Dried Leaves

Blue's pup appeared normal, at first: a small ruddy-brown thing, their only notable feature the mottled skin around their eyes that always made them look a little ill. Besides a few unnecessary haulings to the herbalist's den, their first moon of life was the same as any other pup's - but as soon as the litter was walking, that all changed. When Dried Leaves and their littermates first learned to speak, it was in another language entirely, one that was unknown to the Pines. Even as they adapted, the accent remained. More than that, the pups phrased their words in a strange and stilted manner, less formal than it was ancient. And, though Leaves often looked sick, they never were; not when a mild influenza swept through all the burrows, killing none but setting all the pups to sneezing, except for Burning Blue's. The other myriad moments were the immeasurable kind, little instances that set any watcher's teeth indescribably on edge - unable to be proven, in the end.

What the others didn't know, and what Burning Blue would never tell them, was that she knew why her pup was strange. Their sire was the champion of an ancient god, fur split open by a blazing holy light, one eye glowing green and the other starkly red. She was as brutal and glorious as a wildfire - and she had led the massacre of the Greymanes, old allies of the Pines and kin to many of their members. Blue never dared to share this even with her children, for fear that they would innocently let some detail slip and the Pines would drive them out at best.

Burning Blue's secret died with her, and so nobody quite understood why Dried Leaves seemed so strange. But they sensed this strangeness nonetheless, and when Leaves was a young adult, it was that very strangeness that led Rogaku to attack them. Age was creeping over her once more, and though she wasn't certain why, she believed that Dried Leaves' blood would return her strength twicefold. She was correct in this assumption; she drank little of it before Tenokit's patrol intervened, and still it was a difficult battle. She was, eventually, vanquished, and Dried Leaves plucked from a pool of their own blood to be swiftly instated in the herbalists' den. They were not badly wounded, recovered quickly, and in gratitude to Haklanor - who had dealt the finishing blow - joined the Moonlit Hunt that was newly under his command.

From there, Dried Leaves lived a fairly uneventful life. They hunted with their team, fed the pack with their kills, spent their free time with their friends. It was simple and ordinary, and Leaves was dissatisfied with it. They had always felt that they were meant for something more, and strangely it had been the closest to fulfilled when Rogaku had attacked them; of course it had been terrifying to be so close to death, but they wanted something to happen, and for a brief moment it had. Then it was over, and everything returned to bland normality.

But not forever.

Dried Leaves was reaching their fourth year when the acolytes began to grow old. The elder three had served in their role since adolescence - now they were the age of oolaursar. Throughout the Pines, wolves wondered in whispers who would possibly succeed them. It occurred to Leaves that the acolytes were well-versed in mystery and fate; if any wolves could set them on a greater path, it would be these, and now they were more open than ever to discussion. So one dreary night they stole out to the acolytes' camp, spoke with them until dawn - which had not been their plan, originally, but the acolytes sensed the touch of power around them like the air before a storm and took great interest. The idea was raised that perhaps they would be best served in their goal as an acolyte themselves. Leaves had been hoping they might say that, and agreed readily.

Eventually, their time came; a spring sickness swept through the camp, brief but deadly, taking Wounak and others with it. Dried Leaves did not know that their two future colleagues had chosen their own path by then. All they knew was that when the camp was quiet, Runuslari came to Leaves, and told them that if they were ready, it was time.