her newborns instinctively made her feel uncomfortable.

Her mate suddenly let out a deep howl, and then spoke the ceremonial words. "Shinwa, I call upon you to cast your eyes on these little pups tonight, and to approve them as real wolves and part of your family."

He started inspecting the first: The gray female. He sniffed her all over her body, licked her, pulled up her lips to inspect the gums, and opened her eyes gently for a bit. The tiny she-wolf allowed all of this without a sound.

"She's perfect," Blaze nodded to his mate, a smile on his face and his tail wagging slightly, which was a rarity in his case.

Reika wagged her tail, panting. Her hard work had paid off so far.

Blaze moved on to the second one, the brown female, and inspected her, as well. "Perfect," he said, to Reika's delight.

The last one was the gray male. Reika shifted from one hind leg to another, and her hackles rose mildly. She knew that something was . . . off about the little guy, but surely Blaze wouldn't do anything to him?

Her pale gray mate started to lick the little gray pup, who yelped as his father's tongue touched his snout. Blaze licked the little head all over and then moved on to the neck and the back.

However, he stopped above the shoulders. Reika put her tail between her hind legs. There's nothing wrong with him. Nothing. But she saw Blaze's hackles rise. She'd felt it, too, when she'd first cleaned him. Something was strange about the way his spine bent just above the shoulders. It wasn't smooth as with usual wolves, but bent. Surely a little spinal deformity won't do any harm?

Blaze called to Reika.

"What is it?" she asked, acting as if she didn't know.

Her mate stared at the male pup. "This one is deformed," he growled, looking at the puppy in disgust.

Reika had never seen him look this way at a pup before. "Ah, come on, his spine is just a tad higher than that of his sisters above the shoulders! So what? That won't limit him to do anything!" Reika's hackles rose, as well, but this time with growing anger. She wouldn't let her mate get rid of this innocent pup. It was against her maternal instincts and the way a Mazah was supposed to go.

Blaze stared at her. "Are you even thinking? Yes, his spinal deformity is so minimal at the moment that we can't even see it! But what if he grows old? He won't even be able to run if his back continues to grow this way! It's not just that the spine above his shoulders is too high--it's too low on the rest of his back!"

Reika's lips drew back. "It won't limit him that much! We'll just--"

"Just what? Force him to walk in an abnormal position that makes his spine less crooked all of his life in the hope that maybe, maybe, his spine won't grow the wrong way? That's insane!"

"Blaze!"

"No, Reika. This pup is a Frick, a monster, that we must get rid of!"

Tears sprang to Reika's eyes. Even though she'd only spent a day with her new pups, she loved all of them, especially the meek little male.

Blaze nudged the pup roughly, and the little wolf yelped in pain.

"Get away from him!" Reika snarled as she pushed her mate away.

The gray wolf looked up. "I was trying to show you something else!"

"What?"

"Look at his forepaw."

Reika looked at her son's front paws. Nothing unusual. But then, she saw it. He had no real claws on his left front paw, safe for the dew claw. What should be the four other claws were just grown together in some kind of deformed-looking clump.

"You see, Reika," Blaze said, calm and carefully, "even if his spine won't bother him, even if he would survive--which won't happen, as he's the runt of the litter--he'll never be able to walk, fight, jump, or hunt properly."

Reika blinked away the tears. She knew she had to face reality. After years of bearing perfect pups, she'd bared her first Frick. She knew, she knew that Blaze was right on that at least.

Blaze saw the denial in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Reika, but you know that the pup would have an awful life full of pain. He doesn't have His blessing, and, as we all know, a wolf without Shinwa's blessing isn't a wolf."

"SHUT UP AND JUST LET SHINWA BLESS HIM, HE'S JUST AS MUCH A WOLF AS HIS SISTERS!" Reika shouted. She launched herself at her mate, snarling lividly, and pinned him to the ground. Though Blaze was bigger and Reika was still weak from giving birth, a mother

"Listen up, Blaze," she growled, staring into his amber eyes, which reflected fear and confusion, "I won't let you take this pup from me! I don't care if there's anything wrong with him, he's my son and I'll protect him!"

"Reika, calm down. Your instinct is getting the better of you. Think clearly for a second!"

She snarled even louder in return. "NO! I won't let you harm this pup! You won't do any harm to him!"

Blaze tried to struggle away from his mate's firm hold, but couldn't. "This isn't how Mazah's are supposed to go!!"

"You're wrong!"

Reika stepped away from her mate, hackles still bristling. She blinked away another tear and stepped over her little one, which was laying on the ground, shaking and whimpering. He was away from his two warm sisters, and thus cold, not to mention the fact that Blaze's hard nudge had hurt him.

The she-wolf licked the small wound on the shoulder of the pup that Blaze had caused, and she lay down beside him, letting go of her final anger. "I'll take care of you. If Shinwa won't guide you, then I will. But I know He will!"

Blaze stared at his mate, both angry and sad, but he knew that, whatever he'd try to tell her, she wouldn't alter her opinion. Once Reika had something in her mind, there was no way of changing that.

He stared at the moon and howled one more time, after which he looked down at the two normal females. "Shinwa, please guide them with your warmth and kindness, and show them what it means to be a wolf."

Reika licked her male pup. "All of that applies to you as well," she whispered.

The ceremony was done. Blaze gave each of the two sisters a final lick, then walked away. Reika followed him with her eyes, then got up. Even though she was going to take extra care of the male, seeing how Blaze didn't want to have anything to do with him, she still had to raise the females, as well. She grabbed the she-wolves one by one and carefully brought them to the place where her deformed pup lay.

She lay down beside them, and they instantly crept towards her belly.

Reika looked up and saw Blaze sitting on the other side of the clearing, his eyes unusually cold. "They will still need names," he then said.

She nodded, but not very willingly. In the previous years, she'd always liked to come up with names together with her mate, but now she hated it. How were they even going to reach compromises, with this recent argument?

"I've been thinking about Jenna and Mika. Mika for the brown one," Blaze suggested.

Only the females, huh? It's not like my son deserves a name! She lifted her muzzle into the air. "Lrani and Leaf were my suggestions."

Blaze didn't seem to want to get into another argument; Reika saw it in his eyes. "Alright, let's play it simple," he uttered, "We name the gray one Jenna because her coat resembles mine and the brown one either Lrani or Leaf because she looks like you."

"Fine," Reika said. She stared down at the two sisters. "Jenna and Lrani," she said, and her expression softened as she eyed the two little furballs. But then she saw the male again and quickly raised her head. "Daniel," she stated coldly.

She saw how her gray mate slowly lowered his ears and how his upper lips were curling slightly in disgust. "What?"

"The male. We'll call him Daniel."

"No. He is a Frick, and therefore that's the only name he deserves. Frick."

"A mother always has the last word when it comes to the name of her pups! And I call him Daniel. It literally means 'to be judged by Shinwa'. Only He can judge him, not you, not even me. Only He can."

"But you are..."

Reika no longer listened. She put her head down on her front legs and wrapped her tail tightly around the little ones, especially Daniel, to make sure that she'd feel it if Blaze would try to snatch him away from her.