Auri and Caelum walked out of the diner and into the busy streets. "A busy street is always good. You can blend in with the crowd and watch how people act." Caelum told Auri. They passed a park, a library, a store, and many other buildings. "What do you notice about their body language? Do they look like they trust each other?"

Auri looked for a moment, then said, "Some either look like they're having a good time, or they seem like they aren't trusting anybody." "Ah ha! That is how people act. There's so many of them, and they don't trust anyone. Unlike a small wolf community." Caelum lectured.

Then he noticed a learning opportunity. "Look at how they sell food down there..." he told his student. He showed him a food truck selling burgers.

"You see how they trade food for money? They are controlled by money. It buys them what they need. It also gives them status. In our native community, experience and skills get you places. And you need to catch all your necessities." He taught some more.

It got quiet, but was loud from the city. Auri broke the silence. "It's convientent that the forest is right here." Auri chimed, moving his hair back. "It also makes it easy to make a retreat to the village." Caelum responded.

They continued casually to the woodline. Then they walked in. The trees looked beautiful. The grass and leaves were an emerald green. The sun broke through a few spots, allowing just enough light.

This part of the words was desolate and quiet until they passed a small pond. "You know what you'll tell Alpha?" Caelum asked Auri. "How humans trust each other when they eat together, but not when they walk along the same street." Auri said to Caelum.

"Good." He told himself really. "It's time to go back." He reminded, even though it was obvious.

They both took a purple jewel out from their pockets, and they put it in the pond's reflection. The men then put them back on their wrists. They slowly morphed from a man to a small grey wolf.

Now they starting speaking in that strange language like before. Saying nothing they walked into a bush and walked out the other side to reveal a village inhabited by talking grey, white, brown, and black wolves.

The sun shown through the leaves, lighting the small plot. In the very middle of the village sat a large hollow tree. It was decorated with colorful paints and jars of lights. Many caves circled it. To the north was a river. Flowers also grew on the grass making the land even more beautiful.

Together the wolves walked to the large tree in the middle of the village. "Are you ready, Auri?" Caelum asked. "I'm ready." He answered.

The wolves entered the big tree. They moved the decorated curtain and walked inside. Inside sat their Alpha, who had lost his name to be called "Alpha" instead.

The tree's interior was woody and dark, but fireflies of all colors filled the room with light. The floor was mossy and soft, and there were jars of paints and jewels spread out on the floor. Two armored white wolves guarded the red haired Alpha, who was sitting in the middle.

"Hello, boys." Alpha told the wolves. "Hello, Alpha." Caelum said. "What did your student learn today, Caelum?" He asked, looking at Auri. Auri walked forward a small bit and said, "I learned that humans trust each other and will eat sitting near each other, but they won't trust each other on the streets." "Hmm." Alpha thought. "Anything else?"

"Money seems to control them, and they can't hunt very well. They also have nothing if they don't have money. People can buy success, and if you don't have en" He finished. "That's good. You learned well." He now looked at Caelum. "You taught well." He spoke to both of them. "You did good. Take a break; you can go back tomorrow."

"Thank you, Alpha." Caelum said, hinting Auri to walk out with him. They walked out and went to a dark stone cave near that river mentioned before.

They took their purple jewels off their arms and dropped them in their own wooden boxes. Saying nothing, they walked back out and headed for the deep woods.

***
They made it to the circular pond. The wolves sat down and relaxed. "That was a fun trip." Auri said, sprawled on his back. "It was. Tommorow we can go deeper into the city." Caelum said, sitting upright watching the horizon.

Caelum sniffed the air. "There's... ...people here." He said standing up and walking around the pond. Auri noticed and crawled up and followed. "How many?" He asked, smelling the air too. Caelum stopped for a minute and checked. "I think there are five. They have a fire and they brought their things. They must be camping. They could be hunters." He said, sneaking closer to the site.

They made it to the camp site and saw the whole scene. There were five humans. One was cooking food over their fire, one was setting tents, and one was watching two kids play. "Should we watch them?" Auri signalled. "We should watch them." He responded.

Time passed as the two wolves hid behind a bush watching two men, one woman, and two kids set up camp in their woods.

"What do we do?" Asked Auri, sitting in a laying position. "We wait and watch." Caelum responded, with his ears perked. "Look for weapons. They could be hunters."

They watched them vigorously. The two men were fishing. They looked older than everyone else. Two children were playing with pinecones while a woman watched them.

"This looks normal." Said Caelum. "They don't look like they are hunters." Auri looked again and saw they had a black dog. "There's our devolved cousins." He said. "That's an interesting way to talk about your cousin." He chuckled. "They look fine; we should go." He said walking away towards the village.

Auri looked back, as one of the children saw the bush. He looked to the woman and said something. "It's a wolf!" He yelled. "Cae, he saw me!" Auri said chasing after Caelum.

"It's okay, Axel." The woman told her son. "They live here, they won't hurt you. We're safe." The woman said.

"How'd they react?" Caelum asked, looking dead ahead. "The kid was scared. The woman told him it was okay." Auri answered, turning his head and looking back. "We need to tell Alpha." Said Caelum. "Just in case."

Alpha, there is a group of humans by the lake. They're setting up a camp. They could be a problem." Caelum said in the hollow tree. "This can't be good; go watch them. Make sure they don't do anything." He ordered. "We will, Alpha." Caelum said back.

He and Auri went out of the tree and went to their cave. Caelum got out a box of rocks. "I say we set up our own camp. We watch them and note every moment. Maybe with a human form, we could talk to them" He thought to Auri.

He threw the box out of his mouth and into the box, and searched for another box. This box had many ragged clothes and shoes. "We'll need these; we'll also need camping supplies." He pulled out money. "We'll have to go shopping in the human city."

"This plan sounds great. But will they really think we're normal?" Auri asked, picking up a shiny rock with his mouth.

"Sure it will." He replied getting those purple jewels from before and the clothes from earlier. He raises up to a shelf. "We just need to talk normally." He fell and brought the shelf down with it.

This sent many boxes of rocks, papers, clothes, and books collapes onto his stomach. "I'm good." He said raising up, knocking the stuff on top of him around.

"Are you okay?" Auri asked, moving the boxes and items. Caelum got up and kicked the items to a corner. "We can deal with that later. We should be going to the store now." He said counting money. "If you're hurt, we can go later. I mean, 5 pounds of rocks and jewels just fell on your body." Auri said, checking Caelum for any marks. "I'm fine, Auri. This has happened to you before; you know how it is." He said walking to the door.

"Do you want to stay here and fix this while I go buy supplies? I'll come back and we can pose as campers." Caelum said, peeking his head out from the entrance. "Okay..." Auri said hesitantly. "Now I have to fix this." he thoughts as Cae walked out and disapeared.

"Now I have to fix this." Auri told himself. "I don't want to fix this. Meanwhile Caelum told himself, "I don't want to go here to the city. So many things could go wrong. There could be a hunter. I could accidently turn back."

Auri made a stair case out of papers, books, and boxes to reach the shelf. He put the items in the boxes, and the boxes back on the shelf. "I guess that means I'm done." He told himself again. "I'll nap before he comes back." He went to a spot on the floor to sleep.