We have been tracking the tortoise for a littersworth^ of days. We have developed a routine. Obedient First Eyes and I share sniffs^ overnight. Sometimes Tunnel First Eyes joins one of us for half the night but she normally falls asleep and can be returned to her littermates. She is responsible and determined to be a good pup. She isn’t sure what that means yet. It is normally a cycle of creche for us to explain the importance of being valuable to Pack. It’s most of my Service! Or what was my Service. Now I am whatever our pack needs – provider, digger, QD^, scout, Soil parent as is Obedient First Eyes.

She is not yet up to full strength again. She is thinner than she should be, but the pups are good and round. She has not been able to provide in the standard she is accustomed to and I, while having honed some skills, will never be a provider. It is early Dry, prey-animals are full of hormones^ and coming out with their young. There should be plenty of provision. But I am finding it hard to take the lives of some other’s pups after Sour-World almost took from me. We are eating plenty of fungus and other plant-provision, it is a little like being on Heat-feed. I find my thoughts heading that way by association from time to time.

We walk most of the day. Nosey and Obedient First Eyes up front and Tunnel First Eyes and me at the back. The others wander between us. The days when they found it exciting are gone. Now it is just a hard slog every day. We do not rise until the end of the Rise hunting-degree^ and stop before the Set hunting-degree. We cannot manage any more. Obedient First Eyes thinks we’re probably safe, no-dog is following us. Pack might not have found out how we escaped or might not care (even losing such a prestigious warrior and her strong pups), with bigger concerns for the good of Pack.

Nosey really has got an exceptional nose. Pack is losing an excellent future scent-scientist. There have been times when Obedient First Eyes has lost the tortoise we are following (particularly in the Rise when residual night-time scents are sparkling and sharp, meaning it is hard to track anything as subtle as a tortoise). Each time, Nosey has led us true back to the trackable trail. We weren’t sure if we should follow her at first. We now know to trust her nose, if we have any doubt.

We have been making progress on the tortoise each day. We are almost at the point of catching up today. It will be today or tomorrow. Nosey is not needed to lead us, even Boisterous and Cheerful can follow the trail with ease.

Over it all, we can all now smell the infection in Obedient First Eyes’s ear. The flesh above the cut is swollen and red. I have twice had to release the infection from it. As it gushed then oozed between my teeth, I gagged but I groomed it clean. Each time, more and more concerned. She will not keep her ear. Maybe if the tortoises have anything like the same medical knowledge as dogs then she will not need to Walk into the Wilderness but I can feel her fear growing with mine.

We make the most progress in the Rise since the tortoise seems to be slowest at that time of day. Today I have noticed the pups straining to hear something out of my hearing. I wonder if they can hear the tortoise’s progress. It must be soon. We all need to rest. At full health, my Soil and World would be barely even be aware of the relentless travelling that is tiring me and the pups so much, but in her current condition she is feeling it even more than me.

Small Runt^ is the only pup who still, sometimes, needs to travel in a cache-pouch. If I could carry Obedient First Eyes and all the pups, I would. The others are becoming tall enough to keep up a trotting pace that matches Obedient First Eyes’s gentle stroll. Nosey is the only one who wants to push the pace further; she is already the tallest and seems impatient to find what we are tracking.

I hear splashing, I know immediately that Daring has, yet again, found a stream or puddle. We cannot dissuade him from going into any water her sees. He thinks it very funny that none of the others have the confidence to go with him. Bright has tried once or twice but he doesn’t have his litter-mate’s swimming skills. I can generally wade where he swims and retrieve him, but if we get to larger waters, he might be a bit of a struggle to get back. Obedient First Eyes turns wearily back.

( I’ll fetch him, you keep going. I will leave Tunnel First Eyes as First Eyes. ) Obedient First Eyes follows Nosey’s upturned tail and the others follow in their higgledy-piggledy line. The other pups are even bored with his water-based mischief. The river here is sluggish. He is striking out for a land-spot in the water. There are birds on the spot. I expect he has overestimated how much fun it would be to go and smell them. He just is a pair of ears and a nose with a water-swathe heading to the land-spot. I feel more impatient than usual, knowing it is possible we could catch up with the tortoise today. I hoo to him and ask him to return to shore. He does not acknowledge that he has heard me. Selective hearing has struck. This age can be a real issue.

“Daring, we need to keep going. All your littermates are doing what’s best for Pack, why can’t you?” I call over the water to him. He is determined to get to the land-spot. I can smell the rest of our pack travelling onwards, not fast, but getting further away. The thought of trying to catch them and then the tortoise in one day has my legs aching. I suddenly know I cannot take another day of travel. If I was made to travel, I would be a provider or warrior! “DARING! You need to come back now. We need to find the tortoise today.” I let my fear and anger go and let him smell them.

I know when they reach him because he instantly turns back to shore. He swims back but is being dragged inexorably away from me in the direction of the river. Even he finds swimming against this pull hard when he is trying to fight it rather than merrily riding it as he did on the way out.

“Loyal! Can’t return!”

“I know, do not fight it, focus on going across. You will drift further downstream. When you get out, we will walk on land as World and Soil intended.” He adjusts his course and makes progress to the bank but much further down. I run along the bank shouting encouragement when I think he needs it. I am impressed at how soon he reaches the bank. I jump down onto the silt and drag him clear. He just shakes and looks up.

“Where?” He is already prepared to move on. He will want to nap before the day is over. I say nothing and follow my nose back to the trail Obedient First Eyes and the others have left. It will be nearly a degree until we are together. As he dries, he smells more clearly of the water-life and I have to fight the urge to groom him. He seems unbothered. He helps me find the path, of my shore journey. Once on the main trail, there are enough guiding scents to not need to focus on following them. Boisterous and Quiet stopped here for a tussle. Obedient First Eyes was annoyed at the delay and they moved on.

We have been walking for a degree or so, Obedient First Eyes and the other pups are now within scent-range. They have stopped. Obedient First Eyes is smelling so neutral I know something must be wrong. I accept her guidance and scent-mask from Daring, so as to not alarm him. I steadily increase my pace. He doesn’t notice, I observe his gait and don’t ever push him far enough to trot. The smell of the pups’ confusion and Tunnel First Eyes’ determination. Daring’s coat tells me terror is spreading through him. I try to remain calm enough to stop him from giving into the terror.

We break out of the trees at a measured, but brisk, walk. There is a plain ahead of us. The pups are only a packslength away and Obedient First Eyes is another packslength further on. Only a lunge-length from her, is a huge reptile. Not the horrifying beast that still chases me in my night-walks. Not the tortoise we are following. Something with a bulbous head, plates of shell on its sides and a round tip of its tail. It’s squaring up opposite Obedient First Eyes who is showing no fear, only grim determination and intent to protect. I reach to her.

( Take the pups. Get away from here. ) I tell Daring to wait here and plot the safest route to them. I hear the faintest rustle. Amongst the low snorting of the creature and echoing throat growl of Obedient First Eyes I can hear movement in the grass by the river. It’s not the pups. They are flattened and now silent and watching in fear. I hear it again, like cold air on my ear, a rustle. I sharpen my nose and distinguish two scents I hadn’t noticed. It is not just Obedient First Eyes scenting determined protection and there are young, almost scentless lizard-pups. This individual is doing exactly what Obedient First Eyes is, protecting their young from a perceived aggressor.

( My Spots! This is a caring-adult with pups. Theirs are down by the river. We can all leave this safely. )

( I don’t smell anything. )

( I do, and I hear them. Soil parents are trained in ancient biologically-driven behaviours for the protection of pups. It has proven successful against provision animals on field-trips. I know it might not serve but can we try something? )

( Of course, my Soil and World, this is your area of expertise, not mine. If it doesn’t serve, I think I can still keep this at bay while you get the pups to safety. ) I’ve gotten to the pups, leaving a path in the grass. As I explain to Obedient First Eyes, I nudge them towards the path. Quiet and Bright are first down it to Daring, followed by Cheerful, Nosey and Boisterous. Tunnel First Eyes and Small Runt are last. She is keeping herself between him and a danger she probably cannot perceive let alone protect him against.

( Move away from the water towards our pups. Look away but do not be submissive. Do not run and send calm and Pack. That’s it! Then we will both walk back to the pups and get into the trees and out of scent-range. ) As we break the treeline and the pups fall in, we hear the thumping of large feet and surprisingly squeaky sounds. The lizard-pack then travels down-stream.

When they are far enough away for us to feel confident to continue following the tortoise, Daring is asleep. I nudge him awake, “forget” to explain why he’s so tired and how, if he behaved for-Pack, he wouldn’t be, and set off in the never-ending feeling pursuit of this tortoise.

Why do we assume tortoises will welcome us? Sour-World has taught me I did not have an imagination. The variety of huge reptiles here is astounding. There are few small-bodied mammals but we have not smelled a trace of a single mammal big enough to feed a pack. Whatever sentient animals are on such a world might be very different to dogs. They might not value their own Pack, so we might not be able to appeal to their sense of Pack. How would we even communicate? I try to dismiss my worries in monitoring the pups. Small Runt will need to be carried for a while soon. He gets fatigued for a few degrees after zenith.

Nosey lets out a chirrup and a hoo call. She has started hooing occasionally the last few days, as we get closer to this tortoise. I hope that doesn’t prove dangerous. She is sniffing off the main trail we have been following, down a wide swathe of damaged foliage into another, swampy area. I don’t want to follow, but we know this is where we must go. The freshness of path fills our noses. The spice of broken plants screaming^ their damage, warning their kind. The subtle reptilian smell of our target is almost lost in the cacophony.

I hope Daring is tired enough to stick with pack through this journey of temptation. He seems relatively focused, occasionally passing through marshy spots rather than following his littermates on solid ground. We are all focused on our path. Nosey is scrambling over spongy patches, not paying attention to what she stands on. We must be close. Obedient First Eyes is carefully planning a route for the rest of us. Daring is skipping parts of the route where he can swim it. We are not making the progress Nosey needs; she is getting further ahead. We ask her to wait for a moment, which she does, but well before we reach her, she will be heading on. She whimpers as she waits and springs from foot to foot to foot impatiently.

I swing Small Runt onto a huge tree root. I notice some of the pools in the boggy ground are tortoise footprints. We have found them in the dust before, but something about Daring swimming across one has finally given me an idea of how big these tortoises are. How do I phrase my concern to Obedient First Eyes while not diminishing her surety of my faith in her plan? Nosey hoos with more insistence. She is beside herself with delight. She is sending out Pack and love to the thing which, as the bog clears our noses, we can all smell. There is something at the edge of my hearing which makes me want to leave. I can tell Obedient First Eyes is definitely also aware of it. We follow Nosey down to where the tortoise stands, completely still, while she weaves around their legs and grooms their toes and wags and wags and wags. Obedient First Eyes and I observe for a few moments, calling her back with scent and sound. She ignores us but curls up to sleep against the gargantuan leg. It does not move. We try to figure out how to get her back and how to approach this creature without making it want to crush our pup.

Obedient First Eyes parks the other pups with me and strolls down in a relaxed, non-aggressive way spraying the air with positivity and welcome. As she approaches the tortoise, it stretches up and senses beyond her to me and the pups. It then, very slowly, shuffles its feet that are not currently being used as a den by one of our pups, and lowers itself to the dryish ground next to Nosey. It does not move from then but appears to be attentive. It is neither threatened nor threatening. Obedient First Eyes and I relax. The change in tension results in the pups swarming forward and joining their littermate. We touch noses and check in with, while keeping a nose on the tortoise. All the pups are deep-sleeping, without provisioning or grooming.

At the beginning of Set hunting-degree, the pups still slept and the tortoise was still attentively dormant, so Obedient First Eyes stayed guard while I provisioned for us. I found more fungus easily and managed to make-prey two fat water-lizards^ as they lay on the land (they are less energetic at this time of day). I gave both to Obedient First Eyes while I eat the fungus. I find I enjoy it more and more as I eat it. I don’t really miss animal-provision anymore. I worry as I start to regurgitate for the pups more over the coming quarter-season^, I will need to eat more animal-provision for their development. Obedient First Eyes is finished, she has consumed even the bones and thick skin of the lizards.

So we don’t attract any giant lizards in the night, (and in an effort to guide the uneasy lack of aggression into, at least, passive symbiosis) I take the last of the fungus to the tortoise and put it where they could reach it without disturbing the litter sleeping round two of their legs.

I return to Obedient First Eyes,

( Shall I take first sniff? I’m sure if the tortoise had aggressive intent it would have acted by now. ) She sounds exhausted, I know she’s right to suggest it. I just don’t want either of us to have to do it.

( And we know this one, at least, is not normally active at night. )

( But I think a sniff will still be necessary for a while. ) I hear a dry munching sound. The tortoise is eating my fungus-gift. They are eating it with increased gusto as they go.

( The fungus-bearing tree is not far and we could use any good favour we can cultivate with this leviathan. ) I tell Obedient First Eyes as I grab my cache-pouch and run to the tree, only a couple of packslengths away. I fill my cache-pouch to brimming and dash back. They have raised their head to inspect me as I run. I spill the fungus below their chin. They move openly in front of me to devour the fungus. Nosey is awake and she joins them eating. I try to stop her, but the tortoise just ignores her as she eats next to them. She finishes and returns to her littermates, not without grooming the tortoise’s leg.

It impassively finishes the rest of the fungus and looks at me and the pups. We are not under-threat here. I am not sure this being will help us, but they definitely won’t harm us. I pass that on to Obedient First Eyes and she joins me. She had been watching down the pack-bond and knows what happened.

( I always trust you in matters of emotion, what with your cycles of honing your emotional skills. Unlike me. You really are a most exceptional dog, scent of my soul. You saved us all today. You have served this Pack in ways you never thought you would have to, and all because I asked you to. I am so lucky to have you as a bond-mate and as a den and Soil parent to these Wild pups who will have lives we will never be able to predict. You make me a better First Eyes. )

( I wouldn’t be anywhere else my Soil and World. ) She smells exhausted. I offer to take over her first sniff and she gratefully slumps down, touching pups but not the tortoise and sleeps. Even as tired as this, she is not deep-sleeping.

I sit over them all, listening to the strange creatures of this world in their night-time adventures.

As the night gets colder, the sleeping pack find themselves drawn to the warmth rolling off the tortoise. Tortoises on World are cold-blooded; I would expect it to be like sleeping with a Soil-Sentinel!^ The light of the creepy Soil Sentinel in the sky reaches my skin, it gives a weird light quality. I can’t tolerate the thought of waking Obedient First Eyes. I will stay awake and vigilant for the whole night.

The sleepers start to pull away from the tortoise. I brush their skin and find it now cold like it has Walked into the Wilderness in the night. Obedient First Eyes wakes as she feels the chill through her fur. She notices the light quality,

( That was a long sniff. ) she is mock-annoyed and affectionate. She grooms me. I sleep.