They were gone. Jaire still couldn't believe it. The Ferals, the dogs she had lived with for pretty much her entire life, were all gone. Alan had died first, being killed in a patrol skirmish with the Clan quite a long time ago. The rest had been killed by Clan-animals in the span of only a few days.

Quasar, the dog she considered her own son, had been taken out by the leader of a Clan patrol during a border checkup with Nick. Not much later, the packs neighboring the borders with the Ferals had come and taken down both Big and then Nick.

Their deaths hadn't been in vain, having given Jaire, Starlight and Kwebso the time to escape in the river, but Jaire knew she wouldn't be able to process the loss of them anytime soon. The two brothers had been like family to her as well.

She sighed as she moved through the thin forest path of the mountain. She was still cold, as she hadn't shaken the icy river water out of her coat yet, even though she and Starlight had left it behind quite a while ago.

I'm all alone now. Jaire knew she had no one left. Back at the river, when she and Starlight had said their goodbyes to Kwebso, she'd referred to both herself and Starlight as "the last of the Ferals".

She groaned to herself. What was I thinking? I'll never find anyone to fill in the hole in my heart that Alan, Quasar, Nick and Big left. She had liked Kwebso for the time he stayed with them, but both she and Starlight knew that the brown mutt simply wasn't meant for life in the wild.

At least she had Starlight. The scarred black wolfdog was moving quite fast in front of her. She seemed a bit jittery, as if scared that a Clan patrol could jump out any second, but Jaire no longer feared that that would happen. The swim in the river had nearly drowned the three of them, but at least it had taken them to a different location far away from Clan territory.

Starlight, who had actually bothered to shake the river water from her fur, quickly retreated and started to walk beside Jaire.

"Sorry for constantly going ahead. I just want to make sure everything's safe," she said with a forced smile on her face.

Jaire didn't meet her eyes, simply staring at the forest ahead. "Uh-huh."

"We should start looking for a territory soon. You know, if you still want to do this together..." Starlight's voice trailed off. The prickly fur along her haunches indicated that she was nervous.

Jaire didn't know if this was what she really wanted. Starlight hadn't been particularly nice to her back at the Ferals' territory, but Jaire honestly didn't blame her, with Nick holding both Starlight and Kwebso hostage and not allowing them to flee. But Starlight has surprisingly softened after the whole escape.

I barely know you, though. When I've known the Ferals all my life. Jaire briefly wondered if she shouldn't have instead joined Kwebso and returned to life as a pet dog in a Humanplace in the valley. But I never would've been happy cooped up inside, she quickly realized. I'm a wild dog and always will be.

"So...um...nice weather, right?" Starlight said. "Birds are singing, and I can smell prey. You know, I was never the best hunter back at the Clan, but my sister Saedira, she could catch rabbits like no other! And then there was my brother Wal-"

Jaire hated having to speak up, but she really wasn't in the mood for Starlight's chatter right now. "I'm not in the mood for talking, Starlight," she barked.

Starlight's forced smile faded. "Oh, sorry. I was just...you know, trying to lighten the mood."

Jaire ignored her.

They kept walking for another few hours until they finally reached a tiny open space in the forest, covered by low and long branches full of leaves of the trees surrounding it. A small creek streamed through the forest only a few meters away.

Starlight stopped and inhaled the air before exhaling loudly through her mouth. "It smells like no one's claimed this spot," she said.

Jaire looked around. It was perfectly calm and cozy, and the air was rich with prey-scents. Why wouldn't anyone want this? But will I ever feel at home here, if we do stay? For now, she didn't know.

Starlight looked at her expectantly. "Well? Will we stay here? If you want to move on..."

Jaire could judge by the pose of Starlight's tail, however, that the black wolfdog really didn't want to keep going.

"It's fine for now, I suppose," Jaire muttered. She circled a few times before lying herself down on the soft grass.

Starlight approached her. "I know it's none of my business, and that you're mourning, but you should really shake the water out of your coat now, otherwise you'll get sick," she said awkwardly.

Jaire ignored her again. Just leave me alone.

Starlight seemed to notice Jaire wasn't in the mood and turned tail. "I guess I'll just...hunt in the meantime! If I can get us something, that is!"

Jaire closed her eyes, readying herself to sleep. She realized that it honestly wouldn't bother her if she never woke up again.

***

Stupid, stupid. The next day, after a long rest filled with nightmares and all sorts of bizarre dreams, Jaire woke up sick. She had a splitting headache and her nose was stuffy. She felt like she had no energy whatsoever, despite the large amount of sleep she'd just gotten.

Starlight had brought her a rabbit to eat and tried to talk to her, but Jaire had simply taken the prey without saying anything.

Jaire stared at the carcass in front of her. She had barely even touched it, not feeling hungry. Just my luck. First I lose my entire family, and now I'm sick with only Starlight to look after me! I'm just a bother.

At the end of the day, Starlight approached her again, this time with a scrawny squirrel carcass. For someone who says she's not a great hunter, she does seem to have luck with small prey, Jaire noted silently.

Starlight dropped the squirrel and looked at Jaire with worry. "You haven't eaten much of your rabbit."

Jaire pushed it away. "Not hungry."

"You should eat, it'll make you feel better."

Starlight lay herself down in front of Jaire and dropped the squirrel between her front paws before tearing into the dead animal.

"I don't care," Jaire muttered. She sniffed and her throat ached as she spoke.

Starlight licked some blood off her lips after she swallowed a piece of meat from her prey and looked at Jaire. "I'm trying to help you, you know."

Jaire shoved her rabbit away with force, suddenly feeling nauseous. She felt an uncharacteristic bout of anger build up inside of her. "Look, don't you get it, Starlight? It's over! I've lost everything! There's nothing left for me in this world that I care about." Tears built up in her eyes. "My son, my brothers, they're all gone! I lost them, I lost my home, all of it! There's just no reason for me to keep on trying to get better!"

Starlight calmly took in the words before blinking. "You're not the only one who lost people."

Jaire frowned. Am I being selfish? She remembered that Starlight had mentioned losing a few loved ones to the Clan.

Starlight sat up and closed her eyes, looking at the stars that were slowly starting to appear in the dark canvas of the sky. "Back at the Clan, I had family. And friends. There was Silver. I always had a crush on her, from the day I first met her. While she never returned my feelings, she remained my best friend throughout everything. She always had my back no matter what.

"Then there was Walter. I come from a litter of three, with my sister Saedira being the firstborn, me second born and my brother Walter the youngest. Saedira has always relished the fact that we were highborns in the Clan, being related to its former leader, Rufus. He was our uncle.

"I didn't care much for any of it, being high-ranked and all. Rufus made us work for our ranks despite our parent's ranks, after all.

"Walter cared for power, kind of like Saedira, but he wasn't clever or subtle about it in the slightest, so Rufus knew to watch out with him.

"I never exactly had the best relationship with either of my siblings, especially me and Saedira often didn't get along, but Walter always did look out for me in the end, despite how brash and careless he could be.

"When Rou, the Clan's former second-in-command, took over, everything changed. He had our family killed, except for me and my siblings. The only reason he spared me was honestly because both Walter and Saedira had helped him gain power in hopes of acquiring more of it themselves this way. And I was their sister, so of course I had to be spared as well."

Starlight swallowed, as if the tale was getting hard to tell. Jaire perked both her ears, listening curiously and forgetting her own frustrations for just a moment.

"With Rou now being the Clan's leader, he made his ruthless mate Taima the new second-in-command. And she...didn't like me to put it mildly. Only for the sole reason that I'm into, you know, girls. She broke her word against Saedira and Walter to not harm me and tried to publicly execute me in front of...well, everyone."

Starlight bowed her head as tears appeared in her eyes. "She injured me, but both Walter and Silver jumped to my defense and tried to protect me. They bought me time to escape, but p-paid for it with their lives."

She wiped at her tears with a paw and let out a soft whine.

Jaire looked at her front paws. I wasn't being considerate. I'm not the only one who has lost loved ones. Starlight did as well, being stripped of her family, her best friend and her home. "What happened next? Before we found you, I mean?" she asked carefully.

Starlight sobbed. "I hid on Clan territory, but managed to escape with the help of Jewel, Rou's sister. She didn't support any of his or Taima's actions. I don't know how, but she said she'd 'take care of things' in the Clan. I hope that means she finds a way to dispose of Rou permanently. And then during the day I reached the border of the Ferals' territory and met Kwebso and Nick."

Jaire blinked sympathetically. "I'm so sorry, Starlight. I haven't looked at it that way. You're only trying to help me, and here I am moping like a surly rabbit."

Starlight padded closer to her and sat down again. "We're both grieving, and I guess each of us deals with it in a separate way. Maybe you can tell me about how you met the Ferals sometime? But for now you must rest. You must get your strength back and get better. Okay? I didn't know the Ferals all that well, but I know that they wouldn't want you to be sick and grieve constantly."

Jaire smiled ever so briefly. "Thank you, Starlight."

The black wolfdog smiled over her shoulder as she took the rest of her squirrel away to eat somewhere else.

***