Pine

Surrogate mate: Fern

Mate: Gram 

Children: Lilliah 

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Pine as a pup was always vocal, always saying something, always asking questions. They would always spend time in the herbalist's den, learning the different herbs, even if he wasn't an herbalist apprentice. There was one day that something happened. Something life-changing. Pine woke up in the middle of the night, there was no reason for them to be up, but something didn't feel right. They wandered around camp, sniffing at each boundary bracken, seeing if something was there, sniffing as if they were a guard. They were passing by the camp entrance when they saw two eyes glaring at them with hunger. Pine flattened their ears and tried to not look fearful, but they couldn't keep from being fearful when the thing in the bush lunged at them, luckily they got out of the way. As they were running they looked back, it was a cougar, why was a cougar up late at night? They didn't notice but they were outside of camp, so they skittered and turned around, losing the cougar, for now.

They got back to camp and yelled out, "There's a cougar!" no one woke. They then went and nudged some camp guards that were on break. Wait, why weren't there and guards up at the entrance tonight? "Wake up there's a cougar!" they fearfully barked, waking the guards but they weren't too happy being woken. "Pine, there is no cougar, it's night time, you might have had a bad dream." A guard said and curled back up. That was when they had a deja-vu moment. They did have a dream of the cougar, but, this was the woken world. They bit on a guard's ear and said, "I'm sure that there is a real cougar!" They huffed when the guard head-butted them. "Fine. If this is a waste of time you'll be punished." The guard growled lightly. Pine lit up and ran out of the guard den. "Pine honey, why are you awake, and why did you wake a guard?" Pine's mother had woken up. "Mom, there's a cougar that was chasing me!" Their bark was full of fear at this point. "Honey, there can't be any cougar, the cougars are asleep at night." She said, licking Pine's head. They were starting to get angry, why wouldn't anyone believe them?

They huffed, tears pricking at their eyes. "I'll show you there is one!" They said right before they ran towards the camp entrance. Before they were able to get out of camp, they were greeted by claws scratching their face, being pinned down onto the ground, the cougar biting down on one of their legs, nearly crushing it. "Pine!!" Their mother yelled out, running towards them. The cougar looked up from biting Pine and up at Marlea who was running at it. "Marlea! No, stay back!" The guard yelled to Pine's mother, running to Pine as well, speeding past Marlea. The cougar let go of Pine, getting ready to attack. Pine looked at the attacker, then to the two wolves running at them. They were on the verge of passing out but they wouldn't let themself do that. They sat, focusing on staying conscious, that was a mistake. They watched as the cougar leaped and landed on their mother, the cougar biting down on her neck. They watched in horror, saying nothing, doing nothing. They let themself fall into unconsciousness, not knowing what was going to happen next, were they going to bleed out, were they going to be picked up and taken by the cougar?

They woke up, it was day time. They jolted up, but pain seared through them and they fell. "Woah there Pine, you took a big blow, take it easy." The herbalist said in her usual calm soothing voice, but something was underlying, sadness? They were confused, then they looked down and saw the cobwebs covering from their shoulder to their chest. That's when reality sat in. They started balling their eyes out, if they hadn't woken last night's events might have not happened, or if the others had just listened to them. "Hey, how's the squirt doing?" The guard from last night came in, cobwebs covering his body. That's when the herbalist gave a sad look and the guard heard Pine's whimpering. He trotted in and lied down next to them. Pine looked at the guard, tears streaming down their face. "Oh Pine, you don't know how deeply sorry I am. We should have listened to you." The guard's voice filled with pain and guilt. Pine didn't say anything, they just cuddled up to the guard, confusing him. "Do you forgive me?" The guard said confused. Pine shrugged. "Did your voice get slashed out? Why aren't you talking?" The guard asked, he was so confused, why wasn't Pine talking? They just looked away their ears going to the side. The guard sighed as someone called his name, "Gram, where are you?" That was the alpha calling out to him. "I'm in the herbalist's den," Gram called back. "Gram we need you out patrolling." The alpha came into the den. "Can I have the day off... I want, I want to comfort Pine.." Gram said, the guilt and pain still there."We," The alpha was about to protest but, he stopped, "Yea, yea, you can have the day off, or how many days you need." He finished, he remembered when he lost his best friend. He padded out and called to another guard. Gram realized that the herbalist had exited the den. "Pine, will you speak?" He said calmly. Pine shook their head. "Why not?" he asked. Pine gave him a look of, 'You know why.' He sighed and stood, "Well, at least come 'er. Since you're Marlea's only pup, you can come help bury her." He was at the entrance when he ended the sentence, looking back at Pine who was now sitting. Pine looked away and looked back at him and limped over. Gram sighed, "Here get on my back." He said crouching down so Pine could get on his back. They hopped up on his back, struggling due to his wound.

They were outside of camp, the elders, Gram, and Pine all helping to dig out a hole where they would bury Marlea's body. Once the hole was a good enough size they softly lowered Marlea's body down. Pine had gotten their mother's favorite flower, a poppy, and put it down next to her. They started filling in the hole. They got done filling it, and Gram grabbed a stick and put it in the ground to signify that she was buried there. "Goodbye mom," Pine whispered as the group was walking away.

Pine was jolted awake by a crash of thunder. 'The same nightmare..' they thought. They got up and walked deeper into their den. 'I hope you're doing okay mom, I don't know what the afterlife is like.' they said in their head, looking out of their den. There was a flash of light, and for a second they swore they saw their mother standing outside wagging her tail and smiling, happy as can be looking at them with pride. Pine smiled, sadness and happiness filling them. Then they thought about Gram. Would they ever meet him again? They sighed and lied their head on their paws, thinking about him made their faces heat up. A year older than them, hansom, great personality... They could go on and on, they had a feeling they would meet.