"Are you nervous?"

Laurel blinked as she met her father's eyes, which were full of gentle concern. "What? Nervous?"

"I know I was," he said. "Meeting dogs from other packs for the first time can be very overwhelming, especially for us."

"Of course I'm not nervous!" Laurel said with a shake of her light brown pelt. About half of Earth Pack was trekking across Wind Pack's meadow for her first Hunter's Moon, which the aforementioned pack was hosting that night. It was late summer and a warm breeze was blowing through the tall grass surrounding them, bringing the sweet scents of flowers as well as the ever-present traces of the sharp, airy scent of Wind Pack.

"It's okay if you are," Cordan repeated. "Just stick close to the group and try not to get lost."

"I'll be fine, Dad," Laurel insisted. Truthfully, she was nervous, but she wasn't going to tell anyone that. And she was nearly positive that Quake and Cinnamon had been exaggerating when they said that the Frost Pack alpha was bigger than every Earth-dog stacked on top of each other. How bad could it really be?

She shivered slightly in spite of the warmth and hoped Cordan didn't notice. She had just been made a trainee a few weeks ago and had only been out of the tunnels twice prior to this, so she still felt rather uncomfortable out in the open. It was all just so... big. How could the land just keep going like that? It hurt her head to think about how far it could possibly stretch.

As they drew closer to the meeting place where the packs gathered for the hunt, the sound of unfamiliar voices grew louder and Laurel felt her heart start to beat faster. She swallowed, steeling herself. I'm not afraid. I'm an Earth Pack dog, and proud of it.

Cordan led the way out of the tall grass into the meeting area and Laurel's breath caught in her throat. As it turned out, her friends hadn't been exaggerating. These dogs were huge.

Four out of the five other packs had gathered already, and Laurel could only stare in shock, her head spinning from how many different shapes and sizes they were. She had once before glimpsed a few Wind-dogs from afar, but seeing them up close was far more intimidating.

Nearly every dog there was well over twice her size, if not three times. Very few of them had the typical wiry, scruffy coats of Earth Pack, and the variety of ears and muzzles among them was too much for her to count. She began to wonder if it wasn't too late to go back to the tunnels.

"Like I said, it's a little overwhelming for the first time," Cordan murmured, pressing against her reassuringly. "You're okay. Just take your time. I'll try and get you in a hunting group with me, okay?"

Laurel nodded silently as her father trotted ahead to join up with the other alphas, who were all congregated together. She didn't see any that fit the description of Frost Pack's alpha, but the dogs that were there were already far, far bigger than she had imagined.

"I told you!"

Laurel jumped and turned to see Quake and Cinnamon, two Dachshund-Yorkie siblings, standing behind her. "Shut up, Quake," she growled. "I'm not scared."

"Your eyes are as big as moons," Quake countered. "And we can smell how nervous you are."

"Knock it off," Cinnamon chided, bumping her brother. "You didn't believe it either when Flandor was telling us about it. And you looked way more scared than Laurel does."

Quake gave his sister an offended look and Laurel snickered. "I bet you did," she agreed. "Besides, just because you've been to one Hunter's Moon hardly makes you an expert."

"And the only way to become an expert, as you say, is to dive right in," declared Naaman, cutting into the conversation. Naaman was Cordan's brother and the pack preceptor. "Go on and mingle, Laurel! I promise it's not as scary as it looks. The other packs are big, yes, but that's about all they have going for them. And the only way to get them to take us seriously is to show we're not afraid of them. Understand?"

Laurel nodded, summoning her courage again. "I understand, Uncle Naaman. I never said I was scared anyway."

"You were too," Quake whispered but Cinnamon interrupted before Laurel could swat at him. "Let's go find some other trainees," she suggested. "They're usually on the smaller side."

Laurel followed after the two of them, puffing out her chest and doing her best to feel confident. She saw a few dogs glancing at her but they didn't appear to be that interested, turning back to whatever conversations they were previously engaged in. Her neck was starting to hurt from all of the looking up she was doing.

Cinnamon finally trotted up to a group of four trainees: two of the Danes from Night Pack, and two dark shepherds from Storm Pack. Laurel cringed a little bit internally. "I thought you were going to find smaller ones," she growled to Cinnamon.

"It'll be good for you," Cinnamon said dismissively before calling, "Hello!"

The dogs paused their conversation and looked down to see the new arrivals. "Earth Pack," said one of the Danes, a black male with a white chest. He dipped his head respectfully. "Come to join us?"

"If you don't mind," Cinnamon replied, nudging Laurel closer. "It's Laurel's first time, and we're trying to socialize her. I'm Cinnamon, and this is Quake."

"I'm Rocky," the Dane said. "This is my sister, Summer." The light brown dog sitting next to him thumped her tail in greeting.

"Silhouette," said one of the shepherds after everyone stared at her expectantly. "And this is Smoke." The dog next to her, silver and black colored, slowly nodded his head. Silhouette paused for a moment and then shook her head. "I still can't believe how small you are."

"Well, we can't believe how big you are, so I guess we're even," Quake retorted, before giving the Night-dogs a polite smile. "What's up? What were you talking about?"

"Just about what positions we picked to train for," said Summer. "Both me and these two all chose to be hunters. Rocky decided he wanted to be hardcore and he picked defender."

"I decided that I wanted to protect my pack from Wind Pack," Rocky said with a good-natured glare, and his sister giggled in response. "What are you all training for?" he asked the Earth-dogs.

"Assuming you're all trainees, I suppose," Silhouette added. "It's hard to tell."

Laurel felt her fur bristling. She didn't think she liked this dog. "I'm going to be a defender, too," she said, deciding to shift her attention back to Rocky. "And so is Quake. Cinnamon's training to be a hunter."

"What's it like hunting underground?" Summer asked. "If you don't mind my asking, how do you live down there?"

"We like it," Quake said. "It's cozy."

"It sounds flat-out strange to me," Smoke muttered, finally speaking for the first time.

"Well, you wouldn't know, would you?" Laurel snapped. "You've never been underground."

Silhouette glared at her. "Why would we? We stay above ground like normal dogs."

"Maybe we're the ones that are normal and you aren't, did you ever think about that?" Laurel countered.

"Sorry," Silhouette said with a glint in her eye, "but it's hard to take you seriously when you're no bigger than a pup."

"Why, you--" Laurel snarled and was ready to attack the Storm-dog, but she was interrupted by the arrival of Frost Pack. She stifled a gasp when she saw the dog leading them. Quake hadn't exaggerated very much.

"What?" Silhouette demanded, having stood up and appearing much more intimidating. "What were you saying?"

"Hey, this is the Hunter's Moon," Rocky chided. "You can't pick fights here."

"Stay out of this, Night-dog," Silhouette growled. "Don't act like you wouldn't fight any of those Wind-dogs right now."

"You trainees pipe down over there," snapped one of the arriving Frost-dogs, who had seated themself nearby. "The alphas are about to speak."

Laurel reluctantly backed down with a final glare at the black shepherd. She knew Cordan would be upset with her if she picked a fight at her first Hunter's Moon, but she also remembered what Naaman had said, and these smug Storm-dogs made her blood boil.

She redirected her attention towards the front, peering past the other dogs' legs to see where the alphas were assembled. "Thank you for coming," said Gabriel, Wind Pack's alpha. "Our prey is plentiful this season, but some dogs have scented wolves around the borders."

Martin, the Frost Pack alpha whose size Laurel was still processing, frowned. "Wolves?" he asked skeptically. "There haven't been wolves in this region for years. Not even in the mountains."

"We scented them too," added Gannon, Night Pack's alpha. "Do you think it means anything?"

Aaron, the alpha of Storm Pack, flicked his ears dismissively. "It could just be a small pack passing through. We haven't scented them. There haven't been any extraordinary events in Storm Pack. The food is plentiful, as it is for all of us, I'm sure."

"Yes, it is." Laurel pricked her ears as she heard her father's voice. "Earth Pack fares well this summer," he continued. "I am delighted to tell you all that my daughter, Laurel, has become a trainee and is now learning how to defend her pack."

Laurel's chest swelled with pride and Cinnamon gave her a friendly bump. Quake threw his head back in a loud howl, quickly joined by the other present members of Earth Pack. Laurel cast a sidelong glance at Silhouette and Smoke, but their faces were impassive. Rocky and Summer joined the cheering and Laurel felt her confidence growing. For just a second, all six packs were focused on her, and she didn't have a problem with that.