Despite that the sun was already gone and the last rays of sunlight were fading away, the Gavir clan was still awake. Except for a few elders. Balto woke up quickly and got out from the hole he slept in. Yet again, he didnt have any scary dreams. Maybe the Allfather was finally treating him better?

Balto, not really knowing where or with who he should be around at the moment, noticed that Ulva was standing in front of the tree stump she both slept in and kept her medicine. After a quick stretch, he walked over with child-like curiosity.

"Good morning Ulva! Or is it good night? Either way, whats wrong? If you are hungry, I dont think you can eat the tree stump." Ulva turned to him, but her eyes had mixed emotions in them. Going from the tree stump to Balto and back.

"Well, Balto, I." She paused to sigh.

"Kind of wonder what the future will hold? I have all of my medicine down here, and even then, I almost never got a use of anything. Except for when Fridolf had trouble with relieving herself. But still, you understand what I mean, right?" Ulva swore she could see Baltos brain bounce around inside his skull.

"I totally understand. As a matter of fact, I understand more because my head is big!" Balto nodded as if he was a professional that knew something. All he got from Ulva was another sigh.

"It does not work like that, but maybe its the other way with some direwolfs." Ulva said before going back underneath the tree stump. Balto could hear her moving stuff around in there. He wanted to ask why Ibas acted so weirdly when he saw her, but for once he didnt do anything stupid and moved on.

He had a quick chat with Ulva, Beowul is probably busy being grumpy, so now he should speak with Fridolf. It has been a while since he spoke with her.

Balto walked into the bush where Fridolf usually was in and found her trying to scratch her ears, but she couldnt quite get to the spot.

Balto tried to push himself deeper into the bush and whispered to the old direwolf.

"Hello Fridolf, do you need help?" She jumped slightly because of the sudden noise and turned to see who it was. When she saw it was Balto, she calmed down.

"Hello Balto dear, isnt it getting late? You youngsters should get all the sleep you can to grow strong." She went back to scratching her ear. But Balto was still there, so she stopped and looked back to him.

"Is there something you need? Im not good at moving around anymore, so if you wanted to play with someone, go play with Radolf."

"Well, its something I was wondering about. I remember when Radolf said I was the youngest around and I didnt see anyone that looked young together with Ibas. Where are the younger direwolfs?" When Balto said that, Fridolf froze for a couple of seconds.

"Balto, dear. Why do you think everyone wants revenge? If it was just for territory, then we could just find new territory. But it isnt just for territory. Its because they killed all of our youngest. And nearly all of the elders as well were killed too. Even Beowuls partner didnt survive. The only reason he hasnt killed himself is because Tyr told him to take care of his childern and mate, but they all died except for the one that disappaered."

The weight of the information hit Balto like a charging barkbear. All of the younger direwolfs were killed? Tyr had kids and a mate, and one just disappaered? And most suprising of all, Beowul could feel love?! He had to shake his head for that one.

"Then, how did Tyrs mate and children die? Was it the goblins?" Fridolf shook her head.

"No, it wasnt the goblins. However, there were odd footprints where they died. And the most brutal part of it was that they took the skin of the mother and just left the cubs to die. The wounds were also strange... But enough of this depressing talk, what did you think of meeting Ibas?"

Balto had to re-arrange his thoughts before answering.

"Well, he is different from Duke. Duke is sleepy looking and big. Ibas is more awake, I think? And he also got a really big tooth. But he did act really weird when he saw Ulva for some reason."

Fridolf chuckled softly when she heard that.

"It seems that he hasnt changed after all these years. When they were younger, Ulva was always with the two brothers. They would play with each other, eat the same food. Even sleep together. But as they grew older, some emotions grew. Ibas loves Ulva, Ulva loves Duke and Duke loves too sleep. I really do hope that atleast one of them manage to find love." Fridolf had a dreamy look in her eyes when she said the last part before looking at Balto with a stern look.

"Balto, when you grow." She looked him over.

"When you finish growing, you should try and find a young direwolf and get some healthy kids. I will atleast live long enough to see them grow into adults." Fridolf laid down her head and just before she got to close her eyes, a two strong howls resounded through the air. Followed by multiple other howls, even Balto himself felt a urge to howl as well.

"Go on, answe the call for war. But please go outside if you are going to do it, I dont want my ears to go away completly before my eyes. Balto took a step out from the bush and finally realised that she wasnt completly blind.

The direwolfs had all of their heads raised high. Ibas and Duke startet the howl. Then, Beowul answered it, followed by Finn and Frode. All the other battle ready direwolfs raised their heads to howl aswell. The noise was nearly deafening. The air was vibrating and the trees shook. All of the nearby fauna ran away in fear of the noise.

Far away, a large group of direwolfs were shaking in fear with their ears down low. The hobgoblin with a missing eye look at the direction of where the howl came from. He gave a quick order before moving away. Not towards the direwolfs or towards the ogre, but in a direction it knew there wasnt anything dangerous which could kill it that easily. His scouts did report on some rather interesting towards the west.