It took a week of hard running to make it to the Northern pack border. I learned during that time that Aniu has amazing stamina. There were a few times that I needed to shift because I couldn't handle the continuous pace in human form, but Aniu didn't shift a single time. Since she's a white wolf, that was for the best.
The closer we got to the border, the more serious Aniu became. The jokes and easy camaraderie between us slipped away into silence and I could see stress and tension gradually settling on her shoulders. Aniu is the bravest, most capable person I know, so to see her so serious made me more keenly aware than ever of how dangerous this mission was going to be.
So far we'd basically just been backpacking through the forest.
Knowing we would be passing the border into the Nor
