As Fae slept, she dreamt about the forest. And about Dijkstra. It was odd, that he had begun to occupy her thoughts. It must have been because he had been the only thing she thought was worth note about that day. Twice in one day, when had never even seen a wolf from the other pack? It was natural for her to be intrigued by that, surely.

In her dreams, she would be running through the forest, the wind rushing through her fur, and then she would turn to her left and there he would be, keeping pace with her. The smile on his face was surreal, as if it was something she had only made up in her mind. He would run ahead, and she would speed up to catch up with him, both of them laughing along the way.

In one dream, he had even been standing in front of her pack, and they weren't mad. Instead, they were staring up in admiration, almost as if the was the one leading them. If only. Then Faeris wouldn't be the one seeking their approval.

Dijkstra had been so consumed with his thoughts that it wasn't until morning when the sunlight filtered into the den and he jerked awake that he realized he had fallen asleep. His mother sighed still deep in sleep beside him. He let out a sad sigh disappointed that it wasn't faeris by his side. He shook his head. Why couldn't he get her out of his thoughts. He padded out of the den and stretched looking around. The sun had barely started to come up and the rest of the pack was still sleeping minus the night patrol. He padded up to the small stream that came from the river and lapped up some water before shaking out his thick coat. He gave a nod to a few of the night patrol who were waiting for the day patrol to wake up. It wouldn't be long.

Fae blinked her eyes open to the soft morning light filtering into the den. It lit up the unsettled dust that filled the air, and her awareness of it caused her to sneeze.

She stretched her back as she stood up and shook the sleep from her pelt, yawning as she did. Her parents had already left the den. Her dreams were already slipping from her mind as she woke up, but she tried to grasp onto the memories she had created within them, recalling how much she had thought about Dijkstra.

She smiled at the thought of seeing him again today. Yesterday, he had been a source of calmness and connection. She hoped she could continue that.

Feeling awake enough to see the rest of the pack, Fae padded out of the den and glanced around the clearing. The morning patrol was just making their way out into the forest. She noticed that Ko had left with them. She shrugged, accepting that possibility for the morning as lost, and looked around the rest of the wolves for anything else she could occupy her time with.

Dijkstra watched as the pack slowly started to wake up. He watched the day patrol dismiss the night patrol but it wasn't until he looked closer that he noticed kenley wasn't with them. That was weird to him cause kenley always did the morning patrol because calypso did the morning patrol. He looked again scanning all the wolves. Yep. Everyone was there except kenley. I wonder where he went. Dijkstra thought. He shook it off though and got to his feet. He padded back to the den to check on his mom. She had just woken up from the looks of it when he got there. "Morning mom." He told her which got him a good morning in return.

Fae milled about the clearing for a while, watching the wolves come and go, before turning her attention to a squirrel that was making it's way through the treetops above them.

It seemed brave of the squirrel to be frolicking about right above so many of it's predators, but if she thought about it, it really wasn't. So long as the squirrel had faith in it's ability to stay in the tree, there was no reason to worry, because of course, wolves can't usually climb trees.

In a weird way, Fae sort of admired the squirrel, which was silly to say about the prey of her pack. But she admired the fact the it had full faith in it's own abilities, which wasn't something she could do. How pathetic was that? If she didn't even trust herself, how could she expect her pack to trust her? She sighed as she watched the little rodent's tail swish between the leaves, shaking the branches as it went.

Dijkstra looked up and watched the sky for a moment. As the day dragged on it would become hot and he would have to soak in the river to cool down. He couldn't wait for it to start to get cooler and it to be winter. Cause then he didn't have to worry about over heating. He was dragged from his thoughts as Astrid padded up to him. "Good morning." She told him. "Good morning astrid." He said in a slightly warning tone. In the kind of warning to let her know he wasn't up for her shenanigans.

The morning went on slowly, and Fae mostly sniffed around the clearing, talking to the pups occasionally to try and give their mother's a break. As much as a handful as they were, they were also very sweet. She hoped to have some of her own someday. Although, that was almost guaranteed as the only heir to the alpha throne. If she didn't have puppies, the original line would end and their would be a fight over who became alpha next.

There she was again, absorbing herself into thoughts about diplomacy and responsibility. She sighed. She supposed her parents must have raised her well to be prepared.

Fae was brought back to attention by the return of the morning patrol, along with KoKo. She wagged her tail at the sight of her and began trotting over. She called out when she was about halfway there.

"Hey, Ko! It's been boring without you here to talk to, I'm glad you're back."

As Ko started over to meet her, two other wolves from the patrol whispered something to each other. Fae was too far out of earshot to hear what was said, but she caught a brief wince on KO's face before she lit up in an enthusiastic smile.

The two females greeted each other warmly, and although Ko had already tried to push it out of her mind, Fae couldn't forget seeing her reaction to the whispers.

Unable to ignore it for any longer, she unintentionally interupted KO's over exaggerated story to ask about it.

"Ko, what were those two wolves whispering about that made you look like that?"

Ko's face fell immediately and she glanced down at her paws.

"It was nothing Fae, don't worry about it. They aren't worth it anyways."

Ko gave her a tentative smile, hoping she would take that as an answer.

Astrid had walked past him without stopping. Dijkstra tilted his head a little confused think his mom must have talked to her for him. He would have to thank her later. It wasn't long before the morning patrol came back and kenley was still nowhere in sight. Dijkstra decided that he would find the male.

(Sorry, thought I had already responded!)

At Koko's attempt to brush the wolves' silent remarks, Fae scrunched her face, as if she had swallowed a lemon.

"Ko, I would be more upset if I didn't know what they said. I wouldn't be able to stop thinking about it. Please tell me?"

Ko sighed, glancing to the side as she tried to avoid Fae's eyes.

"Alright, fine. It just makes me a little upset."

Fae's gaze softened. "I'm sorry. It's okay though. If whatever they said was really something bad about me, then it's just my business and I'll deal with it. Like you said, they aren't worth it. Don't let my problems become yours too."

Koko finally met Fae's gaze and she smiled a little before she began to speak.

"They were just whispering about what you said. About being bored. They were saying that if you actually helped do anything for the pack instead of laying around all day, then you wouldn't be bored."

Ko cringed as she repeated the words.

Fae sighed and looked in the direction that the two wolves had gone. She felt both disappointed and sad. She knew she shouldn't care about their opinions, but they really didn't understand the situation that her parents had set her up in if that's what they thought. That's probably why a lot of wolves and started to dislike her. Because it felt like she wasn't helping out at all.

Dijkstra had checked the males den but kenley wasn't there. Dijkstra was about to go ask kenleys father where kenley was when he ran into the male. "Where have you been?" Dijkstra asked him. Kenley shrugged it off and looked around. "Around" kenley said. Dijkstra narrowed his eyes but left it alone. It had started to get hot. "Imma go take a soak in the river." Dijkstra told his friend before starting west where the river made up the western boarder.