Laurel stretched out her front paws and wiggled her hindquarters, secretly wishing she could get some more sleep. The pack slept in after a Hunter's Moon, but eventually everyone had to get up and perform their duties.

Serena, the beta, was going around arousing everyone personally. "It's a beautiful morning!" she declared. "Come on, sleepyheads. The dormice were up before you."

"And how, pray tell," grumbled Theran, "do you know this morning so beautiful?"

"I was above ground for the past two hours, catching breakfast with Rangval," Serena replied. "And if you'd like to see it yourself, you can get yourself on up and start looking for the next meal. Spark, Digory, you join him."

Theran slowly got up, growling under his breath about overly-energetic betas. Laurel let out a slight laugh. "How do you get so much energy, Serena?" she asked. "You got the same amount of sleep as everyone else."

"A positive attitude," Serena said. "I'm also a very efficient sleeper."

"I wish I could say the same," sighed Tollum, who scratched his neck as he sat up. His brother, Flandor, grumbled and shook out his fur, which was flattened on one side from sleeping.

"Well, all you need is a little movement to get the blood flowing," Serena said cheerfully. "You can go with Lacie and Pepper and check the north side. Flash, Marjoram, and Verity, you three take Quake and Laurel to the west and pick up reinforcements. The south-east side is sagging."

"Reinforcements?" Laurel asked. "Do you mean the sticks that hold up the tunnels?"

"Oh, great," said Quake as he came up to join the forming group. "We get to hunt for sticks."

"It's more interesting than you might think," said Flash, a black and white Jack Russell Terrier. "And you'll get a chance to see the west side."

"Oh yes," said Verity, a sandy brown Norfolk Terrier. "The west side is my personal favorite. Especially the north-west. Neither of you have been over there yet, have you?"

"Here, eat up," interrupted Serena, tossing a plump mouse and a long-tailed lizard towards the trainees. "It's a long haul over there.

Laurel snatched up the mouse before Quake could get to it. He made a face at her before beginning to chew on the lizard. "That's underneath the forest, right?" Laurel asked after taking a bite.

Marjoram, Flandor and Tollum's mother, nodded. "That's right. The soil is very rich there, but we'll be going above ground to look for branches."

"Will we be in Night Pack territory?" Quake asked.

"Technically," Flash said, "but they don't mind us too much, as long as we don't disrupt any of their hunting parties."

"And there's no chance of that," added Verity. "We can feel their vibrations from a very long ways away."

Laurel and Quake quickly finished their breakfast and stood up to go, after bidding their respective parents goodbye. "Good luck!" Cordan called after them. "I want to hear all about it tonight!"

Verity led the way from the main cave into the tunnels, chattering as usual. "Like Marjoram said, the soil is much richer underneath the forest," she said. "I think it's because there's a greater variety of plants, and also because it isn't as exposed to the sun, so it retains water for longer."

"How do you know we're going west?" Quake interrupted. "I still haven't learned how to navigate the tunnels without getting lost."

"Oh, you will," Flash said. "All of us Earth-dogs are born with a natural compass."

Laurel's pace faltered slightly. "We are, huh?"

"Now, now, don't be thinking any thoughts like that," Verity said in an almost scolding tone. "Flash means all dogs like us. It doesn't matter whether or not you were born here or somewhere else. I'm sure your sense of direction is wonderful, dear."

Laurel smiled slightly. "Thanks, Verity."

"You'll also learn to recognize the smell and consistency of different areas," Marjoram said. "You might notice that the earth here smells different than the earth back at home, and we haven't traveled too far yet. The forest ground has a smell, and so does the meadow ground, and so does the ground by the lake. So when in doubt, follow your nose."

"My, that's original," Verity sniffed. Marjoram chuckled and Flash just shook his head. "We're almost there," he said to Laurel and Quake.

Sure enough, it wasn't long before Laurel noticed a distinct shift in the smell of the air, which she recognized from the night before. A hole of light appeared up ahead and the three defenders filed out into the forest, followed by the trainees. Laurel squinted her eyes, still adjusting to the brightness of the outside, and took a deep breath of the forest air.

"It looks a lot different in the daylight," Quake said. "Very green."

"Lovely, isn't it?" Verity asked. "That's why it's my favorite. But if your eyes have finished getting used to it up here, it's time to start looking for reinforcements."

"Sticks," Quake said.

"Important sticks," Marjoram replied. "Go on, you've seen what we have in the tunnels. Look around and see what you can find, and then show it to one of us."

The two nodded and began to hunt around, although Laurel found herself easily distracted. There were so many unfamiliar sights and sounds, and she was still in awe of how enormous the trees were. They looked different in the sunshine, casting long, thick shadows across the forest floor like solemn giants standing guard.

"You know, I bet Cinnamon doesn't have to hunt for sticks," Quake called. He was standing on his hind legs, front paws planted against the trunk of a tree while he looked towards the top.

"Will you stop complaining?" Laurel growled. "We get to go above ground. And if you're planning on getting one of those branches, good luck with that."

"Just looking," Quake said with a slightly offended tone. "I thought I saw one of those squirrels you were talking about. Have you found any yet?"

"Hmm." Laurel sniffed around the roots of a tall, thick tree with gray bark that had several leaves strewn around it. She spotted a decent-sized stick and pulled it out into the open. "How about this one?"

Quake came over to inspect it, his face skeptical. "It's a little crooked."

"Well, that's a good thing," Laurel said, now feeling rather defensive of her stick. "It'll hold up the tunnel roof even better."

"Whatever." Quake shrugged. "Go show it to Flash. I'll find an even better one."

"Uh-huh, sure you will," Laurel called after him. Picking up the stick, she carried it over to where Flash was sniffing around a bush of flowers that she didn't know the name of. "What are those?" she asked, dropping the stick.

Flash jumped, having evidently not noticed her approach. "Oh, Laurel, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"That's not very attentive for a defender," Laurel said. "Didn't you just tell us the other day to always be aware of our surroundings?"

"Well, nobody's perfect," Flash replied, regaining his composure with a shake. "And these flowers are called eyebright, I believe. Spark likes them, so I was thinking about bringing a few back for her."

"Oh, that's nice, I guess," Laurel nodded. "I came to tell you that I found a stick."

"Did you? Very good!" Flash stepped over and sniffed it, then turned it over so that the curve was facing upwards and leaned his paws on it. Evidently satisfied, he stepped back with a nod. "Yes, this is a good stick. Just about the right length, too. Nice work. I'll put it over here with the one I found."

"How many sticks do we need?" Laurel asked.

"A lot," Flash responded. "We need them for a large section of the south-east side. Some of the tunnels have already caved in over there."

Laurel began to poke around close by for another stick. "Does that happen a lot? Cave ins?"

Flash began to snip off a few of the white flowers. "It varies with the seasons and how the animals above are moving. Spring is probably the worst, since all the snow is melting and the deer start coming back and making the ground shake. Winter is the best season, I think."

Laurel paused for a moment in her stick-searching. "Why?"

"Well, lots of reasons," Flash said, setting the flowers in a neat pile and joining Laurel. "For one thing, I've always liked the snow, personally. Even though we don't go above ground much, I like to during winter because of that. It's fun to run in, and it's pretty, especially at night--"

"And it's cold."

"Well, of course, but it feels good sometimes. But other than that, the main thing I like is that in winter, everything goes underground."

Laurel nodded. "I see. Hey, how about this one?"

~

The group continued hunting for sticks into the late afternoon and then began to haul their load back to the main cave, where Cordan and Serena would inspect them and plan out their placement on the south-east side. Of course, the trainees had to do most of the carrying.

"Hey!" Cinnamon came up to greet Laurel and Quake as they finished dragging the last sticks into the cave. "I see you've been busy. How was training?"

"Riveting," Quake said. "We looked for sticks."

"So you got to go to the forest?" Cinnamon raised an eyebrow. "That sounds exciting. Like, actually exciting, not joke exciting."

"I know." Quake smiled. "I just like to complain. Especially when it annoys Laurel."

Laurel rolled her eyes. "All the dogs in the world and I get you for a foster brother."

"Lucky, weren't you?"

Laurel gave him a mock-angry shove and then turned back to Cinnamon. "How was your training?"

"I caught your dinner," Cinnamon replied. "Mom and Saxtus took me to the east side, and I hadn't been over there yet. I felt some Wind-dogs running around above us."

"Hmm, I guess our training was more interesting," Quake observed.

"Oh, so you don't regret becoming a defender?" Laurel asked.

Quake shook his head. "Of course not. I wouldn't trade stick-hunting for anything."

Laurel laughed. "Me neither."