Mountain Highpeak

MOUNTAIN HIGHPEAK
Centered. Strategic. Mournful.

    Mountain, as her name suggests, hails from an unnamed Pack seated somewhere in the peaks and vallies of the nearby mountain range. She was borne to the pack's leader and main breeding male, Halthor; her mother passed not long after her litter was birthed, and thus the newborn pups were given to a nursing pupsitter to raise. Despite her smaller size compared to the rest of her litter, Halthor showed great interest in the she-pup, then named Artra. He noticed how she would stand back from play-fights in order to watch her littermates, pinning their weak points in conflict before taking her turn in mock-battle, then quickly dispatching them by exploiting those weaknesses. What she lacked in size Artra made up for in intelligence, and Halthor could see the makings of a great leader in the runty pup.
    Artra was taken beneath Halthor's wing, quickly singled out to be heir to the pack after his passing, and the grizzled wolf taught her everything he knew. By mid-adolescence she was planning routes for hunting parties, keeping careful note of prey populations and how frequently trails were visited, to avoid over-hunting. She wandered the territory with her father daily, taking careful stock of where the best herbs grew, which scent-marks faded fastest, which enemy packs tried to push borders most insistently. Her mind, teeth, and claws were honed into weapons of their own regard, her precision absolute.
    By the time Artra reached two-and-a-half years, she was consulted by Halthor for nearly every decision he made, with silver streaking his muzzle and scars littering his unkempt pelt. His retirement was nigh, that much was obvious - and his daughter would take up the mantle, in his stead.
    Her strict regimen of training for leadership led Artra to become somewhat isolated from her peers, most of all being her three brothers, who all held the belief that runts were more of a burden than the Pack needed. They had detested Halthor's decision in mentorship from it announcement, making snide remarks and snapping at their youngest sister in passing every chance they could get away with it. Focused on her destiny, Artra paid them little mind. This may have been the only grand, tactical mistake she had made during the course of her training. One mistake was all that was needed.
    Bitterness and contempt can do shocking things to an otherwise morally-sound character's mind. One night, when the moon was dark and cold, some disgraceful party stole away into the Lead Wolf's den, and ambushed him while he slept. Halthor's steady reign ended in the flash of teeth and a splatter of blood, his throat mercilessly torn out. The crime was immediately pinned to Artra, her brothers claiming they saw her following their father to his den late in the night, before emerging alone hours later, when the rest of the pack would have been sleeping deeply. As she was one of the few who spent time in Halthor's company - and she certainly commanding most of his attention - it did not take long for accusations to swell into suspicion, and later vengeance. In many's eyes, she was the only one capable of catching Halthor off-guard enough to possibly get the advantage on him; her eagerness to lead must have enticed her to force Halthor to be removed from his position... permanently.
    The punishment for such a crime was, simply, a life for a life. As her friends and family turned against her, attempting to pin her to the cold stone and steal the life from her body, Artra managed to slip free and fled from her home. She was pursued long into the next day, before crossing the threshold of mountain and forest. Bruised, betrayed, and grieving the loss of all she had held dear, the she-wolf could no longer bear the final link to her old life: the name her father had given her. She began anew, renaming herself Mountain Highpeak, so she may never forget the place she came from, nor the lessons and hardship that brought her to this point. She had survived, both as an innocent puppy, and now as an exile.

    She would survive this, as well.