River

On 12/5/20, River unfortunately wondered away from his pupsitter Frost. No one noticed him, but it is most likely that he slipped behind the bramble passage and into the surround forest.

River went unnoticed for a few hours before Frost had realized the pup had disappeared. He ran to Eeka, the pack leader (and mother of River) and asked if she had any idea where he was. 

Unfortunately, she did not.

Hitomi, Sunny, and Eeka set out on a search puppy to find the puppy before it was too late.

When they had found River, too much time had passed for them to save him. His dead body was found near a poisonous plant. Considering the vomit near his muzzle and the chewed up leaves, Hitomi concluded that he had eaten the deadly flower. He hadn't been dead for long though, as his body was still warm.

Heartbroken, Eeka pressed into her former mate's (Sunny's) pelt. He carried the dead puppy back to the pack, much to Frost's horror.

This was the first puppy Frost had ever lost.

Stormchaser, the herbalist at the time, prepared the body for burial. Smokey and Pine, River's littermates, hid their faces in Eeka's fur. The pack leader stared numbly at her puppy's dead body, barely acknowledging her other children next to her.

After the burial, Eeka took her puppies out of the nursery and into her den for the evening. Frost apologized profusely for letting her down, for letting the pack down, but Eeka said nothing. 

Frost still feels guilt to this day about the lost pup River. May his memory live on forever in the pack's hearts as their first casualty.