Azura

I never had much in the way of a proper family. That's not to say I didn't have supportive caregivers growing up, but things were always a little...unstable, I guess.

When I was only a few months old, I got separated from my mother while she was out hunting. It was my own fault, really - curiosity led me to wander far off the beaten path, and I couldn't find my way back again before nightfall. I was lucky that I was found by a Sagebrush scout on one of their patrols, and the pack graciously took me in as one of their own.

However, they'd just had a baby boom of their own, and so all the pack-mothers were too busy tending to their own litters to spend more than the necessary amount of time caring for me. I don't hold it against them - it's just how it was.

But then, a mysterious stranger showed up at the pack's borders, asking for temporary refuge over the winter. The alpha agreed on the condition that he contribute in some way - and that he did, by teaching me far more than any of the other pupsitters had thus far. In many ways, Wheat was more of a parent than a mentor.

We bonded over the weeks - until one fateful day, when a Tellurian scout showed up to escort Wheat back to face judgement within their pack. I didn't fully understand what was happening, but losing yet another family bond ate at me. For months.

I began to stray from my adoptive pack as I matured, my first heat driving me to a brief liaison with an outsider. Soon after my first litter was born, I felt a strange internal conflict arise within me: I wanted to leave, to try to find the father figure who'd cared for me more than anyone, but in doing so, would I be leaving my pups to suffer the same fate as I did? Though, maybe it would be different if they had the loving support of a pack, and weren't lost and alone like I was when I was their age.

As soon as my pups weaned, I made my decision, and said my goodbyes. One of my pups, Lazuli, couldn't bear to see me go - and, given my own history, how could I bear to turn her away? - so I took her along for the journey into uncharted territory. It may have been a full year since he left, and the scent-trails long since gone, but I can still remember the direction they set off in as clear as day, and I'm determined to find him again now.

-----

For a long while she searched. It had been over a week since she left her former pack when she found a place, long abandoned, that still held a fragmented familiar scent. Wheat! She carried Lazuli, too tired to walk and continued on. As the scent grew stronger she began to smell other wolves as well. Perhaps it was his pack? Her excitement grew as she picked up her pace. Two wolves became visible through the undergrowth. She approached them explaining her situation. They looked at each other when she mentioned Wheat's name and they led her and Lazuli to a camp explaining that he was out teaching pups. Many of the wolves she noticed, looked tired and some didn't even acknowledge their presence. The rest of them did in fact come and greet her once she'd spoken to their leader, Balk.

The branches at the entrance of the camp parted suddenly, two pups scampering in followed by a golden colored wolf with olive eyes. She stood immediately, stepping towards him. Numerous emotions tumbled in her chest as his gaze met hers. She had found him at long last, the wolf that felt like home.

In the following days, Azura learned that the Tellurian Druids suffered from a plague. She was worried for her pup first and foremost but the pack didn't seem to think her and Lazuli were in any danger. There were only two wolves still infected, the standing healer and her mate. They had their litter of pups the night they both died. Baron, the young herbalist apprentice, came to Azura with the young wolves asking that she take care of them. There was no way she could refuse, perhaps she could make them feel wanted, as Wheat had done for her. Baron slept near that night, exhausted. Azura looked after him that night as well, he had a kind way about him.

During her time in the Tellurian, Azura had made many connections with the pack. Baron, a gentle sort, who became her mate. Chachkies, the pup of two that were taken by plague. X-enva, an older huntress that took Azura under her wing. Even better in her mind, Lazuli was making her own way in the pack as a valuable hunter. All these things made it easier on her when Wheat returned to Garmr's embrace. Though she mourned his passing greaty, her friends and family were there to comfort her all the while.

When the dreamlands became accessible, the Tellurian Druids traveled in and out quite a bit. it was quite the experience. Azura in particular spent lots of time there, every night she would visit. The creatures there shared whispers of a face that may be familiar to her... On the final night of the lunar lands appearance, the golden wolf whom she missed so, approached her. They spoke the entire night and when they said their goodbyes, he gave her a gift. The ability to see the creatures of this place, even when others of the mortal world could not. He would walk with the Tellurian as a guardian always. With Azura as his company, he would guide them as best he could by moonlight.