The Dreamlands opened once more, and in a hidden grove, near a pool fed by sparkling waterfall, three figures gathered at the shore.
"So," The dark wolf spoke as she neared, the grasses beneath her paws scattering sparkles of lunar energy with each step. "You came."
"Of course I came," The large pale wolf responded with a snort. "All this time, and you're still thinking the worst of me, Grymm."
"I wonder why," Grymm huffed.
"Don't be mean, Grymm," Growled the youngest, his violet eyes flashing. He'd hit something of a growth-spurt since the last time they'd met in the dreamlands, his legs growing long and awkward looking. He hopped onto a stone near the shore and sat down, now high enough that his head was on level with the two adult wolves. "Planeshifter is on our side."
The dark and pale wolves exchanged uneasy glances, and the young wolf groaned and rolled his eyes.
"This is the third time we've met already! And you've talked to Czar - I know you have, you're the one who told him Eridani is gone," His ears drooped at the words, but his tone was commanding. "We're not going through this again! It's getting OLD!"
"Yes, oh great Dreamwalker!" Grymm bowed to him with mock reverence, "Your word is our command!"
Dreamwalker shot her an annoyed look, but Planeshifter's lips quirked in amusement.
"We should probably get on with this," Planeshifter said, sitting close to the stone where Dreamwalker sat, "I'm not in the lands alone, and those floating sprites are only going to keep my sibling's attention for so long and I want to get back to them before they start to wander."
"Oh please," Planeshifter laughed, "They're babies, how far can they get?"
"Far enough," Dreamwalker snapped, "Now, Grymm, how are things with the Rowan's Shade Pack? Have you made any headway?"
"Enough, I think," Grymm responded, stretching her long legs in front of her. "Eridani's death has riled up a lot of the remaining members - well, other than Srokacz. I don't think anything can rile him up anymore... But Fen and I have gotten most of the rest on board with the plan."
"Fen and I," Dreamwalker repeated, a teasing glint in his eyes.
"Arat and Dura are fully behind it," Grymm glared at Dreamwalker as she continued, "And then there's Eridani's daughter..."
"The one pup that survived." Planeshifter said softly.
"Yes," Grymm's eyes lifted to look at the tumbling, shining waters. "She's... interesting. Star, Eridani called her, but she says it's just a 'now-name'. Fen took an interest in her from the beginning, taking her out for long scouting walks since the moment she could stumble along behind him. I think..."
"...what?" Dreamwalker's ears perked, and Planeshifter tilted her head, eyeing Grymm curiously.
"I think," Grymm's eyes turned back to her companions. "I think he knows something the rest of us don't. Something about Star."
"Is she anything like Eridani, with the... sight?" Planeshifter asked lowly.
"Oh yes," Grymm responded, "And more. She's so odd...she...she barely seems like a wolf sometimes."
Dreamwalker suddenly lifted himself to his paws on the stone, eyes wide and tail shooting up, trembling with sudden excitement.
"Do you think!" He said, eyes dancing between the two older wolves. "Do you think it's her? Is she back somehow?"
"I don't think anything," Grymm snapped at him, ears laid back and fur bristling along her back, and he dropped back to sit on the stone ears and head lowered. "And I won't. We can't be sure of anything right now. Not while he's still in power."
"Grymm's right," Planeshifter said grimly, eyes hard. "He's done something to the connection between the spirit plane and us. It's difficult enough to get to the Dreamlands even with his approval, reaching the lands of the spirits that are even further away? Or having them reach us? It seems impossible now."
"Besides," Grymm said, "We can't rely on her returning to help us. It's been years since she left, and we have to take a stand ourselves. Everyone who had been old enough to live with her leading the Rowan's Shade Pack had sat around on their haunches doing nothing for all this time!"
Grymm's fur bristled even more, and her tone grew so angry and biting that Dreamwalker shifted to the further side of his stone from her.
"It's true," Planeshifter agreed, "It's beyond time something has been done. There are pups growing up in The Pack of Golden Light who don't know anything about the old ways of the pack, who treat the members he had dragged with him to the desert with scorn and ridicule. The tiniest pup will bare their teeth at Grus and call her a madwolf and a mirage-chaser. Only Czar commands any sort of respect, and even that is only because most are too scared to challenge a wolf with so many tooth-filled maws to fight."
"It's time," Grymm said resolutely, looking at the other two wolves. "There's no sense waiting any longer. We're ready."
"So are we!" Dreamwalker yipped with excitement, his tail wagging. "We will be prisoners no more!"
"Yes," Planeshifter nodded, "You won't, and I and the others among the Pack of Golden Light who want change will help to make sure of that."
"How many do you have?" Grymm asked.
"Kier, Drift, Sandflower, and even Esterlin and Theta's daughter, Sterla, are with me," Planeshifter looked pleased. A fire was lit in her eyes, and all three wolves felt the heat of expectation, the coming winds of change, blow through them. "Between us, and those of The Bound who are strong enough to fight, and those from Rowan's Shade Pack who will come to support us - HE won't stand a chance!"
