Niamh

It had been three days and two nights since Niamh had been chased out of the pack. Honestly, there was no love lost for those stuck-ups. She just wished it hadn't been for such a stupid reason. Sure, her old alpha said no outsiders were allowed on their territory, but that pretty white wolf seemed so nice and Niamh had felt so bad for her. How was she supposed to know said wolf was actually a previous member of the pack and notoriously hated exile? There were zero pack elders spewing confusing riddles in warning, and Niamh found that honestly disappointing.

She was surprised Quinn had followed her, though. Quinn was a promising hunter, tall and lithe and able to track like nobody's business. Not to mention she was the alpha's daughter! Who was Niamh? A clumsy, chronically lazy and woefully inexperienced wolf that still hadn't found a role that suited her. Even worse, it was still winter, and Niamh sucked at walking on snow.

"Shit, shit, shit," Niamh cursed under her breath, feeling like a damn toad as she clumsily jumped through the undergrowth. The moment snow piled up higher than a mouse-length, she became an essentially useless combination of painful slips and falling straight through drifts. 

"You can do it, Niamh!" Quinn encouraged, waiting patiently for her to catch up.

"You can do it, Niamh. Be perfect like me," Niamh mocked, exaggeratedly high-pitched to poke fun at the darker wolf's light voice. "Not everyone can have spider legs, Ms. Graceful."

"Try pointing your paws outward." She demonstrated, angling her long legs away from her. "It'll spread your weight out so you won't keep falling in."

"Stop being nice to me!" Niamh shouted back, stomping her feet more aggressively through the snow. Every time she lifted her leg, she lifted it way out of the snow, then slammed it back down through it. Crunching filled the air. Niamh felt eerily similar to a strutting buck.

"Well, I guess that works, too?" Quinn grinned, wagging her tail good-naturedly. She nudged Niamh with her shoulder once she caught up. "And I could never stop being nice to you. You make it so easy."

Niamh looked up at her with wide eyes, tail wagging furiously as she whined. "Aw, Quinn! You're so nice," she groaned in between furious licks to her friend's jowls. 

Quinn laughed. "I try. Now come on, you're going to tire yourself out if you move around like that, and we're still half a day away from the cave that she-wolf told us about."

"Her name was Tala and she wasn't a she-wolf, she was a goddess."

"Right, of course. My apologies."

Niamh is a loud, talkative, friendly young wolf that was chased away from her pack soon after reaching adulthood. Though some may call her naive, she views her compassion as a strength, and often takes in anyone that needs a home.