I came into the world with my paws crunching on warm leaves, and the lovely smell of dew clinging to the grass. I blinked once, twice, smelling the fresh mountain air and then I woke up in total darkness. It was like that for a while, then one day the world wasn’t dark anymore, I could see! 

I saw my mother and my sister, Everest. I had never seen their beautiful coats, Everest’s white, and my mother’s grey. I wondered if she could see yet, only a few days ago had I gotten my hearing. I wanted to know if Everest had gotten her sight first as she did with her hearing. But when I walked toward her she didn’t even move or blink when I was only a few inches from her. I sighed, I knew it wouldn’t be long before her sight came in, but I was still sad we couldn’t celebrate together. 

I bounded toward my mother and excitedly barked, “I got me sight!” to her, she just smiled like she’d known even before I did, which she probably had. I ran back over to Everest, “guess what?” I asked Everest happily. 

“Let me guess you finally caught your tail?” She said

 “No,” I said, frowning at my happily wagging tail. “I got my sight!” She just smiled, “that means you will get your sight soon!” Even without her sight, Everest was still braver, stronger, and fiercer than me, we would grapple with each other just for fun and every time Everest would pin me to the soft packed dirt on the den floor in a matter of minutes. 

The rest of the day was normal and uneventful. We stayed in the den and waited for Everest’s sight to come, but it was not until the night was at its darkest point till I felt Everest’s soft paws on my shoulders and her calm voice urging me to open my eyes and wake up. “What is it” I grumbled as I resented being woken up, 

“Avalanche,” she said in a voice of silk, “I got my sight,” my ears perked up 

“HOORAY!” I said happily, now fully awake. 

“Let’s go,” Everest said 

“Where?” I asked 

“Out there, of course,” Everest said nodding to the unknown  

“No way,” I glared sitting down firmly on the warm dirt where I had been sleeping. 

“Oh come on,” Everest said, “don’t you ever wonder what’s out there?” 

“I don’t care to know,” I said firmly, closing my eyes for the sleep to wash in that I so badly needed. 

“WAIT!” Everest howled startling me back awake and did the same to our mother. 

“What’s all the racket children?” she asked sternly as I looked toward Everest.

“I got my sight!” she blurted out. 

 “Oh that is wonderful darling,” my mother sighed, “now back to sleep children, it is the middle of the night.” 

“Wait!” Everest said, clearly trying to stay awake longer, “Where’s Dad?” 

“Your father is out fetching water for a wounded victim of an elk kick” she replied.

“Who?” I asked frantically scared for any wolf in my pack to be hurt. 

“Fang,” my mother said 

“WHAT!” Me and Everest gasped. Fang was one of the wolves in my mother’s first set of wolf pups, and the only one who didn’t go off and have a pack of his own, he was probably the second most loyal wolf in our pack, besides father, and we loved him dearly. “Yes, Fang,” our mother said trying to act like she didn’t care but you could hear the sadness in her voice. 

“Will he survive?” Everest asked 

“Hopefully,” Mother said, now I didn’t feel like staying up, or really doing anything at all now that I had heard that. 

“Now go to bed, children tomorrow is another day.”

I awoke in the morning with my father awake in the den but my mother and sister were still sleeping softly. “Son,” my father said “Come with me” 

“Where?” I questioned my father and walked outside of the den “But-” I said not wanting to disobey my mother’s rule. 

“Come,” he said, “you have gotten your sight and your hearing so now you may go out into the world with me” he explained. 

 “What about Everest?” I said knowing my sister would want to go out in the world more than any other pup. 

“Son you are going to be the future of the pack, you must know what I know.” Suddenly a giant boulder fell and crunched a tree in its path before falling into a creek and making a gigantic splash. 

“What was that!” Everest shot up from where she was sleeping and fell on top of our mother who yelped and shot up as well. I was afraid they would both hit the rock-hard ceiling but neither of them did. I realized I was past the line that marked “do not go past a little too late 

“Avalanche” my mother scolded “you know not to go past the line” she barked sternly 

“Aspen,” my father said “I told him he could come out with me.” I looked at my mother and smelled the constant smell of Aspen trees she always produced even in the winter and then I heard about the saddest noise ever and turned to Everest. 

“What is it darling,” my mother said Everest’s only response was bounding to the end of the den and laying down facing away from us and whimpering in a little ball. I walked toward Everest to see if she was alright but my mother stopped me. “Let her be,” she said “She will come back to us when she is ready” I sighed and curled up in a ball at father’s side yawning from the long night.

 When I awoke I was in Father’s mouth and Everest was in Mother’s still fast asleep they were caring us OUT OF THE DEN! I realized in shock, we were going on a path through the forest I had only seen out the den opening. The sun was low in the sky but it was not even close to being dark, everything smelled crisp and new scents filled the air. I realized my mother and father had noticed I was awake and a moment later my father set me down on the moist but hard earth, my eyes widened as I took in all the new sights, smells, noises, and feelings as I stared at my new wonderful world. 

My feet pounded on the ground as me and my sister chased each other in a lush green field dotted with pretty flowers I was so focused on observing the new place that I didn’t notice my sister whip around and in one smooth motion tackle me to the ground before I could blink I was pinned. 

“Next time have better reflexes,” Everest said “I mean you are a wolf, remember?” I sighed and growled and snapped at Everest until she let me up. We had been so busy nipping each other that we didn’t notice that our father was watching us a few feet away eating the remains of a rabbit. 

“Children,” he said with a voice of concern, “have you been smelling anything strange in the air lately?” Everest rose her eyebrow 

“No, not really,” she said dumbfounded, “It’s hard to smell anything but Avalanche’s terrible breath,” she giggled. Everest always had a snappy comeback, and sometimes it was just plain exhausting because they were usually used on me. 

“HEY!” I glared at the still giggling Everest. My father sighed then nuzzled me gently as Everest leaped onto his big broad shoulders. Mother was smiling as she walked happily over to us.  

Just then we heard a terrible howl. Father’s ears shot up and his face twisted in a weird way. Mother grabbed me with her teeth and lifted me off the ground. “Everest come” she ordered 

“What’s going on?” Everest asked terrified.  

“Just stay calm” my father ordered “I am going to warn and help get the rest of the pack evacuating.” My heart seemed to stop evacuating, the only home I had ever known, and by the time I realized it was actually happening, my mother was pounding along the trail with Everest by her side and my father out of sight. I whined and tried to get out of my mother’s tight grip and run back to father, but when my mother finally stopped we were already at our den. I leaped out of her mouth and tried to run back to father, but Everest stood in the way. My mother swept the cave for our belongings and grabbed them out of our den in one quick motion. Everest suddenly howled, “Mother why do we have to leave?!” 

“And where’s father!?” I interjected before Mother could answer Everest, causing her to bite my tail in annoyance.  

“Let her talk!” she growled at me. 

“Come,” mother barked, and without another word, she took off into the cold, for it had started snowing heavily.

“MOTHER!” Everest cried “We can’t see you! Where are you!”

 “We can find her, come with me.” I tried to sound confident but I was whimpering quietly. We raced down the path howling for our mother the whole time but still making sure we didn’t lose each other. Suddenly everything got cold and dark and there was a warning of danger in the air. My heart stopped as I saw the horrible sight, snow was pouring down from the mountains faster than I could blink. 

“RUN!” Everest screamed so we did, I ran faster than I ever had with my sister right behind me, but soon we were in the gigantic snow river fighting to keep our heads above the endless white. I saw Everest out of my peripheral vision and made a quick desperate grab for her paw before I lost her in the snow frigid snow. She shrieked as the snow swallowed her head.

 “EVEREST!” I yelped and tried my hardest to pull her up for I was still clasping her paw, and then I went under too.

By some miracle, I awoke covered in snow clinging with one hand to a big boulder and I suddenly remembered Everest, her paw was still resting in mine! I quickly dragged my unconscious sister up with me, grabbing her limp body before I lost it forever. “Everest can you hear me!” I howled shaking my sister, her eyes flickered and slowly opened. 

“Oww,” she mumbled.  

“Oh, Everest you’re alive!” I jumped for joy despite my whole body aching horribly. 

“Where are mother and father?” She asked anxiously. 

“I don’t know they could be anywhere.” Everest jumped up and started running towards the still slowly moving snow. “Everest!” I said and bit her tail before she could just go diving into the freezing snow, “If we just go in there we could be lost forever” I warned her. She stared at me and whimpered, 

“If we don’t go they might be lost forever.” I knew who Everest meant by they, mother and father, and just thinking of them made my heart ache more than my body ever could have.

“We have to find a smart way to do this,” I cautioned Everest, sniffling helplessly. “We have to go up on the not-so-snowy side that we are already on.”

 “Ok” she sighed, but then, we heard a howl, but it was not Mom’s or Dad’s, it was still a familiar howl. “Aima!” Everest shouted. Aima was another wolf in our pack and was Fang’s girlfriend “Fang might be with her!” Everest yelped happily then she howled back to Aima and said, “Is Fang with you!?”Aima howled back, “Yes, but he’s hurt!” 

“We have to go now!” Everest howled back. “Where are you?”, she started up the side of where the snow river was. 

After a few minutes, Aima howled back “Say something I think you are close by”. Everest quickly said, “Hello!” her ears standing up high, twitched in every direction.

“Everest!” Aima’s voice wavered, “come quick.”

Everest and I shot up the mountainside faster than two bolts of lighting despite the bruises and scratches throughout our bodies.

When we finally arrived Aima was pacing around Fang’s non-moving body. “Fang!” Everest yelped as she ran to his side with me close on her tail. Aima whipped around the snow still clinging to her grey and white fur.

“Thank goddess you came!” She ran up to me 

“What happened?!” I asked, terrified for Fang. 

“We were just hunting rabbits when the snow swept us both up and when I woke up I saw him a little away. He had some gashes I think he got from rocks and I ran to him but he hasn’t woken up yet.” I could tell she was very frantic. “Aima calm down, we need your help to find our parents,” I pleaded.

“Ok,” she said, “but first I need to make sure Fang is alright.” 

“Did you see our parents before the Avalanche?” I asked 

“Actually yes I did.” my fur shot on high and a million questions shot out of my mouth at once.

“Who did you see? Where were they? Did they say anything to you?”. 

“Ok so I saw your father and mother, I think they were looking for you two. They seemed scared and hurried along, they didn’t see me though. I was in the field and they were in the path by it.” She was out of breath when she finished, but I was all ears.

“Everest” I turned around to my whimpering sister who was laying across from Fang with her eyes closed. “Is he alive?” I asked, almost scared to death by the possible answer. “Yes, but he is badly hurt.” Everest stood, “We have to find our parents,” she barked at Aima, “You go now,” Everest said to Aima. Aima looked at Everest and then stubbornly said “No way.”

“Aima please.” We begged. 

3 years later…

Everest came into my cave smiling with Ace, her new husband. My wife Tundra was asleep, she was doing this often now because we were about to have pups. Everest already had three little pups bounding into the cave. My favorite, Fierce ran up to me shouting. “Uncle Av!” she never called anyone by their full names and always came up with good nicknames. Everest’s other two pups, Sage and Chase, were playing tag all around the cave.

 “Hey Avalanche,” Everest said,  “remember the snow river? It was 3 years ago today.” 

“How could I forget?” I smiled at Everest. 

“Speaking of which, how are mom and dad doing?” 

“Good, I visited them this morning. They are happy even in their old age,” she laughed. I laughed back. I was happier than I had ever dreamed. The avalanche, I suddenly realized, hadn’t torn us apart, it had knit us together, and because of it, I had even found my wife when the pack moved to the other side of the mountain. I couldn’t help it, I arched my back and let out a joyful howl, and the night was pierced with the howls of the pack I now lead in return. I opened my eyes and smiled at my twin, and Everest smiled back as if to say, “I knew we could do it”.