Juniper Berry

"I spoke with one of the hunters today," Juniper said. She attempted to keep her voice calm. "They honor their kill in wolfsong. A different song for each season, a thank you that the prey died so that we might live." Her eyes sought a flicker of emotion from her brother. Any sign that his spirit hadn't been extinguished.

"The old man's fading, no pups..." she continued when he only met her with tired eyes. "I told him I would take them to heart. Someone needs to remember the old traditions. We can use them when we go hunting one day, Hawthorn."

"Nonsense," her brother said. He remained laid on his side, his breathing raspy. The fever had put a wheeze in his breath, the kind they'd come to understand as a death rattle. Fever burned in her bones too, and she knew in her heart that she wasn't far behind. Her brother's eyes looked up to her in protest, and she knew that he knew it too.

"The only thing we are going to be is wormfood, Juniper," he protested. "Please..."

"We'll use them when we go hunting one day, Hawthorn," she said again, and there rang reassurance in her voice. It didn't matter whether she believed it herself; she needed it to be true, and so it was. She sat beside her ailing brother, nosing tenderly at his cheek. "Here, let me teach you one of them now..."

---

One of the three Berry siblings, she, Holly, and Hawthorn were rescued from a plagued wolf colony deep in the tundra after coming down with life-threatening fevers.

The most jovial of the three, she knows the importance of putting on a strong face for others, and values being an emotional anchor for others to tie themselves to. She was a rock for Hawthorn to cling to after Holly had been rescued without the two. She sat by old hunters and regretful den mothers in their nests and listened to their stories, told them reassurances. She's held the paw of wolves only one to two years of age slipping away while she was still an adolescent. She carries their memories and their honor.

Since being rescued by Scarborough Pack, she has fulfilled her promise to Hawthron, as with their coming of age ceremony the three siblings formed the backbone of the new Hunting Team Winter. She's a finisher, carrying out in a swift, final motion the task that must be done. She leads the hunting team in wolfsong in commemoration of their valiant prey. She has, after all, learned the old hunting songs.

She has taken to spending time with Wild Animal Howling since the young man's introduction to the pack. Juniper hopes to make a connection where Dawnbringer and Amaranth have both failed. For now, the outcome remains to be seen...