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eegie asked

“Yes She’s out of season And she’s a loner That is why she was having so h to eat And why she came for the roast meat, and wanted the er a lot out of her She’s hardly more than bones and fur If she lived with a pack, they’d be helping her feed those pups, but if she lived with a pack, she would not have had pups Only the female leader of a pack has pups, usually, and this wolf is the wrong color Wolves get used to certain colors and marks She’s like that white wolf I used to watch when I was learning about the to make up to the female leader and the ot so big, she left Maybe she got tired of no one liking her”

Ayla looked down at the black wolf “Like this one did Maybe that’s why she wanted to have pups, because she was lonely But she shouldn’t have had them so early I think this is the saie She must have left her pack to look for a lone et started that way But it’s always hard on the loners Wolves like to hunt together, and they take care of each other The male leader always helps the female leader with her pups You should see them sometimes, they like to play with the babies But where is her male? Did she ever find one? Did he die?”

Deegie was surprised to see that Ayla was fighting tears, over a dead wolf “They all die soo back to the Mother”

“I know, Deegie, but first she was different, and then she was alone She should have had so to, at least some babies”

Deegie thought she was beginning to understand why Ayla was feeling so strongly about a scrawny old black wolf She was putting herself in the wolf’s place “She did have pups, Ayla”

“And now they are going to die, too They don’t have a pack Not even a male leader Without a oing to let them die!”

“What do you ?”

“I’ to track the black wolf back to her den”

“That could be dangerous Maybe there are other wolves around How can you be sure?”

“I’ie I just have to look at her”

“Well, if I can’t change yourto say, Avla”

“What?”

“If you expectafter wolf tracks with you, you can carry your own er out five white weasel carcasses froh to carry with ht

“Oh, Deegie, Ayla said, sht theed each other out of their fullness of love and friendship