Riverbed

Backstory
River's Realisation: Chapter One
Continued in Rust's bio

Riverbed didn't stride confidently into being a hunter, she stumbled into it. She did her best during her months of training, and her subsequent hunts as an adult. The problem was, she didn't enjoy it at all. Hunting meant injuries, sore muscles, heat exhaustion in summer and frozen fur in winter.
She sometimes visited the pupsitters to watch and wish for their life. She knew it wasn't easy. Pups always seemed to be on cusp of some terrible fate. But it seemed more worth it. Especially when one of them wobbled over to her with a flower in his mouth, happily declaring "Is for you!"
But she didn't dare speak up, not when her team relied on her to sniff out prey. She was step one, the first nose to the ground.
Or at least, not until Earth had a litter of pups in the first month of winter. It'd been bad timing, and a large litter, too. The sitters were run ragged trying to keep them all safe from the harsh cold, and the starving predators desperate for an easy meal. The forest floor was thick with snow, and every shadow contained a lurking danger. The dread the pupsitters felt sunk into the bones of every wolf, sitter or not.
Leaving her team would be a harsh blow in winter, but her team was more of a backup. The stronger hunters could take care of it. The pups, though, they didn't have anyone to fall back on. Even Jawbreaker, the team's finisher, agreed. He allowed her to go. She forever felt indebted to him for that.
The first time she picked up a tiny, newborn pup out of the snow and returned him to the warmth, she felt whole again. She hadn't even realised she'd been missing a piece of herself.
Her time in the pupsitter's den was where she properly met Rust. She'd seen her around, of course. Rust was one of the leads' daughters. She was respected on the same level as the lead pupsitter, despite her youth. But River had never gotten a chance to get to know her.
"You're the new girl, aren't you? Thank the moon for you. Could you take her?" asked Rust, nudging Solar towards River. As the lead's daughter, she'd been allowed the honour of caring for Lunar and Solar. Orion had made a great deal about some sort of prophecy, and the two pups' magical potential.
"Are you sure? Shouldn't she be cared for by—"
"Solar asked to be put under your protection. I trust her, and I trust you."
River was stunned into silence, then bowed her head. "Thank you."
Solar and Lunar were inseparable. In turn, the two sitters had no choice but to be inseparable as well.
River had always been intimidated by the leaders, and their bizarre rituals. She'd bumped into Bat once, and they had an awkward exchange until Bat made up an excuse to leave. She'd assumed Rust would be the same: strange, far off, and consumed by her magical studies.
But Rust was nothing like Bat. They had whispered conversations when the pups were napping, and they rarely spoke of magic and rituals. When they did, Rust offered to teach River what little had been passed down to her. After dark, before they went to sleep, Rust even showed her a spell. It was small and purple, just a light to navigate by. A tiny fraction of the moon's glow, held in Rust's paws.
One time, when the pups were in a lesson, they sneaked down to the river. Rust said it was fitting, given her name.
It was icy, and frozen solid in places. They crept onto the ice together and slid about, barking with laughter as their paws skidded.
River heard a crack and then a shriek behind her. She startled when she saw Rust in the water. She swore under her breath and leapt in after her. She didn't have a plan, she only the instinct to save Rust. She shoved her muzzle against her, trying to guide her to the bank.
"Don't fuss!" said Rust, treading water but visibly shaking. She let River help her to the bank, and they climbed out together.
They shook their coats off, covering the snow with droplets of water. They met eyes, then burst into giggles simultaneously.
"I'm sorry," said Rust. "The ice was thinner than I thought."
"I'm just glad you're safe," said River. She watched the afternoon sunlight catch in Rust's wet fur like threads of sunlight. She had the passing thought that Rust was beautiful. She shook her coat again. "We should get back to the den. For the pups."
"Wait. I wanted to ask you something."
"Yeah?"
"Are you planning to rejoin your hunting team, when the winter passes? I suppose you must be. It's more exciting."
More exciting? How was getting kicked at by hooves more exciting than this? But she'd grown even shier than usual, so she kept quiet. "Jawbreaker said they could replace me."
"So you're staying?"
"I'd like to."
Rust beamed. River's heart sped, and she tried to ignore it. As they walked back to the den under the tree roots, her mind spun. The only lower-ranking wolves than her were the pups and the outcasts, the ones doomed to be chased away. By violence, if needs be. Yet here she was, with the lead's daughter. And, with a slow horror like turning around to face a bear, she was realising something. She was in love with her.