A small kitten walks along the sidewalk. It was a black and gray tabby with majestic blue eyes. It pounced on a mouse and caught it. It ate it hungrily. It then realized its family was gone. It meowed calling for its family. No answer came.

The old, black hued wolf limps stiffly down the road. He was ragged looking, and wore a tracking collar. He could easily be mistaken for a dog because of it.

And because he found traveling through the woods and fields too difficult in his old age, Aquila took up walking on the smooth, sun-warmed roads and sidewalks made by the humans when the weather was warm enough.

As he made his way down the road, the scent of the kitten came to him, and he followed it until a blurry form of black and gray appeared in front of him. "Hello?" he said uncertainly. His vision wasn't good enough for him to see what the kitten looked like, and he mistook it for being some odd smelling puppy.

The kitten jumps backed slightly when it sees that a wolf was in front of it. It heard the hello but was unsure. It hisses once but realizes he wasn't going to attack her. "Hello." it meowed nervously.

The hiss rouses a memory from Aquila; he had heard that noise from a creature other than a wolf or dog. "You aren't a puppy..." he says out loud and dips his head lower, though he didn't get a much better view of the kitten.

"What are you? My eyes aren't sharp enough to see you clearly." the wolf explained, his ears pressed forward.

She looks at him. "A lost kitten." She says. She backs away a little nervously.

'Kitten' struck a memory in him. He remembered seeing cougar and lynx kittens before, but he never dared bother with them! Aquila drew his ears back slightly, "You are lost though, right? So your parents aren't around...." he sniffed the air anxiously, hoping not to catch scent of some wild cat. He didn't know that adult house cats were small, and of no threat to him.

Aquila glances around, even though his dull eyes could not see much but a blur of objects. "Where did you come from, kitten? Did you use to live in the woods?"

She looks at him strangely. "No. I live here. The woods is where the bigger cats live. I thought you were gonna chase me cause most dogs and wolfs do. They don'tusually like cats to much."

He listens thoughtfully. "So, you are small when you're full grown? I've never seen a small cat before, at least nothing smaller than a lynx." he thinks a moment before continuing, "I'm too old to chase anything now, but I don't suppose I would have chased you if I was able to. In the wild, you see, even bothering a cougar or lynx kitten would be a dangerous thing. The mother could easily kill a wolf."

"Hmm...I've only seen a lynx once. Even us cats have to watch out for them if we go into the woods. They aren’t very friendly." She say. She thinks for a omen. "Where do you live?" She asks.

"I live in the Aspen Grove pack." he replies, then stops to realize this kitten probably wouldn't know the wolf packs. "It's a very hilly, foggy place not too far from here."

"Oh so you live in the woods?" she said. It was more of a statement then a question. "How is it to live in a pack?" She asks curiously.

"It's usually a very nice thing, but sometimes it can be bad. The rest of the pack will stand up for you, protect you, and get you food if you cannot. But there are also fights." With curiosity getting to him as well, the old wolf asks, "o you cats live alone? Not in pack?" he was unsure of how cats in towns lived now.

She thought for a moment. "Well some live with people, others prefer to live alone, and some prefer to live together. Especially those with kittens. Allot of times there are fights between cats that don't know each other for some strange reason." She said. She looked around. “I live with my mom but I have seemed to not be able to find her for the last week." She said looking around. "I have no siblings my age." She says looking at her surroundings.

"You've been lost from your mother for a week? You must be pretty tough to survive on your own like that." The wolf thought about the irony of it; he couldn't live much more than a week without his pack. Aquila was inspired by the little kitten's courage.

"I don't know if my pack would like it, but would you like come and see my home?" he never thought he'd ask that, and he wasn't sure how his alpha Firewalker would react. But in his old age, Aquila was very lonely.

She sat for a moment and thought about it. But she thought of how exciting it would be to see his pack lands. She looks at him and smiles. "Sure." She says as she walks over to him. "Lead the way."

He smiled slightly, then said in warning, "Stay near me when we get there. I'll have to explain to my pack that you aren't to be hunted." with that, he turns and begins to limp back to the Aspen Grove territory; to the Central Pack Lands.

She nods and walks close to him as they leave.