Today communication between worlds opens. Today, with any luck, things might start to get better. I do not know if any dogs on other worlds are counting down as obsessively as we. There have been so many dead Runts^ that no-dog is unaware of it (though most dogs, even QDs^, think it is a much smaller number than it is). Every-dog is hungry. There are fights every day. Dogs attempt to break into the stores every day. Bushy now has a pack of two littersworth^ to guide. The newcomers are not stealth-warriors; they are notched warriors. She, Mane Runt and Slender are overt warriors too. Well maybe to wider pack they are just warriors, but those who knew them as QDs have had suspicions raised.

This is a dangerous situation. Every QD wears a new scar. I hear Even’s beautiful face is scarred where a desperate dog tried to get to provision that was not in stores and, finding nothing, slashed his face, damaging his eye. Direct has shown an aggressive streak since. They, at least, have fewer attempted attacks recently. The QPG coalition are in constant contact. We send messengers back and forth openly. It is vital to Pack that we all know how stores are doing. We have not heard from any other settlements in a sixth^, however. I can’t think about them. Just as they can’t think of us.

Most dogs have come to the conclusion that there is no secret store for those who prove themselves to Pack. They are too hungry to believe that. The growling hyena in my stomach wants feeding. It nags me day and night like a sickly pup. I don’t remember not having a perpetual headache. I know some dogs think, we must have been not-of-Pack and done something with the stores to keep them for ourselves. But QDs’s stomachs started complaining before the average dog, to try and put off this moment as long as possible.

There is a sense of collective anticipation that being able to communicate with dogs on World will yield some answers. Every-dog is waiting to hear what All-Pack Guider^ No-Eyes First Eyes Runt Rise has to say. How strange that she can talk to us from World, which is impossibly far away, when we can’t even reach PeakLeafment^ 10 days^ from here. Most dogs are sure that she has a plan for us. All-Pack Guider No-Eyes First Eyes Runt Rise is, from what I have observed, a good guider. More than we can say for Leaf-Pack Guider Large First Eyes Rise who guides us on Leaf-World. He seems to be a ditherer. He is not decisive. But then, he has served under All-Pack Guider No-Eyes First Eyes Runt Rise for cycles and, probably, did not imagine having to actually guide. I hope she has insight, but what can she really do from so far away?

Communication will be between Leaf-Pack Guider Large First Eyes Rise and All-Pack Guider No-Eyes First Eyes Runt Rise alone. So it is not as though any other dogs have a definitive event they are anticipating, but I guess it distracts. Every-dog not engaged in vital Service (Soil parents and QDs… and stealth-dogs?) are now formed into provision-packs. Trustworthy thinks (and I am inclined to agree with him) that this is to keep dogs distracted rather than because there is any chance of them finding provision that trained providers have missed or were unable to catch. It has led to a number of interesting eating experiences. Some warriors managed to get a few birds with slung-stones, but they seem to be gone now. There was the littersworth of days after some-dog figured out that the large fungus^ that grows on the larger damp trees is, not only not poisonous but, quite palatable (not quite of-World prey-fungus but an acceptable substitute). That didn’t last long. With nearly every dog on Leaf-World hunting for it and clawing it from trees, the reachable supply diminished in days. As it became scarcer, the dogs who had been for-Pack, bringing cache-pouches fit to burst with fungus for distribution, seemed to mysteriously not have rumbling bellies and not be able to get any from the trees. Trustworthy was able to get some from higher in the trees with slings but, even that, depleted.

No grown dog will die from this deprivation, yet. Every shift, in the heartbeats I get to myself between sneak attacks, I mourn the loss to Pack of now at least a littersworth of Runts. We are in trouble, but Pack can be saved. Maybe we can move beyond this ugly part of dog history, where we were interfered with. Dogs are fundamentally for-Pack. We can’t help it. I don’t think any-dog would look at their behaviour this last half-season and be proud. We need some full bellies and the chance to sleep that would give.

As I travel the well-trodden paces from den to stores, I smell my pack, even Masculine, Furtive, Slender, Broad and Mellow who did the night-shift, waiting. Broad and I have asked all the QDs to be on full alert until we know the outcome of this communication, either for us directly, as orders, or indirectly, as pack-behaviours. I sweep my nose and eyes over them, none of their coats are as smooth as they once were. Hips and spines are protruding on Shaggy and Mane Runt. The quarter-pack is tinged with sour. Slender seems to have not lost condition. He is a young dog, he should be growing, but he is not shrinking.

We all groom. We have dropped internal guards and, mostly, are all pack-bonded now. Bushy holds herself closed and has never used the pack-bond to communicate, but that doesn’t mean she is not in our bond. I am particularly close to both Broad and Slender, though they are not that close with one another. I guess, once a stealth-warrior, it can be hard to drop your barriers. But Slender had not become a full stealth-warrior before he was thrown into this melee. As Slender licks my flank, I consider that Bushy might need to keep Service boundaries. I have no idea what she is actually waiting for in our behaviours. Is she observing for those not of-Pack? Is she just desperately trying to follow orders while not understanding them?

Broad and I still have some plans that we have not shared with our pack, even Slender. We have to find a way out. If this world has supported life for millennia, then there is plenty to eat. Crows on our world are omnivorous, that sounds promising. We can’t fly, but not all of what crows eat needs a dog to fly to access it. The crows that left the nest where Broad and I fucked had been well-fed and with a varied diet. If we can get out, somehow, then we can get provision. Being the closest settlement to the barrier it makes sense for us to do it.

Pack this hungry should not be released onto Leaf-World. It would not be good for Pack. We want to return to World, when we can, and there are a huge number of potential dangers out there that most dogs (particularly hungry and panicked dogs) would not be able to negotiate safely. The QPG coalition has been working on ways to get out, doing what research we can, as and when we can.

We have planned how we would operate once we were able to get out. We have a small pack of loyal, dependable providers ready to go forth and complex stores of rollers and cache-pouches near our chosen point of exit. If we can find a way to cross the barrier. What we hope for from the communication opening is that we can find a way to leave and return with provision for all Pack.

I reach out to Broad and send him hope down the pack-bond. His ears come forward, he sighs and lies down to wait with our Q-pack around.

It has all been an absolute waste. Messages dispersed by Leaf-Pack Guider Large First Eyes’ pack state that: All-Pack Guider No-Eyes First Eyes Runt Rise sends Pack to all-Pack, reminds us what we are serving for and that she has spoken to guiders on each of the worlds. She found they are all experiencing challenges, but she is impressed with how well all the Packs are doing. They have defeated the enemies on Soil and are preparing for our glorious return to World. That is the only part of the message that has filled me with hope. If they have defeated the enemies then they know how to get through the barrier. It is just a question of finding out how they went about it. We have gathered stores that we can adapt to mimic anything they have found on World unless it's plentiful provision!

( I think it’s time. ) Broad has been more cautious about this part of our plan than I. He has wanted to put it off until the absolute last cent^ and only do it if it is absolutely necessary. His acknowledgement that it is time is a heavy one.

( Yes. I will talk to him while we do a store perimeter check. Thank you for letting me try. At least if I fail, they can’t exile me! Or if they do, I’ll know how to get out! ) My optimistic tone feels strange in my stomach.

( Please be careful. Not just for the sake of us achieving some kind of good for Pack but for our pack and bond. ) That is the most care for me he has expressed. I send him Pack and then a hint of Heat to try and put him in mind of happier times. I know what I need to do.

“Bushy, are you happy with me taking Slender to do a perimeter check on remote-stores?”

“Of course, Mane Runt can guide the pack here and I will go to HQ for further briefing.” Interesting. There is more to it. Well, it is time to start serving Pack where Pack Guiders have not managed. I stride ahead, Slender breaks away from the pack and joins me. We start by visiting the satellite weapons-stores. He seems tired and deflated, he really believed that Pack Guiders would be able to fix it.

( How are you my spots? ) I start. I am still not sure how we will get there yet.

( I don’t understand what the high-notches are doing. I thought I would eventually be able to understand how making us all so hungry would be beneficial. Maybe stores were not all known, maybe it was important to contact All-Pack Guider No-Eyes First Eyes Runt Rise before distributing certain stores. I don’t know. I am not all that bright. At any other time no-dog would have made me a stealth dog. )

( I think that Pack Guiders are dogs like the rest of us and the high-notches have no idea how to feed us all. )

( But they should. Why didn’t they bring enough stores to feed us all? Why didn’t they check what the worlds would be like? Did the crows do this to us? Did they put us in here to Walk? Are we all Walking across the sky, far from World and Soil? ) He is spiralling. I have witnessed many a newly exiled Rise do this. It is always a shock when they realise, they can now be part of Set and still be themselves.

( It actually does not matter why we are in this situation, but it does matter that we are in this situation. It is not just the responsibility of a First Eyes to care for Pack, but every-dog. )

( Well we’re all doing what we can. How do we know what we do is good for Pack even? )

( I know that warriors are not encouraged to question Pack Guiders so that they can focus on the Service of a warrior, but QDs often have to decide what is right for Pack without a Pack Guider to guide us. )

( What are you getting at? )

( I have an idea of what can be done to help Pack. I have done everything I can do but I need one more thing and it needs a stealth-warrior to provide it. I have waited as long as possible before asking but today I know that it is time. I am trusting you in asking you this because I have no idea what your orders are, and I could be providing you with evidence to exile me. )

( I am not sure what value my orders have right now. )

( Yes, but tomorrow you may have a renewed zeal and feel the need to tell Bushy about this conversation. For all I know she is pack-bonded to you and listening now. I tell you this because it lets you know that I am desperate but for-Pack. I just do not necessarily believe that Pack Guiders always know what is right for Pack. They are, after all, dogs like you and me. I think you are for-Pack and that you can help me. )

( How long have you been planning to ask for my help? Is that why you fucked me when you took the dose? You fucked us all, Mane Runt, Bushy and me. Were you setting us up to bond with you then? )

( No, I wanted to fuck you. All three of you, in your own ways. I have been planning for a while, since I knew that the stores will not last us. And before you ask, if you refuse I will not then try to persuade Mane Runt or Bushy, I ask you because I think you are the only part of the stealth-pack who feels like a QD. ) I cannot truly say that I wouldn’t try with Mane Runt if Slender doesn’t agree (and doesn’t report me to Bushy). I do not know how desperate I will get if he refuses and Leaf-Pack Guider Large First Eyes Rise doesn’t pull some kind of provision out of his arse.

( But I am a stealth-dog. My first commitment is to Pack. )

( As is mine. It just manifests in a different way and I think you might find some sense in my plan that would help you contribute to Pack in a way you understand. )

( Fine, ask. I might not help but I will not report you since you think you would be helping. You are for-Pack, even if you turn out to be delusional. ) We have covered all the weapons-stores and I am gently guiding him towards the QPG coalition’s chosen breach point.

( There is not enough provision inside the compound for us all to survive. There are no secret stores, just comforting lies to stop dogs panicking. I want Pack to survive, all of Pack. Having lost even a single Runt so far then we are failing but we do not need to keep failing. )

( Yes. ) He is crushed. He doesn’t even know how many Runts have already died.

( Leaf-World must have enough provision to support the life on it. But it is all out there. ) We are sat in a little-wild bisected by the barrier. ( If I can find a way to get out there, then I can bring back provision for Pack. ) Before he is able to point out how huge that task would be for a single dog. ( I have others prepared to help. I won’t reveal who, but there is a pack of us. We are just waiting for information on how to cross the barrier. There is no chance that information would be available to even a QPG, but a stealth-warrior might be able to find it out. )

( I understand what you ask. You were right, that would be more visceral help to Pack than anything I have done so far. I have no idea how I would get that information. )

( I am not asking you to do anything not-for-Pack. Just keep an ear out for how they crossed the barrier on World. )

( I’ll try. I make no promises, but I will keep my nose to the ground. )

( Thank you, my spots. ) We relax and sit together staring across the barrier we can’t perceive but know is keeping provision away from us. I throw a pack-message to Broad ( I think we are going to get out. )