Moonspear Moon, a hole of light

Things were different now. Julienne was gone, papa no longer visited, and they now lived in a den they called an ulaq.

Ludovicus liked the wolves who lived here. They brought treats to him and Ignace, spoke to maman and made her smile more than he had ever seen her smile before. He didn't know very much, but he knew that he was glad to be on the mountain.

Legs growing steady, nose more adventurous, the boy rose to his paws in the late night. Maman and Ignace were sleeping soundly, but a smell had forced him wide awake; foul, rotten, and sulfurous. Despite the way it made him reel back, his curiosity brought him out from the cover of the ulaq and into the moonlight. Nose twitching he followed the scent into the cover of a bush, sticking his head through the leaves and branches with some struggle.

Blinking dirt from his eyes before opening, he was greeted by a creature he had never seen before; black with white stripes and a big, bushy tail. Spotting Ludo, the pin-headed animal let out a hiss, a sound the pup had never heard before.

Nearly jumping back and out of the bush, he shook his fur out.