Aarrl and Rraal stood on the endgate of their shuttle craft, breathing the new planet's cold night air, while gazing in wonder into an alien night sky so different than that at Home, yet so astonishingly beautiful. The only sounds, save their breathing, were those of wind through snow-laden boughs and the occasional *Ting* from the cooling exterior of their shuttle.

"It is such a shame Taahas has no moon such as this," lamented Aarrl with as sigh, as he surveyed the shining orb. "My very DNA remembers and calls out to it."

Raall stood beside the big Ursine, duplicating his gaze. Silver moonlight reflected from his topaz, Wolven eyes and made an iridescent haze of his gray fur. He held powerful clawed hands out before him, as though trying to catch the ethereal rays of the distant satellite. "This is the Moon to which my Progenitors sang their Hymn of Night. Its pull upon my soul is so strong! Your pardon, my friend. I must…"

The large male Dirhal fell suddenly silent. It was as though he'd waited millennia for the moment and could wait no longer. Eyes closed in Primal ecstasy, the Wolven PackCaptain raised his gray muzzle to the star-flecked sky and howled long and loud from deep within his Lupine soul, putting 14,000 years of pent-up desire into his cry.

Listening to his Wolven friend, a single tear crept down Aarrl's furry cheek at the intense, soulful beauty of Raall's song. As the long cry echoed across the frozen mountainside, first one and then another, distant, answering cry drifted back on the crystal-sharp air.

"It is good," growled Aarrl. "The Progenitors greet you, Raall of Talliat's Line."

Soon these two and those who journeyed with them would begin to fulfill the purpose of their mission, establishing the first links between this beautiful planet of their long-ago Progenitors and their Home world forty-two light-years distant.