echo guiltily sat up, having fallen asleep watching the near still forms of the pups. she stared at them silently, and checking their breathing occasionally, especially raven. she scanned them with healing magic again and again, trying to get a good read on what happened to ravens brain. she sat there for half the day, not thinking, eating, or sleeping again, intently watching them. raven flickered between human and wolf form. then again. and again. she kept doing it. did that mean she was dying? it didn't feel like it. 

"frost!" frost ran in instantly. echo suspected she was pacing just out of sight.

"is that normal?"

"no... it either means she's dying, having a stimulating dream, or possibly trying to wake up."

"my magic read says shes pretty stable, let me check again."

"when did you last check?"

"about 5 minutes ago."

"try healing her or something, it might help."

"mmk." echo used magic to energize her, not heal. raven relaxed and remained human. she was breathing. frost remained, hovering.

"what about pipe?"

"sh."

"ok..." echo watched them again.

"is raven-"

"frost, do you need to go?"

"no!"

"be quiet, I'm trying to concentrate." she stared at them again.

"so whats-" it was at least 2 minutes later, to her credit."

"frost! if you cant calm yourself then please leave!"

"i can be quiet!" echo raised and eyebrow. frost fidgeted behind her, and stared at the pups, and echo, and then whispered.

"wi-"

"frost! please leave!"

"but-"

"do you want them to get better?"

"of course!"

"than stop distracting me."

"i will!"

"you said that 3 times already."

"please-"

"no, go do something else."

"but what if-"

"then ill call you."

"but-"

"no. go do something else." frost left, dejected. the pups hardly stirred the rest of the day. at nightfall, frost entered.

"are they better?"

"the same."

"sleep. if they wake up, you'll know."

"no."

"echo you've used your magic all day and didn't sleep last night. i will make you sleep."

"i have to watch them."

"i can have someone biye you to sleep or you can sleep yourself."

"not tired."

"yes you are, you're just to focused to notice."

"i dont want to sleep."

"you need it."

"they need me to watch them."

"if you dont sleep soon you'll pass out and who will look after them."

"ill use magic."

"yes, the thing that exaushts you will keep you awake. do you even know how?"

"no. I'm still not tired."

"ill come back in a few hours. i want you asleep then." echo turned to her.

"what if they die while i sleep?"

"they wont."

"they might! if they die while i sleep it will be my fault."

"if they die because you work yourself to hard to care for them, it will be your fault."

"i will die before i stop."

"than I'm going to have to have someone put you to sleep."

"you assume they'll be able to get me."

"what?"

"i will fight if you do. i will take them to the top of a mountain where no wolf can reach until they're better."

"why do you care so much about our puppys?"

"what else do i have to care about?"

"your bird?"

"i think she left today." 

frost glanced over. "she did. you didn't stop her?"

"i couldn't keep her here."

"you need to take a break. someone else can watch them and wake you up if your needed."

"changes are to subtle to pick up without magic. besides, pipe will probably wake up within 5 hours."

"than we can wake you up then."

"no, right now raven is at a point where she is either going to live or die, and i need to be here to make sure she lives."

"we'll put her in the fountain. you sleep."

"then we'll take pipe and ill watch them there."

"will you sleep there?"

"fine."

frost called outside the cavern. "i need a patrol of ten to guard the fountain."

"I'm carrying them."

"both?"

"wind."

"huh?"

"ill use the wind."

"fine. go." echo lifted them and flew to the fountain, resting both in it. she landed on a branch and relaxed a little. wolves caught up and surrounded them. she didn't notice when things went black and stopped hearing the occasional bark at a fox or coyote until she woke up to secret shouting.

"echo! echo, pipes awake!" echo jumped up and glided down, blinking away the sleep.

"she is?" she landed at the pool and turned human, looking at pipes eyes slowly opening, then snapping closed at the light of the moon.

"wha...?"

"pipe, its ok." she pushed a little magic in her and pipes ears perked up a little bit. echo grabbed her scruff and pulled her out, dripping wet. promise allowed eden thru and she ran into the circle and started frantically licking pipe.

"what happened?"

"what do you remember?" echo eyed eden. dont tell her what happened or she could worsen.

"i... dont know. we got away from mom and we were playing by the fire. and then i think i fell... and then..." she winced and her eyes got wide, tho still closed.

"i dont want to talk about it."

"its ok." pipe must have been traumatized enough to block it out, so she lied. "you left the fire and were playing by a hill, you slipped on the hill and fell, so raven jumped after you but hit her head." pipe would internalize it and belive nothing had happened to her, so she wouldn't constantly hurt."

"wheres raven?"

"when she hit her head it messed up her brain, shes healing."

"will she be ok?"

"not entirely. she hasn't woken up, we dont know." echo motioned over slate and took eden apart.

"dont tell her what happened, it will be bad for her. I'm going to try to modify the other pups to think she just fell. ill have frost tell the wolves to also tell her that." eden wasn't listening. she hugged echo, crying.

"you saved her." echo heard a lot more that words couldn't say. so much love and gratitude. so much fear. she nodded. the moment was to special for words to desacrate. words were to flat. after a moment eden stepped back. echo smiled softly at her and left. frost was in the center of the crowd around pipe.

"excuse me? frost, what is going on here?"

"um?"

"everyone back off she needs her space!" frost looked embarrassed and everyone backed away. she whispered the story to frost and told her to instruct the adults to only share it. then she left to the other pups, and lectured them sternly about dangers like fire and making sure play was always supervised. she tried to use her magic to change their memorys, but couldn't. she she told them that if they said anything to pipe about what happened they would be massively in trouble.

"what if we did?" key asked.

"then you would be in trouble."

"well how much trouble?"

"a lot."

"how much is a lot?"

"you wont like it."

"i wont like it... how much?"

"oh for the s- er, moons sake, just dont do it!"

"but... what if i did?"

"then you're sister might have a mental breakdown and never be able to properly think or move again."

"but what would happen to me?"

"your sister having a mental breakdown isn't a good enough reason?!"

"maybe."

"what? look, I'm not your mother but i spoke to her and if you do you'll be in trouble with her! and frost. and me. and your entire pack! if you do than ill curse you or something."

he stared at her with big eyes. "you can curse people?"

"sure, why not?" she could do just about anything else.

"cool! curse me!"

"what?"

"cast a spell on me!"

"you dont want to be cursed. its bad."

"its cool!"

"does nothing i say matter to you? if you do than i will carry you to the top of mount lune and leave you there."

"cool!"

"wha- how is that?"

"i really want to explore up there!"

"than ill drop you in an ocean!"

"I'm i really good swimmer."

"than ill feed you to the lions."

"no you wont, ill kill them all and the moon will win!"

"you. a puppy. kill the entire pride of lions."

"uhhuh."

"then ill take you to a giant eagles nest."

"oh what else? this is a fun game!"

"its not a game! your sister could die!"

he shrugged. "keep saying things!"

"do you even know what death is?"

"yeah i know everything!"

"no you dont."

"yes i do."

"whats 150+200?"

"your face!"

"you dont even know what you're saying."

"yes i do!"
"whatever. if you dont do as you're told, nobody will ever talk to you again."

"but i like talking!"

"than do as you're told."

"awwww..." the others had lost interest.

"hear that? if you talk to your sisters about what happened, you will be in a lot of trouble."

"mhm." they all nodded. ugh they were to young. she flew back to a smaller crowd and sighed. she didn't bother landing but picked them both up and brought them to her cave. 

"aww i want to play!"

"then play with me in here while we wait for your sister to wake up."

"why cant i play with my brothers and sisters?"

"because then i wont have anyone to play with me."

"you want to play?"

"sure."

"oh ok, I'm good at playing! are you sure you arent to old?"

"why would i be to old?"

"grown ups are boring."

"I'm not a grown up!"

"yes you are!"

"nu uh!" she smiled inside.

"yes you are!"

"you're a grown up!"

"no I'm not!"

"yes you are, because your to old to catch me!" she turned to an owl and flew, pipe chasing her around laughing. she slowed and let her catch up.

"ha! i caught you!"

"i can catch you though!"

"no you cant!"

"yes i can!"

"prove it!" echo let pipe go faster for a spell and caught her.

"do you want to see a trick?"

"oh, what kind of trick?"

"a magic trick!"

"ok." echo lifted water like a snake, dancing it around as pipe laughed at it. better than running around.

"that was cool!"

"thanks. magic is cool." she needed to lure her into a conversation.

"how do you do it?"

"i have magic from the moon."

"mom said all magic is a trick."

"before i came?"

"yes, and while you were here."

"we have more information now. people like me have special magic."

"ok."

"i need to talk to you." screw subtly.

"is it going to be a long boring grown up talk?"

"its very serious."

"awww ok."

"raven is hurt."

"i know."

"she wont ever be the same again because you were playing without and adult there."

"ugh i knewwe'd get in trouble..."

"this is serious. you can never, ever ever play in the woods if no adult is around. ever."

"uhhuh." she saw her role her eyes."

"when raven wakes up you'll see what can happen if you sneak off to play."

"why?"

"her brain isn't ok. i couldn't fix it."

"what about the fountain?"

"I'm going to work very hard so that the fountain will be strong enough to fix her, but no."

"can she play?"

"i dont know." suddenly the body stirred, and ravens eyes fluttered open.

"raven! are you ok? pipe, go find your mom."

raven mumbled something.

"what?" she spoke in gibberish, English jumbled up into something indecifarble.

"I'm sorry, i cant understand you." her tone became increasingly afraid. agh she had to calme her down... she moved water over her, soothing her. she feel asleep. hah! she knew it would work. she left and found slate eden and frost talking quietly while pipe played.

"she woke up."

"oh thank moon!" eden said, trying to go in.

"no, shes asleep."

"what?"

"i dont know everything that changed, or if she can understand me, bu she cant speak."

"what?!" all 3 said in unison.

"she speaks gibberish. she was becoming alarmed so i put her back to sleep- not unconcios, normal sleep."

"will it ever get better?" frost asked, as eden was crying and slate comforting her."

"it depends on if i can figure out a stupid riddle. at least shes alive, and shes out of danger. you'll want to limit her sensory input to avoid alarming her and try to avoid situations in which she speaks. dont let her meet her siblings yet." 

"where did you learn this?"

"magic. the scan and figuring it out myself gave me the info. now, if you'll excuse me." she flew back to her journal and reread the riddle. 

bitterness and battle and strife tears down

forgotten friendships turn around

the anger will rage and imbalance grows

the warriors oppose

the shape of the land, though broken in two

both sides angry will eventually rue

the truth buried deep when risen will heal

forever the magic and blackness repeal

wait, what did the shape of the land have to do with anything? it was a circle. was it symbolic? a circle symbolized... infinity? compltness? ehhh she didn't have a clue. a lot of it was just about fighting and stuff, and results. she didn't feel like figuring that all out. so the only remaining clue was the land. what? she sighed andput it down. how did she find out what was special about the shape of the land? what about the shape of it... broken in two? what about the shapes of the halves? weren't they sort of triangles? or something? she ran out.

"frost i need a map!"

"we dont have maps."

"can you make one?"

"no." seriously? she could probably fly and check it out.

"fine, I'm going to go fly."

"alright, but stay close in case raven gets worse."

"no, i can make raven better if i do this."

"fine." echo left and soared above. the border was easy to see. yes, it was a circle. though, the sides weren't triangles... they were more circles at their widest, and then it became a curved hook triangle. not a triangle... two halves of a whole. a yin yang! what? she flew into the head of the wolves. where would they white eye of a yinyang be? right where the bonfire was... wait, that would be the sort of white dot... she turned back to where she practiced archery in the tail. there had been a pool... it was destroyed, but it had been there. that was the black eye... 

but weren't yinyangs supposed to be harmony? as in, opposites strengthened together? and at peace? that couldn't be right. she must have it wrong. or maybe the wolves had it wrong... they may have forgotten some ancient peae tradition. but where did she fit? wait, weren't both she and symphony connected to the wind? was the wind a peace force?was that her job? to make peace... with the lions... with galaxy... she groaned. no. no she had to have it wrong... except she knew she was right. besides, she always had a connection with the sun. no, that might have simply been coincidence. she had to be wrong. even though she was right. except she wasn't! what else did yinyangs mean? or maybe it was just coincidence. she flew back, glaring at the ground as she landed.

"oh, your back. where do you want raven kept?"

"is there another empty cavern?"

"yes."

"put her there."

"ok." she went back to her room and saw raven, sleeping with her brow furrowed. that was why she was solving the riddle...she could try to be peaceful, just once, for a child. raven woke up  and jumped up, as if expecting her siblings to be there and ready to play, but instead tripped on her hind left paw. echo ran to her and silently helped her up. she said something echo didn't understand and she nodded, smiling. she left.

"shes awake again, now is a good time to move her. dont speak to her, just smile and nod when she speaks." frost nodded at slate and area.

"what did you find?"

"i need to talk to you about that." they left.

"what?"

"we need to make peace with the lions." frost laughed.

"what?"

"the land is shaped like yinyang. a literal simple of harmony and opposites at peace."

"that's your only evidence? that the land is shaped like a human symbol?"

"the poem also goes on and on about peace and how fighting is going to destroy us."

"where did youget it?"

"the windstone."

"the wind isn't to be trusted echo."

"well its the only lead I've got! do you want her to never speak again?"

"no. but i dont want you to waste my time with nonsense theorys!" this didn't make any sense... frost generally didn't just laugh at her and tell her there was no way, she always listened. even if she considered it nonsense... what was happening? it wasn't magic. was racism so ingrained that frost behaved like this?

"well i dont like it any better than you do but if raven is going to be normal we need to at least try."

"echo, you're being ridiculous. and you love the sun."

"galaxy is a lion."

"galaxy is your best friend."

"galaxy betrayed me."

"the answer is no."

"could you give it a chance?"

"NO!"

"fine." echo turned and left,flying to the lions. they all growled at her, except galaxy. echo rolled her eyes.

"am i not allowed on diplomatic missions?"

"techiniclly yes. state your business."

"symphony, when you enter a magic artifact what is around you?"

"um... blackness."

"same. and why does it need fixing in the first place?"

"nobody knows..."

"i do."

"that's a big claim." china challenged her.

"i found a poem, on the windstone. it-"

symphony interrupted. "sure you did. that has been searched for generations. there is no poem."

"i touched it and a poem appeared."

"sure."

"go see for yourself then!"

"fine."

china glared. "we are not all going to the border because some foolish enemy girl is claiming there's a poem there."

"go fly and read it. its there." symphony glanced at china who rolled his eyes obviously and nodded.

"so what did you get out of your poem?"

"peace."

"what?"

"peace. its all about how fighting is bad and the landis shaped like a yinyang and stuff."

"of course. the wind hasn't been reliable for a long time. dont waste our time with it."

"well what explanation have you got?" symphony returned.

"i saw it! when i touched it it glowed gold and letters appeared. a poem. 

bitterness and battle and strife tears down

forgotten friendships turn around

the anger will rage and imbalance grows

the warriors oppose

the shape of the land, though broken in two

both sides angry will eventually rue

the truth buried deep when risen will heal

forever the magic and blackness repeal"

"you memorized it? so quickly?"

"yes."

"wow."

"yes well it could have any number of meanings. why should we belive yours? the wolves have a clear reason to want peace, we outmatch them." china fought back control.

"have symphony fly over. he'll see. its shaped like a yinyang."

"again, many meanings."

"did you hear the poem?! biterness and BATTLE and strife tears down?! battle tears down! how is that not advocating peace?"

"LUNA ECHO! if this is a diplomatic mission than remain diplomatic!" he was treating her like a child.

"if you would just listen to me!"

"no. stop wasting my time. go away." she hung her head and left, knowing galaxy was trying to catch her attention and ignoring her. 

she landed by the windstone and sat, head in her hands for a bit. after a bit, galaxy stepped out.

"what do you want?" she didnt bother looking up.

"i belive you." she was trying to trick her. but echo could use this."

"thanks."

"i know you think I'm manipulating you, but i do! i wish we had peace."wrong. echo was manipulating her now."

"what? why would i think that?"

"do i look stupid? you're obviously trying to manipulate me."

"what? since when was i manipulative?"

"well you tried to use me to get out of the encounter over that eagle."

"well you did."

"yes, even though i knew you still hated me."yes, she supposed she didhate galaxy now that she had the time.

"and you used me."

"no i didnt!"

"right out of the lions mouth."

"i dont know who he meant, maybe symphony. it wasn't me!"

"it was."

"what evidence do you have?"

"he said spies."

"you're jumping to conclusions! i didnt do it!"

"ok, sure. i belive you." now help me convince people to give peace a chance.

"i wish you did. what do you want to do to achieve peace?"

"well, frost laughed in my face, and china threw me out, so i dont have a clue where to start. do you have influence over china?"

"not really. I'm friends with symphony, but he wouldnt contradict dad over something so big."

"would he secretly?"

"i dont know."

"i thought you were friends."

"he's more wolflike, he has to keep up a united front. he has less freedom."

"the wolves arent all brainwashed."

"oh?"

"some cubs arent." galaxy laughed. echo faked a laugh, itwas a joke to try and make galaxy feel secure.

"not for long."

"not if i can get one as like my assistant or something, save one. I've got my eye on pipe, maybe, if she feels better."

"you have a sick cub?"

"yes." the truth could be useful to the lions."

"why not give her fountain water?"

"until peace is restored its not powerful enough."

"to heal a cold?"

"its pretty serious."

"i hope she doesn't die."

"we probably should be in broad daylight."

"good point. where? we're both bound."

"we are? oh, right. 16." she should be driving right now...

"the cave we hid in?"

"that was actually in Africa."

"what?!you have access to Africa?"

"yes, we just send cubs to school thru the forest because the education is closer and better.

"ok, i know a cliff i almost died on."

"that's secure."

"eh, we'll just meet at night at the tail, ok?"

"sure. hey echo?"

"yeah?"

"think about our eyes."

"what?" galaxy left. hy did their eyes have anything to do with it? they were really cool, because they were the same shade of brown, though galaxy had gold strwaks in hers, but it wasn't relevant. so ignored it and left for the meadow she spoke to her parents in. they weren't there. she sat and thought for a while.